Hi. I am new to beekeeping and purchased two nucs. I installed the nucs and everything went well but I noticed that some of the frames had irregular comb since they were not spaced properly. The comb now will not allow me to bring the frames closed to each other and there is a separation of about 3/8s of an inch. If I force the frames together, I am sure that I will kill bees or even the queen. What do you do when this happens?.
My thoughts are that I let it bee and wait until I add another deep and a third deep. I am hoping that with the tendency of the bees to move up, that they will leave the frames on the bottom somewhat empty.
Is there anything I can do differently?
Thanks
You can shake the bees off the frames and place them close together. The bees will then remove the proper amount of wax to give them the correct bee space.
I can do that but what happens to the brood/wax/pollen already on the defective comb?
If you look closely, I think you will see that the extended comb is honey or nectar. The brood comb will be shallower. Move the frames together until they just touch. The bees will remove the honey and wax until the bee space is correct. Next inspection, do the same again. That should be sufficient to get the frames together.
Ok. I am going to try to do that. Thank you very much
JR,
I have an observation hive and one time when I put the hive back together with bees from a Nuc, a frame of honey ended up against the glass. It took the bees 2 days but the bees cut their way through it and made the correct bee space. What was amazing was that when they were finished, the comb looked like it had been cut with a laser. It was absolutely flat. It was really surprising.
Jim
Master Jim, yes I remember you stating this on another topic, I remember the words LAZER CUT. Not something to easily forget. That is remarkable that the bees can bee so precise i.e. lazer cut.
Iddee, perfect advice..... I did not know about burr comb and likelihood of food, not larva. I have seen brood in tiny spaces between my feeders. But it was not typical burr comb, there was space so the bees filled it.
Blessings
Van, I think you will not find brood in the frames where the wax is drawn out too wide. They make brood comb a certain depth. They will put honey in different depth cells. I also think the brood you find in burr comb between frames will be drones, not workers.