Brood Box Frames

Very new to beekeeping! Received a Flow 2 as Christmas gift. Challenging day of construction by a novice. Noticed the brood box frames have no wires or inserts. How do the bees utilise these frames with no structure?

3 Likes

Hi Seli
You will notice that, when assembling the frames, there is a sliver of wood that goes into a slot at the top. This acts as a guide and the bees build down from that. There are plenty of videos showing how they need to be handled once the bees start filling them out, but they do a pretty good job of filling them out.

1 Like

Hi Seli, congrats on your new gear and welcome! As John says, your bees will build their comb from top down in a (hopefully) straightforward manner without help besides the comb guides. Many beeks use foundation to ensure the comb won’t be crossed or wavy, but I prefer to fit my deep frames with bamboo skewers for some extra structure without foundation.

There are endless details and choices for how you set things up! I would recommend taking a class either near you or online, where you can get a look at some of the typical configurations and better understand the rationale behind them.

When do you plan to get your bees?

1 Like

Hi Eva

My sense is that it’s a bit late in the season to procure bees so might have to cool my heels I think.

I’m linking in with local keepers they’ll have advice I’m sure

Thanks for your tip too.

Regards

2 Likes

@Seli Welcome to the fascinating world of Bees, I’m also a new beek, got my bees in mid October (a nucleus consisting of five frames with a newly mated queen) then I put them into my hive, once they had settled in, and added three blank frames with just the small length of wood that’s glued into the slot under the top of the frame.

It’s now the end of December and they have completed one blank frame, started to build up another (1/4 done) and also have begun on the last frame. At least that was on last inspection on 13th December. I live on the far north coast and it’s been very wet since Christmas but the next good day, I’m going back in to see how they are doing before putting the super on.

Hope this info helps, the flow training course helped me heaps as have all the wonderful folk on this forum. :pray:

2 Likes

Happy Beekeeping and Happy New Year
I purchased “embedded frames” and that gave my bees a bit of a head start.
Your local supplier will no doubt sell them.
Also, when I put on my super, I painted the flow frames with melted, pure, organic beeswax. However, please use a reputable supplier.