BEEKEEPING: Tips & Tricks for Drawing Comb
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- Опубліковано 12 тра 2024
- It can be so hard to wait for our bees to draw out comb! In this video Blake gives his top tips and tricks for how to encourage bees to draw out new foundation.
Check out frames and foundation here: thebeesupply.com/products/cas... - Розваги
I think the last tip was the most important. Something so simple can make a huge difference. Thanks for coming back.
Thanks for the reminder to be patient! Great tip on holding off on the excluder until the foundation process has started. I need to pull my excluders for a week or so.
Great info. Thanks 😊😊
People may wonder why a queen excluder is a problem, As Blake mentioned, wax is extruded from their wax glands, located on the sides of their abdomens. As they are eating in the lower super, and generating wax scales, when they go through the excluder, the wax is scraped off. When you get a reasonable (fist size was mentioned) area of drawing comb, nectar will start to be stored in that area, and THEN the wax bees will be able to eat and generate wax in place. One flag on when the excluder can go back on is if you see a hint of nectar in the new cells, no matter how deep they are, you can put it back on, if desired.
Another great video. Patience is a virtue they say. Looks like the bee yard needs some weed pulling !
Good info however number 3 applies to plastic foundation. I use wax foundation so the smell is already good. If you are only drawing one or two frames at a time, where do you put them?
Good point! Yes, it only applies to plastic foundation. If you use wax foundation, for the benefit of others who may read this, the key is to install wax foundation in your frames and then immediately put it on a hive. If it gets a coat of dust on it, the bees don't like drawing it out. If you are only drawing 1 or 2, I put them between frames of comb near the center of the super. The key is not all the way on the outside edge, and not together.
In one comb how many ounces would that weight? Thank you in advance for your reply
Good question! I'm not sure.:) I would guess about one ounce.
Why don't you do an experiment. Weigh a empty frame and then weigh it after it's drawn and let us know the outcome. Thanks in advance.
Beeswax Frame Waxing Stick @4:13 is sold out at The Bee Supply. Where can i buy those?
Here you go! thebeesupply.com/products/frame-waxing-beeswax-stick They sold out after the video was published, but we should have some more up in a few days.
@@thebeesupply OK I'm holding you to that! Sure enjoy your video's. Keep them coming.
Blake..I have 2 nucs from u guys . 1st time beekeeper. I have been feeding syrup and they are slowly growing. They seem to be storing the syrup until more brood hatches ? Like they need more bees to build out comb?
Hi! Good question! They usually grow at their own pace and will draw comb when they need the space. If they don't need it, they will store it. The big thing to watch out for is if they are storing so much syrup that the queen runs out of space to lay. It's a balancing act for sure! This video is a bit out of season, but shows some examples of what to watch out for: ua-cam.com/video/bnDQnN14xMI/v-deo.htmlsi=emDuYYriIzdhWwC8
@@thebeesupply thank u!!
How many drawn frames would you be shooting for right now for them to survive through the winter? I’m in the same area as your store. I’m feeding syrup to swarms I’ve recently caught and wondering when I can stop feeding. I’m not going to be pulling honey from my bees. This year looks much better than last years drought so far so hopefully the dearth won’t be as bad this year.
Good question! In your area, I'd want at least the bottom deep box fully drawn out and the second brood box (deep or medium is fine) at least 50% drawn out and full of honey going into winter. Ideal would be both brood boxes fully drawn out.