BBKA Forum

British Beekeepers Association Official Forum 

  • Uneven comb building

  • General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #11013  by Kaybee
 27 May 2021, 23:47
Hi, I am seeking a nuc and recently viewed 4 frames for sale from another keeper. As a beginner I'm quite keen to start as I mean to go on and do my best to keep things simple from the start . However, the frames hadn't been kept 'bee space' apart so the bees had naturally built into the gaps forming some bridges and uneven comb and capped brood with some frames being quite thick and not the flat levelled capped brood I'm used to seeing. I also spotted some queen cups dotted around.
How easy do people think this would be to rectify to make future inspections easier to manage and how would I introduce new frames and slowly dispense of the old ones?
Just to note my brood box is 14x12 and these are on standard frames.
Thanks!
 #11015  by NigelP
 28 May 2021, 08:54
Hi, a few thoughts. Is the source of bees able to fill a 14x12? Not many queens are fecund enough to do this.
You need to let the bees tell you whether they need that amount of space vs what you think.
However, getting the job done is relatively simple.
I'd put your nuc frames into your 14x12 brood box and add new 14x 12 (better if you already have some drawn) ones and feed so they draw frames out. Keep original spacing of the nuc at one side of the hive and as brood emerges remove the original frames and replace. You might lose some stores/pollen but at least all will end up uniform. You may well get drone brood drawn under your standard national frames and you will need to sacrifice this.
If I wanted to get complex I'd cut and shape a plastic queen excluder to act as a vertical barrier between the standard nuc frames and your 14x12 frames and as soon as you have some drawn 14x12 move the queen to the other side. If you can't find her just shake all the bees into the other side so you know where she has to be. Allow any brood to merge from you old frame's and discard.