Hello beekeepers I need some advice on a major cross combing disaster. I caught to swarms about a week and a half ago and I wanted to try foundation-less beekeeping I took the frames applied a starter strip and some wax and I'm having all kinds of problems with it. instead of building in the direction of the frames they are building across the frames, I have been in there twice and cut the comb and rubber banded it to the frames in the right direction. I really need some advice on how to fix this... any suggestions?
If you have some drawn foundation comb , cut out the comb except for a ring one cell wide on the top and sides.
If you are making starter strips, they need to be at least 1/4 inch wide. And wax usually does not help. The best frames we've found are the Walter T. Kelley foundationless frames which have a very nice wooden wedge on the top bar. Although the website says that you should add wax, that is not necessary and the bees can probably do a better job of attaching the wax than the beekeeper can.
The best comb guide is a frame of drawn comb. If you put a foundationless frame between two drawn comb frames, it will most likely be drawn properly.
some hives do this and will even mess up foundation. as said above, put some drawn frames in, or even a few frames with just foundation.
the most common mistake with both foundation and foundationless is not pushing the frames together tightly in the middle of the box.
Cut out the combs and tie into frames.
Quote from: Michael Bush on April 22, 2012, 01:21:11 AM
Cut out the combs and tie into frames.
Thats what I've started to do Mr Bush, I cut the comb out and rubber banded them on the frames the right way.
Once you have straight combs (the ones rubber banded in the frames) the rest will be parallel to those.