Crazy comb

[Psparr]

Going through my first hive and I have a couple questions. Hope you have good answers.
First. There are frames with drawn comb say on the left half of the frame, and the frame facing that one has real tall drawn comb protruding into the empty space of the adjacent frame. Is there any way to correct this?
Second. When inspecting the frames, I pull # 1 and set it aside then go about checking the others. When complete I slide the frames together slowly of course. But how am I not smashing bees in the process? My worry is the queen. I slowly nudge the frames closer together, trying to give them time to realize there running out of space and to get out of the way. Any suggestions? Also have a little bridge comb near the top of the frames that gets hairy when putting them back in place.

[AllenF]

On putting the frames back.   Go real slow.   You can push the bees out of the way before the frames come together.   And on the comb, are you using foundation?   

[10framer]

allen, i'm betting the answer on the foundation is "no" or else it's plastic foundation.  somebody gave me some duragilt and the bees either refused to draw it out or they tried to make cross comb off of it.  i threw it away in the end.

[AllenF]

Also check the spacing between frames.   Leave no gaps with new frames.  Bees will build comb between frames if there is too much bee space there.   Push all the frames together. 

[BlueBee]

My bees quite often make a mess of the small cell plastic frames.  Regular foundation or regular sized plastic foundation is a lot less troublesome to me.  The others work too; it’s just more work for me.

[Psparr]

It is plastic foundation. Although. There's one frame in there with no foundation, and that's the nicest one. 

Another question. The deep I bought is about 3/4 drawn and the bees are really packing in pollen and honey. Seems like there running out of brood space. I put another deep on top with half wax foundation and half plastic frames. Checked it 3 days later and there were bees up there but not many. I put a frame of nectar up there trying to draw them up. Is there anything else I can do? Didn't want to put brood up there without other drawn comb figuring they might get chilled.

[tillie]

When we teach beginners I always quote Brian D. Bray who used to post on this forum all the time.  He said always start pulling frames from a box with the second frame from the side.  Then that will be the last frame you put back in.  In both pulling out that frame first and in putting it back in last, you are pressing bees against other bees rather than against the side of the box.  Your chances of killing bees goes way down with this method.

We always remove the second frame first in every inspection.

Linda T in Atlanta

[BlueBee]

It is plastic foundation. Although. There's one frame in there with no foundation, and that's the nicest one. 

But is it worker bee cells or drone cells?  The bees love to make drones on the foundationless frames.

The bees will comb the upper box when they are pressed for space.  Meaning more baby bees hatch out, or they are lacking space for nectar.  If for some reason they fill up the bottom box and haven’t started to move up, take 2 or 3 frames of brood and move them up and squish the remaining brood frames in the bottom box together and fill the sides with new frames.

Different strokes for different folks I guess, but I always pull the outer most frame first.  And then pry and slide the rest as needed for an inspection.  The odds of the queen being between that outer frame and the box is very small.  There’s almost never brood there unless the bees are really cramped.  I might end up killing a few more workers that way, but I feel I’m less likely to squish the queen.
 

[don2]

I think what you have is plastic foundation with out enough wax on them. The bees will start at  the edge of the top bar to start the building of the comb. if it hasn't gone too far, cut it out. replace the frame with one coated with wax, a wax foundation, or a starter strip. Don't let "wild" comb go to far, it can lead to head aces. this is one time it is broke, so it is ok to fix it. :( :(the comb from the top of one frame to the other is bridge comb, just cut it out.  :) d2

[Psparr]

The foundationless  is worker size. However there is one frame that is packed with drone brood. Do they make a black plastic drone foundation? I thought they were green.

[don2]

The deep drone foundation I have is green. :) d2