Frames stuck together....

[tclark1960]

My bees in my one bee hive are glueing the frames together with that bee glue. I went into it the other day and all the frames were glued together. Is this a normal thing, or is it because I dont check it enough? It had been about a month since I looked into it.
Thanks

[manowar422]

Perfectly normal! They call it PROPOLIS.

Some types of bee are worse than others at "glueing",
but this is why everyone who keeps bees has a hive tool.

It's main function is to pry loose the hive's different
pieces so you can look and work where you need to.

If it has been a while since opening my hive, sometimes
a great deal of strength is required to pry apart the
boxes :shock:

[tclark1960]

I could understand a little glueing from these things...but every frame was glued at the top of the box, and together down the sides where they touched. Do I need to try and scape or clean the propolis off the frames a little? Will that help them from regluing or make it worse? Thanks

[Apis629]

If you scrape it they'll just reglue it.

[TREBOR]

so far I have four type of the bees.
 carni's
 Ital.
 russ.
 SMaRt
they all do it , some more then others, I supose.
 but they all do it, I have to scrape and pry
allmost everytime.
they're main deal is not ness. to make things easy for you
 its to make things comfy for them  
I think PROPOLIS is just part of beekeeping
 hey, somepeople even pay money for it .
HAVE FUN!

[Joseph Clemens]

Welcome to beekeeping. It is wonderful that the bees use propolis to seal cracks and coat the entire interior of the beehive, because propolis is a good preservative and is honeybee compatible. Removing it whenever you inspect would sure take up lots of time and give the bees more to do before your next inspection.

[latebee]

I have found that the easiest way to loosen the frames is using the curved end of the hive tool prying inward one frame at a time. Loosen each one then begin to remove the outermost  frame,placing it on the ground next to the hive. Once you have this room to manipulate the frames,they can be easily lifted using a tool or your hand.One word of caution-look at that first frame before placing it on the ground to make sure the queen is not on it,usually shes not there,but one time I did notice that she was on that outside frame. A few puffs of smoke from time to time will keep the girls from flying all over the where,and distracting you from the job of inspecting.As far as the bee glue(propolis)is concerned,from my experience, it will restick the bodies or frames together in a matter of minutes in very hot weather once the surfaces touch one another again.All honeybees make propolis,just the same as they make honey and gather pollen.And yes you can be sure they will reglue it again.

[tclark1960]

Thanks for the replies,
I have watched some videos and did not notice them having problems while inspecting. I guess I will just pry away gently and hope not to tear apart anything.
Thanks a bunch

[Joseph Clemens]

Usually they come apart easily when its warm, but when its cold it is quite a bit more difficult (the propolis hardens).

[JoshK]

I scrape the propolis off; I know they will just reglue it of course, but "kind of stuck together" is better than "impossibly stuck together", in my own opinion.

Also, take a small empty butter dish out with you to the hive, and put all the propolis you scrape off the hive furniture in it.  Save that stuff!  Like wax and honey, propolis is marketable hive product.  The market is admittedly small, but then propolis products are much more expensive, too.

[bill]

now I get all my frames glued together. and I get my lids glued down too, but like when they are building burr comb between the frames I assume that is wax right?

[Michael Bush]

Where wax attaches is usually propolis and then wax.  Burr usually has some propolis in it as well as wax.

[Miss Chick-a-BEE]

I found a recipe once for making the finest furniture polish (often used for violins), and it only had two ingredients - propolis and something else. I can't remember the other ingredient though. Maybe turpintine or paint thinner.

I have also read that propolis is used to help people with diabetes - but I haven't built up the courage to eat some.

Lastly, if you just can't stand the stuff..... the DE hives are built in such a way that the bees build very little propolis and the frames never or rarely get stuck together.

Beth

[Michael Bush]

>I have also read that propolis is used to help people with diabetes - but I haven't built up the courage to eat some.

Just pop it in your mouth and chew it like gum.  Some is very good.  Some is kind of bitter.  It depends on the source.

>Lastly, if you just can't stand the stuff..... the DE hives are built in such a way that the bees build very little propolis and the frames never or rarely get stuck together.

The bees still collect it and use it but the frames aren't stuck together.

[GeeBeeNC]

I have also read that propolis is used to help people with diabetes - but I haven't built up the courage to eat some.

Do you have sources for that?  I'm interested in how it works.