Swapping used converted UK national brood frames to Langstroth frames

How do you progress swapping out converted UK National/Langstroth brood frames to pure Langstroth frames as the brood increases so you end up with unconverted frames in the brood box?
Or do you just live with the converted frames forever? I will have a mixture of hive types so would like to eventually be able to reuse my National frames in my National hive.

Most people rotate brood frames out of their brood boxes after 3-5 years, or if they are damaged by wax moth or chalkbrood. There are many ways to do this, but generally I only take out 2 old frames at a time, replacing them with a new frame with fresh foundation. I tend to do it in early spring, when the outer frames are often empty. You can put the new frames in there, and once they are drawn out, move them in towards the middle, so that when you come to switch out the next set of frames, they are next to the wall. I sometimes swap out a second pair of frames later in the season, but it gets harder to do this as the hive fills up.

There are lots of other ways to do this too, including putting any frames of brood above a queen excluder until the brood has all hatched and emerged, but the important thing to remember is not to cause too much disruption in one go. I would wait at least a month between removals to give the bees time to rebuild and recover. :blush:

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Thank you Dawn, great reply, exactly what I needed to know!
Rebecca

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