Bee space adjustment?

[radhartgeorge]

Hi Folks,

One of the many mistakes I made in my first year of beekeeping was not ensuring the appropriate sized bee space between the frames in my national hive.

I am aware that the frame should have been pressed tight against each other and that this would have automatically set the correct bee space but I did not know about dummy boards at the time so I just assumed they were spaced evenly.

This has led to me having rather thick frames, which in itself isn't an issue, but it does mean that after an inspection I am never sure if I have left enough bee space or too much... I'd much rather have the confidence of knowing it was 'correct' by pushing them tight together... however... and this is my question:

If I were to push these frames together, how they are meant to be, and resultantly my bee space is too small, will this cause mayhem or will the bees (as I am hoping) remove the comb to a point at which the bee space is appropriate?

If they will do this, then is there a better time of year to make the change?

thanks,
Rad

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

What's in them? If brood they should be the right depth anyway. If stores,it matters little ( see current thread on numbers of frames in supers). The bees are pretty good at cleaning up after us.

So the simple answers are "yes" and "not really".

 

[radhartgeorge]

Thanks for the response...

Q. What's in them?

A. Everything one might expect in a brood box- honey, BIAS, pollen...

When I push them together, I get the feeling that they have limited space to a) move on the frame b) emerge from the comb

Should I be concerned?

Rad

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Thanks for the response...

Q. What's in them?

A. Everything one might expect in a brood box- honey, BIAS, pollen...

When I push them together, I get the feeling that they have limited space to a) move on the frame b) emerge from the comb

Should I be concerned?

Rad

Yes, you should be concerned

I'm assuming you are using Hoffman self spacing frames? Bees will struggle to rationalise the brood nest if you push the frames back together - at best you will end up with single bee space which means the bees won't be able to tend the brood on both sides of the 'space' and until the brood has emerged they won't be able to reduce the cell depth.
You may be better off putting another brood box on top with fresh properly spaced frames and foundation and waiting for them to move up into that box and, on ensuring the queen is up there and has space to lay putting a queen excluder in between the boxes until the brood has all emerged (another small entrance above the QX would be handy for the drones to get out and party!)

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Another thought - the 'stores arch' above the brood will be single bee space anyway - if you push the frames any closer together, you will close up the gap completely - and that will cause a bit of a mess

 

[radhartgeorge]

Jenkinsbrynmair,

Yes, I am using Hoffman self spacing frames. Although as you can see I have been using them incorrectly.

Your suggestion sounds like an excellent idea. My concern would be that the lower (incorrectly spaced) bb will then be used for honey stores which is obviously not ideal. Any suggestion of how/when I deal with the lower bb? Or should I just write it off - recycle the wax and put fresh foundation in the frames?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Once the brood has emerged, if honey is stored there, no problem as long as your extractor can take deep frames, but they are more likely to have stores above the brood not below. You can then either melt the wax down, clean the frames and re-foundation but, if the comb is only one season old you could just use a knife and trim the comb back down flush to the frame edges and use as drawn comb next year (they will build it back up to the required depth

 

[radhartgeorge]

That answers everything I need to know. My very great thanks.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Luckily you caught me on one of my 'mr nice' days - the medication must be working at last

 

[victor meldrew]

For gods sake keep taking the tablets )))


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