change of brood foundation

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4sausagedogs

New Bee
Joined
Dec 30, 2018
Messages
33
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Location
West Sussex
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
3
Hi
I am going into my second year, can anybody advise me on whether I need to change the dark brood comb this year .

I got the bees last summer and a couple of the comb was dark.

Sorry for the novice question
 
Up to you really! Comb can last many seasons so I wouldn’t get rid of any the bees have made since you’ve had them. The ones they came on may be quite old so you could slowly swap these out again some do some don’t, I like to have the oldest frames at the back where I stand and I add new ones to the front (2nd in)

Don’t worry about the question and there isn’t a right or wrong answer enjoy your second year
 
Thank you so much for your reply.

I think I will leave for this season and gradually get rid of the darker ones in time.
 
Don't worry about asking questions. I was in this position three years ago and yes I tried to get rid of the comb gradually as I had not idea how old it was.
 
Comb is a valuable asset for the bees. I change it over if it gets holed or deformed or when very dark. Being a medical man, the idea of changing it regularly for disease prevention does not hold water.
 
I use a system, each inspection I take the frame from one end of the brood box and put it in the other end. It is easy as you always fill the space you leave. It means you don't have to move the frames back into their original position after the inspection. The final frame you inspect will probably not have brood on as it is the outside frame. If it needs changing it is easy to do. Think of it like a roller system, on each inspection the frames move one space along and the end frames can be changed or not changed depending on their condition as it becomes their turn. Hope that makes sense! It means you always have to inspect your frames in the same order though or you end up going backwards!
E
 
One point that hasn't yet been explored is whether the comb contains a lot of drone cells?
Drone cells are larger (4 cells to the inch) while worker cells are smaller (5 cells to the inch). You will want the colony to produce as many workers as possible, since they gather the nectar and do most of the work around the hive. So, if there are large areas of drone comb, you should probably replace them gradually. Otherwise leave them alone.
If you do need to replace comb, wait until your colony has built up a bit and has plenty of young bees as these are the ones that will draw new comb. You will see them hanging from the bottom of frames in clumps. Also, there needs to be a reasonable nectar flow on so they are well fed (alternatively, you can feed syrup but this is probably best left until late (Sept/Oct) in the season)
 
To give some perspective pre varroa it was not uncommon for combs to be 50 years old or so. Now there is the perception that the comb can get contaminated with chemicals used for varroa control. Some of mine are pretty black and the bees use them happily.

PH
 
Being a medical man, the idea of changing it regularly for disease prevention does not hold water.

:yeahthat:

The idea that dark brood contains disease and you need to change comb to avoid disease appears logically invalid to me as a layperson.
 
Comb is a valuable asset for the bees. I change it over if it gets holed or deformed or when very dark. Being a medical man, the idea of changing it regularly for disease prevention does not hold water.

Well said that man!

We really need a 'Like' button on here
 

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