This is probably not worthy of a new blog post, but since I took a picture, I've got to put it somewhere...
I am planning on making some nucs in a day or so (for my new queen castle), and will need some frames to back fill. I have some frames with drawn comb, but I thought I'd put together some new frames just to have them on reserve.
In the past I have purchased the pieces to assemble frames, but didn't put them all together. So I dug out of the basement the wood pieces, nails, and sheets of wired wax foundation.
It's really not hard to assemble the frames, and I only did 6 so it didn't take too long (I assembled them on my kitchen table). Look here for a page describing frame assembly. I always glue the various joints on the frame, and put an extra nail in the side (fixing the side piece to the top bar better) since when prying out a frame, you could put enough pressure on the end of the frame to lift up the nail and separate the pieces (I actually did that accidentally on a frame, and had to wait for the winter before I could swap it out).
I also do not embed wires in the wax foundation after I install it - instead I use a method I learned from the "FatBeeMan," Don in GA, using fishing line as shown in this video:
It's worked for me in the past, except I didn't use thick enough fishing line last time. This time I bought a roll of 25# test line, and that should keep the bees from chewing through it.
What are the dark lines running top to bottom on the frames?
ReplyDeleteI used wired wax foundation, which comes with embedded vertical support wires. I chose not to add the horizontal support wires; instead I used the fishing line.
ReplyDeleteAhhh! So much to learn about this beekeeping stuff. You are waaaaay ahead of me.
ReplyDeleteLet me know how the fishing line works. I've always used wire. I have some unwired foundation to play with that is left over from the Ross Rounds.
ReplyDelete