The girls are filling up the gaps

[rawfind]

Hi all,
         was checking out my hives yesterday and came across several where they had made extra cells between the top frames
of the bottom box and the bottom frames of the top box. They had these filled with larvae and made it difficult to get the frames out,
once out it has destroyed those cells and messed it up a bit.
Anyone else ever had this happen to them? and is there anyway to discourage them from doing this ? re Neil

[hardwood]

You'll find that the "bridge comb" between the two boxes is normally drone comb. If you go foundationless or pop in a couple of frames of drone comb they won't build the bridge comb near as much.

Scott

[ShaneJ]

I have been through this myself recently and found it was due to the supers being to deep and braking the bee space rule. Have you check the depth of your supers?

[rawfind]

You'll find that the "bridge comb" between the two boxes is normally drone comb. If you go foundationless or pop in a couple of frames of drone comb they won't build the bridge comb near as much.

Scott

youre right on the money Scott, it looks like drone grubs, And you might have something there with the beespace Shane, will check that one out in the next few days

[bernsad]

You mean we've all got to cut our boxes down to 241mm?  :-\

[ShaneJ]

Measure the space between the top of the bottom frame and the bottom of the top frame. From memory I think some of the boxes we have available to us create 16mm of space.

[bernsad]

And what is the recommended space?

[ShaneJ]

I believe the rule is between 6.5 and 9.5mm(1/4 - 3/8)

[bernsad]

Thanks Shane, maybe I'll have to look at my boxes more carefully now. :(

[ShaneJ]

I'm having to cut all my boxes down to the right size now as I was having a hard time with all the drone and honey between the boxes. After cutting down the boxes I haven't had much of a problem.

[rawfind]

I'm having to cut all my boxes down to the right size now as I was having a hard time with all the drone and honey between the boxes. After cutting down the boxes I haven't had much of a problem.

If mine turn out to be too deep then ill ask my supplier if he can get something done about it

[bernsad]

Well, I've just cut down 4 new boxes that I'm assembling and 1 used box, and I'll rotate them through the hives and gradually check/amend all the others and we will see if it makes a difference. I've cut about 4mm off them all. 4mm, you wouldn't think it would make much of a difference but I look forward to the experiment. I'll report back if I notice anything.

[Lone]

I haven't actually measured my boxes for a while.  You must get drone comb between the boxes because you don't use an excluder.  There is a bit of space above the bottom frames as well as below the top frames.  I had the opposite problem, and on one inspection found a heap of bees squashed onto the excluder.  So I think that if you use an excluder you need that bit of extra space on the top box because you lose that amount above the bottom frames.  So of course I panicked and went and added a little strip to all my supers. It will depend on the size of the frames as well - they probably vary in height a bit.  Anyhow, that bit of extra room might have been a bit much because there is sometimes a little bit of honeycomb below the frames, but I have to live with that now.  I can't think of a way to evenly plane the boxes anyway, and the thought of transferring all those bees into spare supers makes me feel very tired!

I also have to live with our first 6 hives having 2 inches extra on the brood super, to fit the small hive beetle traps in.  There are a variety of traps now, but when I found my first hive beetle I had to get hold of the first ones I could find.  They do the job, but there is a lot of drone comb beneath those frames.  I guess my hives are well ventilated for the tropics.

Lone

[rawfind]

 I can't think of a way to evenly plane the boxes anyway, and the thought of transferring all those bees into spare supers makes me feel very tired!
Lone

Im with you i dont think ill bother for now im too busy anyways, need more boxes and lids.