Been having to do this myself Frank. The Plastic frames, despite the wax coating get funny draw outs. I'm moving back to wax foundation I recon! Stay safe, have fun! 😉🙏
Frank - the pollen patty NEEDS to be directly over the brood area. That's what most beekeepers do, such as Ian Steppler, Kamon Reynolds, Mike Barry, etc. Place the bare side down on top of the frames so the bees can access it easily, or cut slits in the paper side. It's not going to "melt" onto the frames. The bees will gobble it down and store it. However, if there is an abundance of fresh pollen from natural sources, they'll ignore the patty and use the natural pollen instead. As Warren suggested, get top quality heavy pre-waxed foundation, or if you want to use a beeswax candle as a "crayon" and rub the existing foundations you have to coat them well. Keeping that wonky comb is not going to correct itself. It's a sign that the bees do not like the plastic foundation that you're using. Scrape it off as soon as possible. Use PIERCO or ACORN brand heavy waxed foundations. Virgin queens will NOT mate with drones from the same hive. Drones are vital to spread the hive's genetics to other queens in drone congregation areas. A healthy vibrant colony will have lots of drones.
@4dhoneybee you can also use a paint roller soaked in melted bees wax to coat the frames, very easy. ua-cam.com/video/6urrht0Falk/v-deo.html (video explaining)
Not sure when this was filmed or where you are, but they should be getting plenty of pollen and nectar this time of the year. We only do pollen patties in the late fall and winter. Wonky comb is from poorly waxed foundations.
This was filmed this weekend in Ontario Canada. Right now there is plenty of pollen and nectar available for these bees, but I always feed nucs Until they see not to take the feed anymore. Many reasons for this like lack of foraging bees in the nukes, small colony size, they need to use heavy resources for brooded, including building out new frames. Hope this makes sense.
I found a frame exactly like that today. I just left it for now. I will replace it soon. I also found a colony I forgot to replace a deep frame I stole for another colony. What a mess! I never made that mistake before. Always something new with beekeeping.
Hey bb. I use a GoPro hero seven strap to my chest and a Sony handy cam 9.2 megapixel on the tripod. it’s a pretty affordable way to have two cameras in high definition. Having two cameras going as beneficial because every now and then one will fail, and then you will still have the other to be able to publish a video I will definitely do a video on the set up, though it’s not very complicated and not very expensive. Thanks for your comment.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with that frame.people are so quick to think"oh this frame has to go".bees are going to do what bees do.i've found frames like that in a couple of my hives and the bees straighten it out themselves in time. What works for some wont work for others
You could be correct. I initially thought I would leave it alone, but then I noticed that the largest section of it was extremely shallow. In other words only 1/8 of an inch of the cell could be filled with anything a half inch behind. It was all solid wax. that wasn’t gonna work.
Makes perfect sense I do not so let’s see how a straight replacement will do. I noticed the frame next to it is drawn out very wide, so that may be contributing to it. Let’s see.
Frank, Your choice of foundation vender is going to cause you Major trouble. The cardinal sin kind. Hundreds of New beekeeper have made the same mistake you are making by thinking you can continue to use that brand of Plastic foundation. You are doing your bees an injustice by not proving them with a properly waxed plastic they can stick the wax that comes out of their body too. You are, by using that foundation, minimizing the space they have to do what "YOU" expect them to do. And weeks later you will be scratching you head asking why? Buy yourself Heavy Waxed Premier Foundation and throw that trouble making crap you have in the trash. If they can't work with it replace it.
I totally agree with you Warren. I also like to add: if you are already investing in wax and the time to heavy wax the plastic, why not using just wax foundation like the rest of the world. Coming from Europe it was a big shock and surprise to see a plastic foundation.
Plastic foundation works fine but it has to have wax on it. It's even reusable when the comb needs to be replaced. We melt wax and apply it with a paint roller. Works great.
Hi Petra. The frames I use are wax covered plastic. I have used all wax frames before, but I found the disintegrate when being spun to extract, honey . so for me, they are essentially single use frames which is not feasible. In seven years of beekeeping with a maximum of seven hives too deep bodies and two Soopers, this is the first time that this has happened. So I consider my success rate with plastic frames quite acceptable. Hopefully that’s success rate continues, but we will see!
Great info thank you I have seen that done but I have yet to try it. I still have an inventory of approximately 30 new frames so I will see if the bees like them or not. Then I can plan the roller wax method when I reuse them if the bees are having issues. Thanks again for the info. This is excellent.
@@4dhoneybee107 yes you are right. They are a little more delicate, just sharing my experience. (I do not wanna be a know it all). Thanks for the answer.
Been having to do this myself Frank. The Plastic frames, despite the wax coating get funny draw outs. I'm moving back to wax foundation I recon! Stay safe, have fun! 😉🙏
Great info. Please let me know how it goes.
Frank - the pollen patty NEEDS to be directly over the brood area. That's what most beekeepers do, such as Ian Steppler, Kamon Reynolds, Mike Barry, etc. Place the bare side down on top of the frames so the bees can access it easily, or cut slits in the paper side. It's not going to "melt" onto the frames. The bees will gobble it down and store it. However, if there is an abundance of fresh pollen from natural sources, they'll ignore the patty and use the natural pollen instead.
