Hello Bee-Liners ! On Sat Mar 9, 1996 Allen Dick[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > For me, 10% (average) is a safe amount of brood comb to replace any > year. Some hives will do more, some cannot even do that. Swarms are > quite happy to do a lot more Kevin & Ann Christensen <[log in to unmask]> wrote as they do I quite agree, in beekeeping it's nothing automatically applied to the whole apiary. But IMO, each year, one *must change* some brood chamber combs. In our area (50D North) we do this in the spring when the day time is really increasing (Apr 15-June 15). After that combs building become more difficult and honey consuming. A good idea is to use an honey crop: at this time, with my buckfast bees, it costs no honey - on the contrary, it's a harvesting stimulus : importance to comprehend the bee cluster ecology ! As I use honey supers with different frames (Dadant) I'm usually putting 2 or 3 new centered foundations each time I add a new super. I try to run with frames no more than 5 years old : the super frames becomes also darker after some years ... and clear (robinia) honey becomes darker in this combs. Regards Jean-Marie <[log in to unmask]> Local blooming informations ... Lat.Long. : N:50.30' E:04.56' - Alt. : 200 m - North sea : 200 km Two days of cold but sunny time (max 11DC) : all the colonies are flying One was queenless (more dead and sound different) but I introduced without problem one of my reserved queen: she was on a 10 cm open brood. First yellow crocus and hazel pollen. Amazing. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jean-Marie Van Dyck Fax +32 81 72 42 72 B.P. 102 email : [log in to unmask] B-5000 NAMUR(Belgium) Medical school - Biochemistry dept Sorry for my poor english : Je parle francais ! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------