Well many of us newbies I see, or new packages have an issue with double comb on the frame.......foundationless frames.
Yes, I hung the queens and this is why it started. So I have cut out burr and thrown it into a bait box. But I have left comb that had brood as I want the hive to build. (Please correct improper thought patterns.) The bees seemed to want to build to the sides of the starter strip (1/4 inch wide). Those frames I just left alone as they were in the middle and full of brood.
Now I have had some hatching and they are refilling the comb with eggs and brood, I have eggs, open brood, empty, cleaning, and capped brood cells all going on at the same time. They continue to want to make comb to just one side of an empty frame. It really is not a huge deal to me as I am more interested in getting them up and running than nice neat comb right now.
So do you cut out and rubber band and risk brood loss? Or if I just let them do this for awhile until they build and then do a split and straighten all the comb then?
It was really neat to see everything but emerging brood yesterday. Probably just did not see it.
I don't know how many frames they have drawn out yet, but it gets harder and harder to work the hive as you get more and wonkier frames....If they were drawing them relatively flat but off center I might be tempted to wait and fix them all later, but if they are curved and off center I think you should try to "get ahead of them".
One option might be to fix one or 2 frames and use those to get the next box started right, and then allow your screwy box of comb to move up to storage as they grow, and eventually out to crush and strain.
do you have the frames tight together??
take a few pics and post them or email them to me. sometimes people are concerned about a little mess and it's no bit deal. sometimes it's need some immediate action.
if you can post them on here it would probably be helpful to all.
as for sacrificing brood, better to correct the mess if it needs it. they queen will quickly make up the difference. the earlier you correct, the less time lost.
I dropped you a note Kathy, photos here are a PIA for me.
Take care of bad comb early before it is too big to clean up.
It just pooches out enough there is no bee space if I cram them totally together. But it is kinda consistently goofy from one frame to the next, sorta fitting in.
i looked at the pics. it doesn't look bad to me. clean up what you want and push the frames back together. you can just cut off that overlap part. then if the frames are tight, they shouldn't rebuild there. on the end frames where there might be more space between the frame and box, they will sometimes fill in. cut it when you need to pull that frame for inspection, but other than that, it's not really an issue.
The most important thing to grasp with any natural comb hive is that one good comb leads to another in the same way that one bad comb leads to another. You cannot afford to not be paying attention to how they start off. The most common cause of a mess of comb is leaving the queen cage in as they always start the first comb from that and then the mess begins. I can't believe how many people want to "play it safe" and hang the queen cage. They obviously can't grasp that it is almost a guarantee of failure to get the first comb started right, which without intervention is guaranteed to mean every comb in the hive will be messed up. Once you have a mess the most important thing is to make sure the LAST comb is straight as this is always the guide for the NEXT comb. You can't take a "hopeful" view that the bees will get back on track. They will not. You have to put them back on track. It has everything to do with the last comb being straight.
Thanks all