As Warren suggested, get top quality heavy pre-waxed foundation, or if you want to use a beeswax candle as a "crayon" and rub the existing foundations you have to coat them well. Keeping that wonky comb is not going to correct itself. It's a sign that the bees do not like the plastic foundation that you're using. Scrape it off as soon as possible. Use PIERCO or ACORN brand heavy waxed foundations.
Virgin queens will NOT mate with drones from the same hive. Drones are vital to spread the hive's genetics to other queens in drone congregation areas. A healthy vibrant colony will have lots of drones.
@4dhoneybee you can also use a paint roller soaked in melted bees wax to coat the frames, very easy. ua-cam.com/video/6urrht0Falk/v-deo.html (video explaining)
Excellent info jeff thanks.
Yes I ah e seen that done but never done it myself.
Shake the frame, take a butane lighter or a bottle torch and gently melt the wonkey comb back onto the foundation.
Like that idea.
Not sure when this was filmed or where you are, but they should be getting plenty of pollen and nectar this time of the year. We only do pollen patties in the late fall and winter.
Wonky comb is from poorly waxed foundations.
This was filmed this weekend in Ontario Canada. Right now there is plenty of pollen and nectar available for these bees, but I always feed nucs Until they see not to take the feed anymore. Many reasons for this like lack of foraging bees in the nukes, small colony size, they need to use heavy resources for brooded, including building out new frames. Hope this makes sense.
I found a frame exactly like that today. I just left it for now. I will replace it soon. I also found a colony I forgot to replace a deep frame I stole for another colony. What a mess! I never made that mistake before. Always something new with beekeeping.
Been there. Down that. I think every beekeeper has.
I had the exact same problem this season turned out my plastic frames were not waxed enough
Thanks Tyler makes sense.
Were did you find that large top feeder, please?
Hi, salty bee lady. I bought it from Innisfil Creek County, but here is a link for the feeder on Amazon Amazon. a.co/d/77hJNgL
What are you using for a camera. Is it attached to your body? Picture is good.
Hey offshoot. Yes go pro on chest old Sony camera on tripod.
How are you videoing this? Can you do a video on your “video set-up?”
Hey bb. I use a GoPro hero seven strap to my chest and a Sony handy cam 9.2 megapixel on the tripod. it’s a pretty affordable way to have two cameras in high definition. Having two cameras going as beneficial because every now and then one will fail, and then you will still have the other to be able to publish a video I will definitely do a video on the set up, though it’s not very complicated and not very expensive. Thanks for your comment.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with that frame.people are so quick to think"oh this frame has to go".bees are going to do what bees do.i've found frames like that in a couple of my hives and the bees straighten it out themselves in time. What works for some wont work for others
You could be correct. I initially thought I would leave it alone, but then I noticed that the largest section of it was extremely shallow. In other words only 1/8 of an inch of the cell could be filled with anything a half inch behind. It was all solid wax. that wasn’t gonna work.
what I usually do to fix wonky comb is scrape it and place it between 2 fully drawn frame. Do you still have drawn frames from your previous hives?
Makes perfect sense I do not so let’s see how a straight replacement will do. I noticed the frame next to it is drawn out very wide, so that may be contributing to it. Let’s see.
Bees are avoiding the plastic. Can’t blame them.
I usually scrap wonky comb and rewax heavily. I found there is not enough wax to get them to draw from face of plastic.
Do you use liquid wax?
@@4dhoneybee107 I have an old slow cooker I got at thrift store. You can melt old comb or burr comb and paint it on with a paint brush or 3 " roller.
Frank, Your choice of foundation vender is going to cause you Major trouble. The cardinal sin kind. Hundreds of New beekeeper have made the same mistake you are making by thinking you can continue to use that brand of Plastic foundation. You are doing your bees an injustice by not proving them with a properly waxed plastic they can stick the wax that comes out of their body too. You are, by using that foundation, minimizing the space they have to do what "YOU" expect them to do. And weeks later you will be scratching you head asking why? Buy yourself Heavy Waxed Premier Foundation and throw that trouble making crap you have in the trash. If they can't work with it replace it.
I totally agree with you Warren. I also like to add: if you are already investing in wax and the time to heavy wax the plastic, why not using just wax foundation like the rest of the world. Coming from Europe it was a big shock and surprise to see a plastic foundation.
Plastic foundation works fine but it has to have wax on it. It's even reusable when the comb needs to be replaced. We melt wax and apply it with a paint roller. Works great.
Hi Petra. The frames I use are wax covered plastic. I have used all wax frames before, but I found the disintegrate when being spun to extract, honey . so for me, they are essentially single use frames which is not feasible. In seven years of beekeeping with a maximum of seven hives too deep bodies and two Soopers, this is the first time that this has happened. So I consider my success rate with plastic frames quite acceptable. Hopefully that’s success rate continues, but we will see!
Great info thank you I have seen that done but I have yet to try it. I still have an inventory of approximately 30 new frames so I will see if the bees like them or not. Then I can plan the roller wax method when I reuse them if the bees are having issues. Thanks again for the info. This is excellent.
@@4dhoneybee107 yes you are right. They are a little more delicate, just sharing my experience. (I do not wanna be a know it all). Thanks for the answer.