Rotating old comb out of the brood box

[SlickMick]

There are suggestions that old comb (likely to be carrying chemicals brought into the hive over a period of time) in the brood box should be rotated out and replaced with new comb.

Apart from moving the outside frames inside and replacing them with comb that is full of brood from the cluster and then allowing the brood to hatch before removal is there an easier way to do this?

Also how far in should the outside frames be moved in if this is the only way to do it??

Mick

[Natalie]

Mick, I have heard that you are suppose to move the inner frames outward, don't move them into the brood nest, after moving to the outside of the nest wait for any brood in them to hatch and them remove them.
The queen is less likely to lay in the last two frames so you should be able to remove them.
This is just what I had been told to do and that is the way I got rid of some old combs that came with a nuc, there may be other ways but I am not aware of them. Not unless you inspect the hives and for some reason find an empty comb here or there and you can pull it and replace it.
The ones in the super are obviously going to be much easier to get rid of after you extract.
Good luck with it.

[SlickMick]

Thanks Natalie. I am unfortunately a little confused by your description. I sometimes think there is a line in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where those on one side of it become confused by messages coming from people on the other side  :roll:.. just joking really.

You say to move the inner frames outward so I assume that means taking frames from the brood nest and moving them outward and replacing them by others with no brood.. perhaps frames with only foundation, foundationless frames or frames from a honey super?:? In any case there is always going to be a vacated space into which is inserted a frame with no brood. I suppose that it might be possible to move the outside frames in to cover the vacated space but that would sort of defeat the purpose of removing frames.

All in all it would seem that removing frames from the centre of the brood nest is going to be a long and protracted project

Another way might be to move the brood over to one side by removing the outside frame and the outside frame on the other side and replacing them with new frames. Would the queen continue to work the new outside frame or would the outside frame then become devoid of brood eventually and subject to removal?

Mick

Mick

[Michael Bush]

>There are suggestions that old comb (likely to be carrying chemicals brought into the hive over a period of time) in the brood box should be rotated out and replaced with new comb.

Most of the chemicals in a hive come from the beekeeper.  If you don't put chemicals in, there won't be any significant amount of chemicals in the wax.

[Natalie]

You say to move the inner frames outward so I assume that means taking frames from the brood nest and moving them outward and replacing them by others with no brood.. perhaps frames with only foundation, foundationless frames or frames from a honey super? In any case there is always going to be a vacated space into which is inserted a frame with no brood.

Mick you described it right, that is what I was taught to do. I really don't know of any quicker way to do it unless you have empty frames you can chuck.
Maybe you could use a queen excluder and move the frames you want to remove above it, but you will still have to wait for the brood to hatch. The only difference is you could do more frames at once.

As Michael said though unless you are using chemicals in the hives its probably not necessary, but if you have and want to lessen their chemical load then I can see discarding the old frames.

I only had to do this with some frames that came with a nuc, they were on foundation and I am doing foundationless so I rotated them out using the above method.

[SlickMick]

>There are suggestions that old comb (likely to be carrying chemicals brought into the hive over a period of time) in the brood box should be rotated out and replaced with new comb.

Most of the chemicals in a hive come from the beekeeper.  If you don't put chemicals in, there won't be any significant amount of chemicals in the wax.

Michael, whilst I agree with your comments, I read somewhere that a lot of chemicals in old comb are introduced into the hive by the bees going about their daily routine, especially in regions where chemicals are used for agricultural purposes. In that situation a build up of chemical would have nothing to do with the beekeeper. Am I heading down the wrong track with this :?

Mick

[iddee]

At the beginning of spring, when it is warm enough to separate the brood nest, remove the two outer frames. Insert two new frames into the center of the box, after moving the frames left of center to the left, the frames right of center to the right. This will give you a full rotation every 5 years in a ten frame box.

[SlickMick]

Thanks Iddee that makes sense

Mick

[irekkin]

as far as old comb goes, i'd be more concerned about the build up of disease causing pathogens. as long as this wasn't a concern and your hives are healthy i wouldn't worry. bees love their old comb. it works really well in swarm traps. i think at some point it should be rotated out but i don't have a set rule for this.

[mjb1]

I read that you can add a box on top put a queen excluder between the new box and the current one remove a couple frames and put them in top box move brood frames together and add you new frames on the outside when the brood in the frames to be removed emerge remove the frames and since theres a excluder the queen cant lay in them again. Good luck

[SlickMick]

I read that you can add a box on top put a queen excluder between the new box and the current one remove a couple frames and put them in top box move brood frames together and add you new frames on the outside when the brood in the frames to be removed emerge remove the frames and since theres a excluder the queen cant lay in them again. Good luck

Good thinking. I knew there had to be a faster way of doing this. You could move queenie up with a couple of frames and put new frames beside her. Nurse bees would be with her to look after any new brood

Mick