Hi Joel, With modern mite problems, nine frames may not have been the cause of your comb problem. This day and time 2.5 years of no attention could have resulted in your bees having died, followed by wax moths, followed by new swarms moving in. The wax moths would have destroyed all foundation resulting in the bees building with, in effect, no frames (of foundation). Could that have been a possibility then ? Bob Fanning Huntsville AL. ---------- > From: Joel W. Govostes <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: Brood Frame Spacing, with a reservation > Date: Sunday, February 16, 1997 6:47 AM > > Not to beat a dead horse, but hope the frame-spacing info is helpful to > some of the bee crowd out there. > > Here's my final offering on this, an instance of 9-frames being problematic: > > I once had a friend who got interested in the hobby, and got a half dozen > hives or so, all new equipment. This was back when we were in high school > (early 80's). Well, as often happens, we got involved with other things (& > a different sort of females) and the bees were neglected for 2-3 years. > Then we decided to check them out one day. > > He had used 9 frames in the brood boxes. What a mess. In a number of > hives, the combs were all spaced crazy, many of them crooked, others all > coated with gobs of old propolis. Some frames had portions of double-combs > on them, etc. etc. -- it was a lot of work trying to inspect some of those > colonies. The bees didn't appreciate our knocking things around, either! > That was a good example of the improper use of 9 frames, and I'm careful to > not let things get sloppy like that! > > I was also surprised to see this topic covered quite thoroughly in a > recently-published German beekeeping manual. Evidently the idea has its > proponents in Europe as well. > > It's always helpful to discuss things like this with other local > beekeepers, to see what there experiences have been. There are always > variations between colonies as well. > > Best wishes to all, > > JG