I only use solids now for new hives. I have one hive with a screened bottom. I wouldn’t necessarily change them out for winter. I just don’t like them with ants and other pests in SoCal. Pests die off in winter too, so that isn’t the reason. It is just the pests (ants and wasps disrupting from below) in summer and fall which make life hard for the bees.
If you had a serious SHB problem, you might need different advice. I don’t, and I think you don’t either.
Most screened bottoms have a slider slot, and you can just fill it with thin plywood for the winter.
Thank you for including climate in your post! We have extremely hot summers here and generally mild winters. Thousands of acres of farmland surround our home that include crops and tons of wildflowers. I will make sure the single brood box is really established first before the addition of the flow supers. My Bee Mentor said that we may not use the supers for a year and I will follow his advice. When he comes out to do another inspection with us I’m interested to see the progress made. When we pulled out the corrugated white sheet at the bottom I can already see lines indicating at least 5 frames being used. Unfortunately when we removed the queen cage I had already noticed what is referred to as bridge comb. I will be cognizant to notice climate and location in other posts, thank you so much!
I do all my hives weekly and in doing that I have reduced my SHB (small hive beetle) to none in the last 3 inspections, I squashed any I found. I won’t say they are eradicated but they are controllable without the use of chemicals or traps. You will also learn a lot by seeing the activity of the colony.
Regards
We opened the hive today and these are the pictures we took of the frames. This is the progress after installation of a package and queen plus 17 days. The two darker frames were given for us to use in order to have some type of wax establishment on frames. It was old wax that my mentor trimmed down to less than a half inch all the way across. We did see the queen and were pleased with the progress. The comb was crossing over from frame to frame and we did our best to separate it. We did loose some larvae but I hope it wasn’t too much. Any advice?
Whoopsie-daisy! … they have been naughty girls. I would suggest you fix this ASAP before it becomes a larger issue for you. Your mentor should be able to help. I haven’t had much success using those foundationless frames as you can see the bees have trouble anchoring the honeycomb and quite often will anchor on either side of the timber strip at the top of the frame, this is why you have two differently aligned honeycombs on the same frame.
There are two ways this can be fixed and I’ll leave it up to you with how you go about it.
Slice off the honeycomb and re-align into the frame using elastic bands, the bees will anchor the comb in the new position in a couple of days.
Add another box on top with a queen excluder in between and gradually move the wonky comb frames up into the top box (leaving all the bees in the bottom box), once the brood has all hatched, remove the frames from the hive. Replace the empty spots with frames fitted with wax foundation. Over 4-6 weeks, this will all be fixed and you can either remove the top box or leave as a second brood or honey super if your bees numbers will support it.
Hope these suggestions help…
Thank you very much for the advice! I will be in touch with my mentor and try to find some larger rubber bands. Looks like I need to order another brood box as well in addition to more frames. I do believe I would feel better with swapping to something different from the foundationless frames.
I am not sure what the normal practice is in your area for whether to go with single brood box or double but if its always handy to have an extra box about…
Agreed!! I had another beekeeper in the area interested in doing the hive inspection with us when we spoke the other day. I was eager to get his viewpoint on several questions I had since he is the only other Flow Hive owner in the area. He owns 2 and purchased a third for his son. One of his main recommendations was to get a second box immediately. I just hope my mentor is able to help me fix the cross comb, and double comb issue quickly.
It’s actually quite a simple procedure and should be all done & dusted in 10-15mins… apart from that everything else is looking good… hope it all goes well.
Your frames are a good example against using frames without foundation fitted. To get some of those frames usable they will need cutting out of comb and rubber banding as @Rodderick has well advised. If what you want from the hive production is honey, and wax as a side product then I would strongly advise towards using foundation to save from these issues.
Welcome to the forum Jamie, you will find a lot of information on this forum and folks who are happy to give you advise and help.
Awesome. Your bees are going for it.
I agree, going foundationless as a beginner is like being thrown into the deep end.
I did it, and learned I had to get into the hive weekly to correct what needed correcting until they finished building out their brood box.
No big deal and excellent learning.
You end up with comb the bees built all by themselves with cell sizes according to their needs. Happy bees!
I had some plastic foundation supplied with some nucs and the bees sure prefer to build their own.
