Bees not pulling on new wood/wax frames

[Jen]

This is Crazy! I've been switching out plastic frames with new wood and wax frames for the last 6 weeks or so. The bees are wandering around on them, but no pulled wax, no business whatsoever!

[barry42001]

what's the colonies strength like, it might be simply a matter of Bees of the right age

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[G3farms]

Just watch what that swarm will do to them!!

[pistolpete]

to draw foundation you need a combination of a good honey flow and a lack of existing comb to store that nectar.   Chances are pretty good this time of year they are using everything that comes in and have lots of empty cells to store any surplus.  Once they run out of room they will start drawing comb.

[Jen]

Barry - This is my mother hive, the one the swarm just left from. There were plenty of bees of all ages from the last 6 weeks

[Jen]

G3 - These frames are in the mother hive that the swarm just left from

[Jen]

Pistol- ""to draw foundation you need a combination of a good honey flow and a lack of existing comb to store that nectar. Chances are pretty good this time of year they are using everything that comes in and have lots of empty cells to store any surplus.  Once they run out of room they will start drawing comb""

That makes a lot of sense. Except my hive just swarmed yesterday, not sure why, but the top deep was stuffed with bees and brood and 6 swarm cells. So I assume that they had run out of room already...

The science part of the hive is where I'm lacking. I'll be patient and keep an eye on it.

 

[Barbarian]

When I want my bees to draw wax foundation I use a double box set up..... one above the other.
The lower box contains 4 or 5 frames of combs of brood, bees and stores plus a dummy (division, follower) board.
The box above has frames of combs of brood, bees and stores plus one frame of foundation and a dummy board. The frames in the upper box are positioned immediately above the frames in the lower box.
If there is not a good nectar flow on, I will feed the colony.

With the foundation above, it is more likely for the comb to be drawn out down to the bottom bar.
To encourage the bees onto the foundation, some keeps brush the surface with syrup.
As long as the bees have foundation to draw it is unlikely for them to build wild comb outside the dummy board.

[tecumseh]

a Jen snip...
So I assume that they had run out of room already...

tecumseh...
there is more to swarming than simply running out of room.  There is a long list of variable that one need to think about when it comes to swarming 

if you want the foundation drawn then feed, feed, feed > one particular experiment Randy Oliver perform was to take one fairly robust single deep, add a single deep of foundation above this and then feed, feed, feed until they began to drawn out the top box.... I think he said that it took almost 6 gallons of syrup to get that job done.... he was using standard plasticell foundation which I myself think does not have enough wax on the surface unless you place these on a hive at exactly the right time.

[Slowmodem]

if you want the foundation drawn then feed, feed, feed > one particular experiment Randy Oliver perform was to take one fairly robust single deep, add a single deep of foundation above this and then feed, feed, feed until they began to drawn out the top box.... I think he said that it took almost 6 gallons of syrup to get that job done.... he was using standard plasticell foundation which I myself think does not have enough wax on the surface unless you place these on a hive at exactly the right time.

Exactly what I was going to say.  Lots of syrup.

You might try squirting/spritzing some syrup on the frames, too.

[Riverrat]

Where are you putting the frames in the hive you are wanting drawn out?  If they are in the outside position they will be slow to draw. If you put a frame in next to brood nest they will draw it quicker. In late spring when temps are warmer, I will insert a frame into the brood nest they will pull it even quicker.  It boils down to Bees will not pull wax unless the think they need the room.

[Jen]

Bar- interesting concept! and I was in my mother hive yesterday eliminating some of the queen cells, so I took the opportunity to spray some syrup on the new foundations 

Tec-""if you want the foundation drawn then feed, feed, feed > one particular experiment Randy Oliver perform was to take one fairly robust single deep, add a single deep of foundation above this and then feed, feed, feed until they began to drawn out the top box.... I think he said that it took almost 6 gallons of syrup to get that job done.... he was using standard plasticell foundation which I myself think does not have enough wax on the surface unless you place these on a hive at exactly the right time.""

So I've been feeding winter patties thru Feb, then the weather got real warm and I switched to 1:1 syrup for the last couple of weeks. Probably haven't been feeding long enough.

Riverrat- I put one wood/wax foundation right in the middle of the brood nest, then one on each side of the brood nest. And I rotate around as well.

We've got dandelions now, so a flow is in Go mode now. I'll keep checking....  THANKS EVERYONE!

[iddee]

May I ask why you were eliminating queen cells?

[Slowmodem]

I switched to 1:1 syrup for the last couple of weeks. Probably haven't been feeding long enough.

Are they taking the syrup?  You might want to put a little HBH or lemon juice in the syrup to help with the pH and make it taste better to attract them more.

[Jen]

Iddee ""May I ask why you were eliminating queen cells?""

Hi Iddee! ~~~ my husband said to say "Because a couple of someones told me too!" 

This stems back to last year when my one and only hive swarmed three times with in two weeks. The first swarm being HUGE! the other two being much smaller.

I was in the hive just the day before the swarming cleaning off gnarly burr comb and spotted 6 queen cells. The next day the swarm happened.

So it was suggested to go back into the hive and leave two queen cells, eliminate all others to avoid more swarming.

[barry42001]

yes you have to make sure there's at least one queen cell left to hatch, more than 2 and you risk the after swarms that you were talking about before.

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[iddee]

Which two? I never felt I could choose better than the bees. If I remove any, they go in a nuc. I never destroy them.

[Jen]

Iddee- ""Which two? I never felt I could choose better than the bees. If I remove any, they go in a nuc. I never destroy them.""

I like your advice... However...

I've only had one hive so far, I have very limited supplies. I don't have a nuc, and I don't have another deep. I wasn't sure that I could make a nuc out of a medium. Because of last years experience I'm doing what I think is right at this stage in my learning... trying to avoid another swarm. I was fortunate in that I was home when the swarm left, otherwise I would have never known half of my bees were gone, and the night time temp that night dropped below freezing.

Now I have new questions ~ like how long do I wait to see if the mother hive has a mated queen? BUT DON'T ANSWER THIS NOW, I'LL START A NEW THREAD 

[iddee]

A medium makes a very nice nuc.

[Jen]

Okee Dokee, Thanks!