We fully loaded the brood box from a wall colony …

First timer here. We took a LARGE colony out of a house wall today, and the brood box is already now 90% full of comb. Should we add the Flow frame super now, or wait a bit?

Hi Dominic, when you say “today”. I would wait to make sure that everything is fine with the brood frames before adding the honey super. Hive beetles can be a problem when comb is touching each other, as well as any dead & dying bees soaked in honey on the floor.

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Thank you Jeff for replying. Yes, some of the combs will be touching. How do I rectify this, or will the bees do it?

Press all the frames together tightly into the middle of the box, and perform regular inspections as the comb is being built out.
Remove any empty or straight frames from the brood box to give yourself room to work on the crossed-comb. Separate the comb that has started to attach from the neighbouring frame by cutting the comb away from the top, bottom and side/s of the frame. Pull the next-door frame (now no longer attached) out of the way, and gently push the flared piece of comb into its correct frame. Use a rubber band to secure it in place.
We have more information on our website here: Managing cross comb

Hi Dominic, you’re welcome. Sorry I didn’t reply sooner. I probably wouldn’t “press all the frames together tightly into the middle”. Basically you want to finish up with all the frame’s shoulders touching without any of the combs touching each other. Do what @bija said, & trim any comb away so that the comb falls within the confines of each frame, & DO regular checks to make sure that hive beetles don’t get a chance to lay any eggs.

We’ve seen some nightmare stories of beetles vs hive cut-outs

Hi Jeff and bija. We inspected the hive today, and the bees are many and happy. And not aggressive. None of the combs were crossed, IE they all came out without cutting. However, most of the combs (salvaged from a wall cavity) are not attached to the top of the frame. Instead they are resting on the bottom member of the frame. As a result, they are tending to buckle and thicken towards the bottom of the combs.
Is it possible / recommended to attach them to the top, and what would be the best method? I am thinking cable ties.
BTW, so satisfying to have bees on our property (Gold Coast, Australia).

Hi Dominic, I’m sure the bees will bridge the gap between the top bars & the comb. However in the brood box I like all the brood frames to contain at least 95% worker comb. This is difficult to achieve by using comb from a cut-out. Therefore I would suggest to slowly replace any frames without the high percentage of worker comb with fully drawn frames of mostly worker comb.

I get such frames after harvesting honey the traditional way. I simply put such frames to one side with the view to use them in brood boxes.

I have a lot to learn.

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We love photos, they always help when accompanied with questions.

Three great videos to learn from are on Youtube:
“City of Bees”, “Nova, Bee Tales From a Hive”, and “A Civilization 100 Million Years Old”.