messy nuc

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peteinwilts

Drone Bee
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May 12, 2009
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North Wilts
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National
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Hi Guys

I have a NUC created from a swarm I caught a couple of weeks ago and is doing extremely well.

However, they are not following the 'rules' as far as typical framebuilding is concerned.
As a swarm they populated a half populated national size brood frame and a 14x12 frame. I transfered these plus a few more 14x12 frames to a NUC box.

They are drawing large amounts in the center of the frames and are bracing the center of the foundation together. They are also managing to squeeze an extra layer of comb between the frames in places wear the foundation is undrawn.

When inspecting, the wax is tearing and I am making a terrible mess of the frames.

I don't really want to do a shook swarm as there are nearly two frames of brood that I would rather not lose.

Any thoughts or ideas would be welcome
Cheers
Pete
 
I'm presuming that you're using Hoffman frames and that when you installed the swarm you had the frames pushed firmly together with perhaps a dummy board at one side??
 
hoffmans, yes.. with no additional space.

When a drawn frame (the original) is placed next to an undrawn frame, they prefer to create extra comb onto the drawn frame until it reaches the undrawn frame.

Once bridged, they then draw the undrawn frame aound the bridge.

Last week I pushed the frames back figuring they would sort it out.
this week, I am not sure if they squeezed through a tear, or ate a hole, but they have bridged the 2nd and 3rd frame together in the center of the foundation and the original frame has a huge extension on one side making it sag as soon as I move a frame.

Is it worth putting the frames into a brood box with a divider, then adding another brood box on top with an aim for them moving up into the upper half and leaving the messy frames, or do you think they will just persist?
 
Last edited:
Hi Guys

I have a NUC created from a swarm I caught a couple of weeks ago and is doing extremely well.

However, they are not following the 'rules' as far as typical framebuilding is concerned.
As a swarm they populated a half populated national size brood frame and a 14x12 frame. I transfered these plus a few more 14x12 frames to a NUC box.

They are drawing large amounts in the center of the frames and are bracing the center of the foundation together. They are also managing to squeeze an extra layer of comb between the frames in places wear the foundation is undrawn.

When inspecting, the wax is tearing and I am making a terrible mess of the frames.

I don't really want to do a shook swarm as there are nearly two frames of brood that I would rather not lose.

Any thoughts or ideas would be welcome
Cheers
Pete

i have seen similar, on a freind who housed a ferrel bees nest from a barn

Once the inter leafed wild comb was removed from between drawn out comb they settled down but every time a new hoffman foundation was introduced you again got interleafed wild comb bewteen the semi drawn hoffman frames, i assume it is because they are ferral and had resized their brood comb to a smaller size. it did not stop until the queen superseded
he tried taking 2mm of the hoffman side bars which almost cured it
 
seems almost natural for trying a top bar hive?
 
Some bees are just bloody useless at comb building.

Only thing to do is to re queen.

PH
 

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