Post by Jeremy Kosciuch on May 17, 2010 17:29:12 GMT -5
Thankfully, through the circumstances of that day, I started with garden hives, 8 frame medium depth boxes only. Mine are cute little buggers with the copper gable outer cover, suitable for even tucking away in the corner of the yard. Depends on your bees. The thing I like about it is all the frames and boxes are the same size. I figure that bees can be confusing enough, and a full super only weighs 40 lbs. Really easy to give the queen 2 boxes to lay, 1 for food, and shrink em down to 2 boxes in the fall. Or add extras as needed. I decided I will only take if the hive is 4 high with one capped and 2 full of honey, that way I can rob and split if I want. Looks like I may have to.
Interesting thing i did was scrape the flat on the top and bottom of the inside of the frames, leaving the wax in the grooves. I wanted to see how straight they would build. I am sure it depends on the strain, but these bees drew out the frame in 6 days, had it full of honey with 2 patches of nectar around eggs in the drone comb. And it was as staight as some i have seen with foundation, not perfect, but workable for sure. I am going to give em a nother frame, and try a frame in the Zia hive as well. I'll let u know.
Interesting thing i did was scrape the flat on the top and bottom of the inside of the frames, leaving the wax in the grooves. I wanted to see how straight they would build. I am sure it depends on the strain, but these bees drew out the frame in 6 days, had it full of honey with 2 patches of nectar around eggs in the drone comb. And it was as staight as some i have seen with foundation, not perfect, but workable for sure. I am going to give em a nother frame, and try a frame in the Zia hive as well. I'll let u know.