Last year I restarted with two new colonies.  They were given existing comb
in addition to new frames of foundation.  For whatever reason, they chose
not to draw comb on some of the new frames.  Not having anything else to put
in the hive, I moved the frames around, putting the empty ones to the
outside of the brood chambers, and the full ones to the center.
 
Now, after having inspected the hives several times since February, it
appears that they chewed the wax off of some of the frames, and drew some
wax in small scattered areas.  There is brood in some of the small areas of
wax, so I cannot remove those frames.
 
Were my bees lazy?  Why would they choose not to draw comb, but instead chew
the foundation?  What is the best way to replace the foundation considering
that there is brood present?  When is the latest that I can replace the
foundation so that I do not run into this problem again?
 
On another subject, many thanks to those who gave me advice and suggestions
against using Diazinon in my garden (all my e-mail was inadvertently
mass-deleted, fortunately, _after_ I read them).
 
Laura Downey
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