Time for a second brood box?

Did you build those frames yourself? It looks like the nails are wrong, and should go sideways otherwise the frame might break apart with the weight of the comb. that happened to us before and it was a mess.

I’m nosey and can’t help it haha…

The nailing is right providing there is also a nail from the shoulder into the top bar in the horizontal position. If your like me and don’t like hammering your thumb then staples using an air gun is another option.:grinning:
Cheers, Peter

Many US beekeepers nail and glue their frames, me included. If you do both, you really don’t need the nails except to hold the frame straight while the glue dries. A good PVA glue is meant to be as strong as the wood itself, if applied correctly. We have PVA glues which are approved for “indirect food contact” (i.e. fine if they are dry and not directly touching honey all the time) and that is what most people use on their frames.

:wink:

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If you are referring to my frames yes they are nailed and glued together

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Having frames fall apart like that is without a doubt the best way to learn.

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We use pva, but still had at least one that failed from memory. Across the pond you must have better nails and glue haha.

I’ve always been told to drive the nail sideways and when I did not, I had to undo them all and do them again.

Out of curiosity, is there any drawback in driving the nail sideways? I can only see positives. Even the ones at the shop have nails sideways on the top bar.

Yes for me. I can’t use my frame jig if I do that. The jig is a huge time saver. I haven’t had a frame fall apart in the last 100 that I have made, but it will probably happen this week now that you have made me say that! :smile:

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aha… i thought there’s a good reason.

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I just read this and I am not sure if one should have the entire burden of confusion… I am on so many bee sites and with each post is a different answer. I read them all put them in my brain and come up with my plan. It is always good to hear many ways of thinking.

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Ok we spoke before and I am tooling around the site and come upon this thread… First box is a deep it has brood.then it filled I added a medium and they filled it with honey so I added the flow super and they are going into that. I am in Hawaii so weather changes, flowers come and go and we do have a low flower period, we do have seasons just no real cold days. I want to give room to grow more bees do I add another box? Not sure what to do? Not ready to split and I would like a really strong hive in preparation for a future split. Just to clarify in my brain what are your thoughts?

Where I live it is a sub-tropical climate and it is ‘normal’ here to run single full depth brood box hives as my Winter days are from 8c at night to mid 20’s of a day. I’m guessing your climate might be similar.

I do walk-away splits as soon as the cooler weather is over as there is always foraging thru the year. Doing splits is a way or controlling swarming.
In cooler climates then a 2nd brood box is advisable but then a 2nd brood box can make inspections longer and harder to find the queen.
I hope that answers your question.
Cheers

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sometimes the frame splits? I used to hand nail- two virtically and one horizontally and occasionally the nails hit each other and it was anoying.

I use a very cheap staple gun and glue for all my frames- two staples on each frame endis like having 4 nails at each end on the top- and one staple on the bottom bar like two nails. So essetially each frame as 12 nails and glue- and they are as soild as can be. The staple are in a sense stronger than nails too as you can’t readily pull them through the wood like the head of a nail can be pulled in. I love my staple gun it saves so much time. Plonk! Plonk!..Plonk! Plonk! yeah, that’s what I am talking about…

I inspected a very old porrly maintained hive and had a frame break- and it is a big pain- especially if you don’t happen to have a new replacement frame handy at the time. I like to over-secure my frames just to avoid that annoyance.

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Could not agree more.
I have an air powered gun run from a compressor. However now you can get the 18V cordless staple guns. Drat, I might have to buy one, as luck would have it, I don’t have a compressor in the “Bee House”. :rofl::rofl::rofl:

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Here’s a follow-up post to this from a month ago…

This is all in reference to the post with my frame pictures from June 11th timeframe…
I left it alone from mid June till yesterday and they’ve filled 4 of the 6 frames ( 2 look to be all honey and 2 brood) the two on the left had very little done with them so I took the third one from the left and put it on the outside and move the left 2 in towards the center to hopefully encourage them to fill the last two frames.( Since this is a new Hive I opted for not taking any honey from this Hive being that it’s the first year and a new hive so that hopefully they can keep all their honey reserves for survival during the winter)

the only problem I’m seeing with their new frames they filled is there building across between two of them, what are my options with this? I know that if I used pre drawn-out brood frames this would not happen and may do this differently next year to eliminate crossing because of using foundationless frames but really up until this point they have not done it as badly as what I’m seeing in this upper brood box.
Pictures to come…
Thanks Matt

Hey Matt, cross comb between frames is something you will have to live with if you don’t use foundation, You have been lucky till now. I wire all my frames and add foundation regardless of if they are going into the Super or the brood. At least if you do them all you can make the frame usable in either position. I really like to have all my gear the same so that it is all interchangeable.
I like your idea of leaving the honey on the hive for your first winter.
Cheers

I’m hoping that by not trying to harvest any honey this fall that they can make it through the winter and then possibly harvest some in 2020!?!
Thanks Matt

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Okay I was tempted to take a large knife and try to separate them but in looking at what was there I figured I would do more harm than good by trying to do that…
In a couple days I’m going to add one or two formic pro mite strips to try and stay ahead of the next thing that’s probably going to start.

Is there anything that kills moths before they start?( I be always wanted to make a bat box and wonder if by having bats they might control the wax moths?
Thanks Matt

Hey Hunt - the joy of foundationless frames, eh? I believe Peter meant that this will keep happening, but not necessarily something you keep allowing. Your large knife temptation is spot-on, even though it will do some damage. Just move very very slowly and carefully, so you don’t accidentally injure your queen and to spare as much brood as you can. The bees will clean up honey spills. It’s not a fun job but it’s way better than trying to pry apart cross-combed deep frames during an inspection! You run a big risk of damage there for sure.

Be brave and steady, and over time, your more deliberate and controlled corrections will result in straighter combs, and you can eventually cycle out the worst ones for either foundation or wired frames. I still avoid foundation because commercial kinds here in the US have a buildup of toxins. I use bamboo skewers to provide vertical bracing across deep frames instead & this has worked well.

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Well if I was just going to be harvesting the honey for my own use or whatever I would feel better about cutting these in half and losing a lot of the honey supply that they have built up, but I do not plan to harvest any and want to leave it for them to use for their reserve over the fall/winter.

I agree with @Eva. I know that you don’t want to damage their winter stores, but the longer you leave it, the worse it will get. If the comb detaches from the frame as you cut it apart, you can always rubber band it back into the frame. As long as you keep the comb the correct way up (cells slant down toward the middle) and cut it over the hive, you shouldn’t lose much honey at all. The bees will lick up the drips and reuse it.

The best thing for killing moths in a hive is bees. :blush: Keep the hive strong, and you shouldn’t have a problem. They are one of the facts of beekeeping life, and all you can do is control them, never get rid of them. Some people hang wax moth traps in nearby trees (adult moths tend to rest in trees near a hive). However, I just worry that the traps will attract more moths and wasps, so I have never used them.

Most sure about bats and moths, but I know they are voracious consumers of mosquitoes, so that could be reason enough to keep them. :smile:

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