Broken comb.

[Crazyhorse]

So I inspected my colony yesterday morning, on removing a frame the comb snapped off the brood frame and was anchored to the nadir. It looks like Drones so I removed it from the hive.

1. What is the best method for replacing the frame?
2. should I just remove the whole frame and take the losses?
3.Should the Nadir be empty or full of stores?

I have loads of brood in all stages 6 frames with a good pattern still I can’t find the queen.

 

[pargyle]

I don't quite understand what you are describing.. was the peice that broke off just brace comb on the bottom of the brood frame ? You must have had space beneath the brood box and above the nadired super to allow them to build this - or were there frames missing from the nadir ?

Why would you want to remove a frame of brood from the hive ? - brace comb - just cut it off and put the frame back.

Or is there something we are missing ?

Normally you would remove the nadir in spring - mostly they are usually emptied of stores unless you have been feeding them excessively over winter.

Tell us a bit more about your hive set up.

 

[Anduril]

So I inspected my colony yesterday morning, on removing a frame the comb snapped off the brood frame and was anchored to the nadir. It looks like Drones so I removed it from the hive.

1. What is the best method for replacing the frame?
2. should I just remove the whole frame and take the losses?
3.Should the Nadir be empty or full of stores?

I have loads of brood in all stages 6 frames with a good pattern still I can’t find the queen.

Do you have bottom bars on your brood frame? If so you could use rubber bands to hold the comb back in place. Or is it brace comb between the frames? Bottom bars attached to top bars.
Is your nadir a shallow box? Does it contain brood? I did a quick inspection of my hives, last Friday and my 14x12's had 9 frames of brood, luckily no attempt to draw queen cells.

 

[Murox]

1. What is the best method for replacing the frame?
Try just placing a new one in between some nicely drawn ones.
2. Should I just remove the whole frame and take the losses?
You said you have removed it – or did you mean that some comb had broken away and thats what you have removed? If so you can probably just leave it for the bees to repair, (or even secure back in place with an elastic band or two.)
3.Should the Nadir be empty or full of stores?
At this time of year a nadired box may be empty of stores – depends on various things.

I have loads of brood in all stages 6 frames with a good pattern still I can’t find the queen.
Do you need to find her – you have seen the evidence of her work.

 

[Crazyhorse]

They had basically drawn comb free style and the bottom bar came off. When I lifted the frame.
it doesn’t conform to the spacing. In the end it would not go back in the hive the piece that broke off..
So now there is a void.

I’m on a WBC hive with standard brood and a nadir.
My other colony is on 14x12 and behaves a lot better.

 

[Crazyhorse]

1. What is the best method for replacing the frame?
Try just placing a new one in between some nicely drawn ones.
2. Should I just remove the whole frame and take the losses?
You said you have removed it – or did you mean that some comb had broken away and thats what you have removed? If so you can probably just leave it for the bees to repair, (or even secure back in place with an elastic band or two.)
3.Should the Nadir be empty or full of stores?
At this time of year a nadired box may be empty of stores – depends on various things.

I have loads of brood in all stages 6 frames with a good pattern still I can’t find the queen.
Do you need to find her – you have seen the evidence of her work.

I’d like to find so I can requeen, she’s a moody one and can be an angry colony, as soon as the crown board is off they get feisty..

the piece that came away is built like a cylinder and won’t stay in the frame. Plus it’s old comb hence why I was thinking to change it.

 

[Boston Bees]

I’d like to find so I can requeen, she’s a moody one and can be an angry colony, as soon as the crown board is off they get feisty..

the piece that came away is built like a cylinder and won’t stay in the frame. Plus it’s old comb hence why I was thinking to change it.

I wouldn't judge their temperament until you get your comb management sorted out. Any hive will be irritated if you are allowing wild comb to be built, and then having to break it while inspecting.

 

[Crazyhorse]

Appreciate that, I always try not to break it.. to be fair I was surprised when it did.. little rotters..

I did think about a comb and Bailey comb exchange I believe it’s called.. but now thinking to move it towards the outer edges and insert new foundation..

 

[drex]

3.Should the Nadir be empty or full of stores.

Bees naturally store their honey at the top, so a nadir would not be expected to contain stores, unless the colony is honey bound. Bees work from the top down, so in a natural hive with space below the brood gradually moves down.
I think you need to pay attention to bee space. Get it wrong and they build brace comb, which by the sound of it, is the bit that broke off. I just tidy up the frame and bin the brace