Brood frames - To Glue or Not to Glue?

Great video by Martin for assembling the entire hive. Thank you!

…but after viewing Louise’s equivalent for assembling the brood frames, we realized she had glued the joints where Martin (and we) had not.

Should we expect the frames to be less durable as a result?

Thank you.

I don’t Glue. Our Club attitude is if you need to replace part of the frame you can’t without destroying the frame.

I don’t glue either. The bees glue stuff together just fine with no help from us even when we wish they wouldn’t.

They will be fine without glue.

Jstrano,

I wouldn’t be concerned about the glue job but i personally GLUE mine. I use the same non-toxin glue I use to make laminated cutting boards. My dad n I always did that back in the 1950’s n 60’s. So now that I’m back at it. I keep some of my own ideas n assemble stuff with glue n nails just like the old days with my dad. . If mine come apart … they were ready to be trashed ! So I Vote for GLUE ! But don’t sweat it ! :wink:. Just keep at it n enjoy ! Gerald

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Thank you all for this feedback.

I glue all of my frames. The reasons are two-fold.
Brood frames, I would think, are likely to stay a bit more static in the brood box becoming quite glued down by the bees. I’d hate to be trying to pry one loose and have the top-bar separate.

In my non-Flow supers, I don’t want a honey frame to fling apart in an extractor or come apart under weight.

Hi Bobby, I never glue. Nailing is normally sufficient. However if one does come apart, it’s never in the extractor, it’ll be because the bottom bar got too stuck to the QX. That’s easy fixed with a pilot hole to start & a 40mm flat head galvanized nail.

I got a hold of a compressor and a staple gun for my last batch of frames.

1 3/4" staples are gloriously good.
No more glue.

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Hi Bobby, I was thinking about a staple gun while I was typing my message. I think they’re all the ‘go’. I have a lot of frames that other people have stapled & they never come apart.

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Jeff, the “K’CHUNK” sound when doing it all the while knowing that baby is never coming apart is quite gratifying.

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I glue the beejeebers out of them. Once the bees propolise them in place and you need to pry them out with the hive tool you learn your lesson. For $2.00 per frame I’m not replacing a frame part, I’m replacing the frame.

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As a woodworker, I believe wood joints are improved with glue, so I glue and staple my frames for added peace of mind. However, the preassembled factory frames I buy aren’t glued, so it probably doesn’t matter except in my mind. :blush:

I agree (as a non-woodworker), except… :smile:

If you ever need to repair a hive box, it is much easier if you can dismantle it. If it is glued with PVA glue, forget-about-it! :blush: You will break more than you needed to repair. I don’t glue my boxes, because I am willing to try to repair them. I do glue my frames, because they are so cheap, I wouldn’t try to repair them.

So like everything in life, it all depends… :sunglasses:

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I have one frame that has galvanized nails in both ends to replace the lugs that rotted off. Other frames have nails in one end. Some frames have been held together with frame wire because the wood wouldn’t accept nails any more.

I picked up a couple of hundred new ones when I recently picked up foundation. I’ll probably get ruthless with those old frames instead of repairing them. Anyway they make good fire kindling or entrance reducers.

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out with the old in with the new. Sounds to me like you’ve gotten good use out of those frames and time to retire them.

For what it is worth: I glue and staple. Adding glue only takes a second- and afterwards the frames are more rigid. I bought a cheap corded Ozito Nail/Staple gun from bunnings- money well spent.

I had lots of frames given to me. I hadn’t bought any for about 20 years. I’m selling frames with nucs now after a few bad experiences with swapping frames. I’m glad I’m doing that because I used some foundation that looked beautiful & white, I think it might have been 30 or 40 sheets. I swapped for frames with foundation not fitted. Anyway the bees hate it. In some areas they build on it nicely, but mostly they build on it, & it looks like the comb is riddled with wax moth tunnels. I meant to bring one home this morning to show the forum on Peter’s thread about bad imported wax. I thought it might be just one colony, but it’s every colony & they all look identical. I did some robbing, so I put one frame in each hive I robbed to give the bees something to work on. This morning I returned the stickies & retrieved the frames. I’ll need to check on a colony I took a split from because I put 6 of those frames in the brood box.