starter strip frame positioning in brood chamber

[twb]

I am thinking of placing six frames of drawn comb and four starter strips per medium depth brood box.  I will place the starter strips in the one and two and nine and ten positions.  Does that sound reasonable?  I would really like to use more starter strips per box but I do not know how many I can use without having trouble with the bees drawing straight combs.  Could I do just two drawn combs in the center of the box and the rest starter strips?  Is it better to do drawn/starter every other frame?

[tillie]

You can do all starter strips, but I learned the hard way that it helps to have one frame of drawn comb or a full sheet of foundation.  Otherwise, sometimes the bees get confused about how to fill the frame and draw crazy cross-frames comb.

Linda T in Atlanta

[Brian D. Bray]

If starting a package or swarm I would place the starter strips in the 3-4 and 7-8 spots.  This way the queen can start laying immediately in the drawn comb and the placement of the starter strips means they will most likely be drawn out as an enlarged brood chamber so you should get worker size comb where it counts.

[Michael Bush]

I'd do as Brian says and then when there are a lot of bees and a good brood nest, you can feed the starter strip frames into the brood nest one at a time as they fill them or just let them build them as they go.

[twb]

If starting a package or swarm I would place the starter strips in the 3-4 and 7-8 spots.  This way the queen can start laying immediately in the drawn comb and the placement of the starter strips means they will most likely be drawn out as an enlarged brood chamber so you should get worker size comb where it counts.

Thankyou, I did as you suggested.  These are for existing hives which overwintered in two deeps.  So, when I add the second medium(later this spring) should I place it between the remaining deep and the medium I just added yesterday?  And can I just use one drawn comb this time fairly safely?

[Brian D. Bray]

I would position the new super between the other 2.  If concerned take the drawn frames from the 1 & 10 location in the current super and place them in the 3 & 7 position in the new super. Replace the frames in the current super when you move it up.  The 2 frames taken up will help the bees keep the new combs straight in the frames.