Going Commando

Things are a bit lonely around here without the bees in the backyard, I'm finding I have lots of time on my hands in between shifts. No longer can I sit out on my lawn chair and watch the hive of activity. The animal control officer didn't stop by yesterday or today. I'm not sure if they'd actually talk with us or just walk around back to check that it was gone. In all honesty, I was very tempted just to box it up throw it in the garage for a day and then put it back out in the yard. If I changed the location I bet my kooky neighbour wouldn't even notice, however if she did I can't really afford the $500 fine.

It's been about 2 weeks since I hived the nuc package, the bees should be almost at the point of needing a new super to be put on. Tomorrow I will be heading out to check how they are doing, and to do a quick inspection. I want to see if they are drawing any comb on the Mann Lake foundation and maybe move a few things around. Today I made up some foundationless frames. It was a quick procedure and I took some pictures so you can follow along.

Foundationless frames are exactly what they say. They are wooden frames that don't have wax foundation installed into them. They only have a small piece of wood at the top and the bees take it from there. Wax foundation is somewhat frowned upon by natural beekeeping because the template stamped into it make the bees draw a larger cell size than they normally would. Also, most commercial foundation is made from wax that comes from large commercial bee yards where they "sheep dip" their hives regardless of what diseases they have.

I started off by assembling the frames with wood glue and nails, standard procedure and you can't really do it wrong. I then took some paint stir sticks I obtained for free from the hardware store and stuck them into the upper grove along the top bar. The stir sticks are the perfect size as they usually require you to hammer them into place, this very tight fight negates the use of any wood glue. Some frames do vary, so wood glue can be use if they are pulled out easily by hand. It takes about 1 and a quarter stir sticks per frame. Here is what they looked like.

Next I took some of the burr comb I had saved from my first inspection, this wax would hopefully be less contaminated as it was freshly made since I installed the nuc. I melted the wax down in a pot I had purchased from goodwill, I didn't want to ruin any of my good pots, and then painted the wax onto the stir sticks. This little bit of wax will entice the bees to draw the comb starting from the top. Voila! Foundationless frames.

Burr comb in pot

Melted burr comb

Application with paint brush

Coating the entire stir stick

There are a few things a beekeeper has to be aware of when working with foundationless frames. First, new comb is very fragile so when you inspect your hive you must keep the frame vertical while holding it up to look at. If you turn the frame horizontal, the weight of the wax will break the comb off at the stir stick. This isn't an issue for frames with foundation because it holds the weight of the wax. Secondly, you must ensure that your hive is level both front to back and side to side. (a little forward tilt won't hurt to ensure rain runs out of the hive) When bees festoon, hang in a ball by joining limbs to drawn new comb, on foundationless frames the direction in which they are pulled by gravity will affect the direction of the comb. So if your hive was tilted to the left, all the natural comb would be angled to the left inside the box crossing frames and causing a mess. Ensuring a level platform will ensure the comb is drawn straight down.

Also, I've made a few changes on the right side. I now have an email setup so everyone can contact me. I've also put up an inspection schedule. If you live in Edmonton or greater area and want to come out with me to check out the bees feel free to send me an email and we can set up a meeting. If I get a high amount of interest, I will go out and purchase some extra gear so you can get up close and personal.