Frames, foundation and embedding help

Section 11 is as clear as mud. When I had a DPI inspector visit my apiary and we chatted on this subject of what an easily inspect-able frame really meant he laughed and said it is as tight or loose as he wants it to be. He came as a non official visit after me contacting him about chalk brood. Although the hive had frames removed a week earlier the usual about of bur comb was built and it didn’t cause an issue with him at all. But then again he was helpful and I wasn’t aggressive towards him in any way so he saw not reason to enforce section 11. I found him very friendly and helpful.

Sure thing. Yes, I drilled a little into the underside of the top bars and used a dab of glue. The thicker ends are in those holes and the tapered ends are snapped off and tensioned against the bottom strip.

I started making these in my second year, after a terrible experience with foundationless - I killed the queen (I assume, based on subsequent emergency requeening evidence) when the majority of the brand-new and nectar-filled comb my package bees had built just dropped out of the frame before I had even lifted it all the way out. The rest of that season was a cross-comb battle with a bread knife.
The idea came to me and it’s been working very well since. It’s easy to cut out old brood comb when it’s time to cycle out, so it’s basically a permanent fix.

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Thank you Eva for that, I really appreciate. I think with that photo of yours with skewers and straight comb, you convinced me to give it another go. (together with @ABB’s advice on drones). I’m going to have another hive and I can compare.

Cheers!

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I tried one natural frame in my hive a few months ago. I started with a strip foundation I had left over from when I accidentally kept the circuit on too long whilst embedding.

The bees drew beautifully straight comb, except they went overboard with the done comb. I believe this was because I put the frame on the outer frames. Drone cells are typically found on the peripheries of the colony.

Next time I will checkerboard a frame with strip foundation towards the centre of the frames. But will wait until spring add it’s too cold to do it now.

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I like to see drone cells on my good hives. If they’re fortunate in the mating stakes, they’ll put good genes into the environment around me and might reward me with better queens in future years :slight_smile:

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