Help with frames please!

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freethorpe bees

Field Bee
Joined
May 27, 2010
Messages
658
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Location
Norfolk UK
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
Two - one fiesty, one lovely. ;0)
My nuc which arrived in May had plastic spacers on the edges. My frames are self spacing. So I had a 'challenge' of getting the frames in the right place where the plastic ones met the self spacers.

I am moving the plastic ended ones towards the outside of the brood box to get rid of them. One is now at the edge and is filled with stores (no brood).

Can I just remove this one and replace it with an empty self spacer? Is this the right time of year to do it bearing in mind I will be taking some of their stores?

Any help gratefully received.

FB
 
You are correct to move the frames you want to replace to the side and then remove but I think as the season is now starting to wined down and the bees are preparing for the winter if it was me I will leave the frames now and look to remove them in the spring.
 
what's wrong with the plastic spacers? you can just add more to the ends of your self spacers and slide the existing ones outwards.

or remove the plastic spacers and space by eye

or add castellations
 
what's wrong with the plastic spacers? you can just add more to the ends of your self spacers and slide the existing ones outwards.

or remove the plastic spacers and space by eye

or add castellations

YES, thats what i do, ihave hoffman 14x12 self spacers at 35mm, i just leave them to biuld up and use a self spscers frame with a plastic spacer on on the hoffman 14x12..and do a shook swarm in spring
 
Castellations in a brood box - ugh!

You do not want to be moving every frame upwards (as the first move) against the next, on every inspection. Moving frames sideways, after removal of dummy or one frame, makes it so much easier to manipulate IMO (and many others).

They are not favouritre (for me) in supers either - no choice of frame spacing changes. I often start with more and reduce the number to 8 or 9 in a super.

Even at this time of the year, I would be adding a super for overwintering (after any varroa treatment necessary) and filling it with feed for them - given warm weather they would soon take down a super-worth of sugar and if August /September is good they may well be getting a head start for themselves.

Regards, RAB
 
My nuc which arrived in May had plastic spacers on the edges. My frames are self spacing. So I had a 'challenge' of getting the frames in the right place where the plastic ones met the self spacers.

FB

If you put plastic spacers on the hoffmans too, then your life will be simple. They fit easily and with the spacers on the hoffmans there is no porblem of about having a mix of types of frame. Why get rid of good frames?
 
If you put plastic spacers on the hoffmans too, then your life will be simple........ Why get rid of good frames?

Bee space. No problem if you plane the spacers off.

RAB
 
Sorry, don't understand. The reason i find it tricky have spacers and hoffmans (without spacers) in the same box, is that where the spacers meet the hoffmans, the beespace is not enough and you have to space by hand or the bees get squashed, and you can't push all the frames along the box at the same time. With spacers on all (including hoffmans) it is like having all one or the other and bee space is perfect.
 
you can get hoffman plastic spacers that pin onto standard frames that will maintain the correct spacing. They aren't expensive... I think I got mine from Paynes

John
 
Polyanwood,

Bee space. As I pointed out, it would be OK if you planed the hoffman spacers off (and used plastic spacers of course). People sometimes complain of hoffmans being stuck together - leave a little extra gap and there will be even more propolis. So basically there is your problem.

The real answer is don't mix them, or not more than on a temporary basis.

RAB
 
you don't have to plane them off. The spacers fit in a dfferent place from the hoffman sticking out bits.... I would be unlikley to be capable of planing htem off anyway. If only I had a photo to show you:)
 
From my very limited experience, I've found that with a mixture of Hoffman and standard, putting plastic spacers on the Hoffmans works fine. Personally not noticed any build up in propolis
 
You are correct to move the frames you want to replace to the side and then remove but I think as the season is now starting to wined down and the bees are preparing for the winter if it was me I will leave the frames now and look to remove them in the spring.

Thanks Tom for answering my original query! I thought this was probably the wrong time of year to be taking their stores away so will leave the removal of frames till the spring.
 

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