One of our hives has a 10 frame honey super on it, and when it was put on, it was mostly foundation with some comb drawn out. The 10 frames were all pushed together in the middle.
When opening up the hive a few days ago, I found that the bees are drawing out every other frame in the super and are drawing the comb out so far on those frames, that their bee space is right up next to the foundation on the adjacent frames. So those frames aren't able to be drawn out.
As it is, five frames are drawn and have capped honey, and five are not drawn. And the five that are not, cannot be drawn due to the comb from the other frames extending so far out.
My question is, should I switch the super to 9 frames so that each frame will be able to be drawn out? Or are there any other ideas of how to fix this? Thanks in advance!
Since it is a honey super, I would try to consolidate your drawn frames in the center, leaving necessary bee space as best you can, and then fill in emptys on the sides and see what they do. I had to do that last year and it worked ok. Others may have better ideas. In any event, I try to get rid of comb that is drawn too thick at the end of the season (by either shaving with decapping knife, or replacing altogether) because it is a pain to deal with in the hive if you are wanting to swap frames around...it is like a jigsaw puzzle and only fits in a particular place. That's my 2 cents.
you can pull the capped and replace the frames with empty. they will draw honey comb out farther and that's not a bad thing. you can do 9 or even 8 frames in the honey super. if you are doing crush and strain, you don't need to worry about how they draw the comb. if you are using an extractor, watch that they get started straight. they are more apt to get things going well when there is a good flow and they are building and filling quickly.
If the honey is capped, I would cut the cappings off even with the frame and harvest it. Then place them back with two drawn sides together. They will repair them with the proper bee space and draw the other side, which will be next to another foundation.
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It seems to me that honey flow has been strong because bees have capped the the honey right away but colony has not enough bees to occupye the whole box.
I could imagine that the brood frames are too stucked with honey in these conditions.
You should move all food frames off from the brood box and give extracted combs or foundations..
When frames are capped you should extract the frames that bees can again fill the combs.
It seems too that ability to draw new foundation is limited. Comb building is hard job.
Check the brood box and frames, how big is the brood area? How many percent are honey stores?