I had to buy more frames and they didn’t come with comb guides so I purchased some straight pine 1 inch wide sticks to use for the guides. My question is, for foundationless frames do the guides have to be the same width as the original Flow frame’s guides? The Flow guides are about 1/2 inch wide and the ones I purchased are 1" wide, so they would hang down from the top of the frame twice as far (1/2" vs 1/4") as the original comb guides in Flow frames. Will that work okay, or do I need to cut the boards down to 1/2 inch wide? Appreciate any help with this!
It really doesn’t matter much. As long as they fit in the groove in the top bar of the frame, the bees will use them just fine.
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@Dawn_SD thanks so much for the reply. I just added a picture of the comb guide. I was hoping I wouldn’t need to cut all these little boards down the middle! Yay!
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It should be just fine. People have been using paint stirring sticks for several years, and I think that most of those are 1" wide. They work fine
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I used a straight edge and a utility knife to score the stirrer sticks and then split them by hand. But I totally agree with @Dawn_SD that it does not matter, the bees will find their way.
Shortly after you install the frames, make sure that they start building from the bottom of the wood guide and not the side. If they seem to be veering off course you can bend the soft wax into a better position by hand during your inspection.
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