"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!""it might be simply a matter of Bees of the right age""Just watch what that swarm will do to them!!""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." "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" "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"
***************************************************************
jen, just catching up, and also read your swarmed hive thread.....
like iddee, i don't cut any swarm cells, i leave them bee.....or utilize them in a nuc.
my humble two cents about why your bees weren't drawing wax? they were in swarm mode. tecumseh said it best really, there is more to swarming.
swarming preps starts taking place several weeks before lift off. they are not going to be interested in drawing comb. they are preparing to swarm. they are going to leave. lots of activities take place or cease prior to a swarm issuing, like lack of foraging, bees restless and 'wandering around on the comb'. queen cells. also the queen is slimmed down so that she can fly, bees engorge themselves for their new home, and off they go. more complex than that. so a clue as to why your bees were not drawing out the comb...
age of the bee to draw wax, very young bees; i think between age 12 and 20 days.
the feeding you did probably helped them if they were short on stores but also escalated the swarming, especially if they were congested , ran out of room on combs, and ran out of space above.
typically bees will draw foundation with a good honey flow on, lots of young bees in the hive at this time in the spring of the year, this really is the best time to utilize the bees to draw comb. i find that the bees will draw foundation well, after i have divided them (to keep them from swarming) and before the main flow, so they get back to normal business, like drawing comb . what g3 said, swarms draw comb very well, their honey stomachs are full, and lots of young bees to draw wax to store what they brought with them. even when it's your own hive.
