JP,
I was wondering, when you put the brood comb in the frames, how long do you leave it in the hive before you rotate it out? Do you wait till the brood hatches then replace that frame with fresh foundation or do you let them use it for a year or so? Nice job on the cut out!
I let them have it, albeit at times its difficult to work. Surviving a colony and its genetics is paramount when performing a removal. If a queen is not found I want them to have the resources to make a queen from their own stock.
Removals can be quite stressful on bees and you will lose some. By adding their own brood sections they get re-enforcements from hatching bees, it helps curtail absconding and as stated they have the ability to make a queen, provided eggs/young larvae is present.
...JP
Thank JP, I understand that you save the brood... I do the same, but I guess my question is how long do you leave you frames of cutout comb in the hive...a year, a few months, indefinately? I try to rotate out my old frames/foundation every few years and will have numerous frames of cutout comb. Some of it, after the brood has hatched they dont use anymore some of it it they use all the time.....I'll cut sections off taht thy dont use and they rebuild, but usually into drone comb.