Additionally, you never know what’s in bought foundation.
Comb built in deep frames without any means of support for weight distribution does tend to get messy! If you’re short on foundation or just don’t want to use it, I’ve had good results with bamboo skewers glued into drilled holes evenly placed along the top & bottom inside foundationless frames. I’ve seen other beeks use a thin piece of wood, thicker than a skewer, placed diagonally inside a deep frame. Either way, the area is broken up into more secure parts and the bees will have something to use as an anchor for all that weight.
A great way to ease into foundationless is to begin with every other comb; then you can rotate the foundation frames out as they build their beautiful straight comb.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate the feedback and encouragement. I would LOVE for them to build their own comb and I acknowledge that many use the foundationless frames. This is just a learning curve. I really don’t want to keep disrupting their work but my concern is that it will get worse if I don’t intervene with the bands. Will the bands stay and be a part of the frames from now on once they are added?
The bees will chew the rubber bands right off as soon as they’ve secured the combs. Then they’ll drag the pieces out the front door if they can manage! Just yesterday I saw a piece of rubber band poking out of the entrance of my hive containing a swarm that I gave some frames of rubber banded comb to when I installed them. I pulled it out & got rid of it for them ️
This makes me feel better about it and I know that’s what I need to to. I showed my mentor all the pictures and he said to leave them alone. Consequently I feel like they need the bands in order to build the comb on the frames correctly. But I’m such a beginner I don’t want to go against what he recommends because he has had up to 100 hives at the height of his beekeeping career.
I really want to do this right and I’ve got to put my hands on another brood box and frames no matter what I do. Another beekeeper in the area did the inspection with us yesterday and before he left he reminded us that he had killed every colony he has purchased I trust him as well though because I can learn from his mistakes.
I went out there tonight and saw about 10 dead bees lying around the hive and one white larvae (sp?) on the landing. I watched the worker bees carry them out a little yesterday afternoon. I already feel terrible about the damage I caused just separating the comb enough to pull out the frames individually. Which honestly was absolutely minimal I promise. The worst part was pulling the white board out and seeing the beetles and ants of two different varieties. I have only had the hive for a couple of weeks and I’ve never seen a single ant on the tray. I do have a beetle trap in the hive that was placed yesterday.
Jamie, you have no option than to try to fix up the comb, for a bee keeper to advise you that there is nothing to worry about is just so wrong. As for the second bee keeper it sound like you should listen to him and do the opposite to his advise.
At this stage use the beetle traps and if you can get an ant power with Pyretherim ( probably spelt wrong but that is how it sounds) and find the ant nest area and throw a bit of the powder on them. Once you become used to the bees you squashing the small hive beetle(SHB) will help as much as the traps. When the colony is strong they will control the beetle but you will usually see a few to kill.
Bees dumping dead bodies out of the hive is normal house cleaning and 10 is quite acceptable, they only live 60 to 90 days and some will die while in the hive.
Regards
Great to hear you’re persevering with a plan @JamieB! i had to deal with the same intimidating mess in my first brood box and was so tempted to leave it alone. I had to go after it twice, and finally the combs were straight enough to be pulled out for proper inspections. If you can get a strong helper, maybe the method suggested to me by @Michael_Bush would appeal to you - I didn’t have an extra pair of hands so I didn’t try it…it has to do with flipping the brood box upside down and cutting through the cross comb from the bottom!
Anyway - about your ant problem: pyrethrin (or pyrethrum) is derived from chrysanthemums and considered safe for use around people and on animals…but it could harm your bees so just be careful if you do use it. What I use is a borax trap, see below - and check the search tool for lots of other ant & pest management tips!
Mix one part borax to three parts sugar & dissolve in water, put some into a small glass jar with a cotton ball or bit of paper towel for ants to climb on, cover jar opening with aluminum foil & secure with rubber band or the ring for the jar if it’s the type for preserves. Poke a few holes in the foil with a fork or something - large enough for ants but too small for bees!
Eventually they’ll all start going in there instead of the hive, because it’s easier. Keep an eye on the trap to make sure the foil barrier is intact & replenish your mixture when the body count gets high inside the jar.
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I trust him as well though because I can learn from his mistakes.