>>> The other problem is over the years those frames on the side, having never been emptied, get so crystallized that the bees can't use them at all. Every couple of years I rotate them back into the middle so the bees have to use them up. ===============I've read in past posts of a recommended rotation on new combs into the brood nest about every three years so that about 1/3 of the combs are rotated out of use every year, refurbished and placed back into use. It seems that there are two ways of doing this; the first being the removal of two or three combs from the middle of the brood nest and placed towards the outside of the edge of the brood chamber so that any brood in the frames can emerge, the frame emptied of resources, and then removed and recycled, then new frames placed on the outside edges of the brood nest moving the older frames toward the middle of the brood nest. The other mode would be to remove the frames on the outside of the brood nest, placed in a location for the frame resources to be removed and moved to a better location for the colony, and then new frames with foundation placed within the middle of the brood nest. Once the old frames are cleaned of resources then they would be removed and refurbished.
For the beekeeper with a small number of hives this could be easily done. For the beekeeper with a large number of hives individual evaluation of hives would be difficult if not impossible to handle individually and thus have blanket processes to rotate new comb into the brood chamber. I am ignorant on the procedures taken by commercial beekeepers concerning hive management and thus cannot speak knowledgeably about how they would affect the rotating, and thus the cleaning, of comb within the brood nest or even if this is broadly done.
It is with these thoughts in mind that I go back to my concept of using color identification of frames following the queen color code to insure proper rotation of comb within the brood chamber area. In the past I've used colored thumbtacks to mark my frames. In the future I'm planning to use paint marks on the tops of my frames to identify the age of the frames and the comb within those frames.
Mike in LA
From: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, January 9, 2017 6:08 AM
Subject: Re: [BEE-L] Beekeeping questions begging for practical research
>Bill said Over the years, I have had colonies chimney up through the hive, ending up at the tops of the frames in the top box (running three deeps).>
I run 3 deeps with all wax foundation, I find this tunneling to be normal and only a problem in years where you get a poor goldenrod flow. Since they never seem to use the honey in the outer 2 frames on each side of each box, in the fall the hive can seem heavy but the bees are actually pretty high up in the second box, so they run out of honey quicker even though they have 10-12 frames of capped honey on the sides. The other problem is over the years those frames on the side, having never been emptied, get so crystallized that the bees can't use them at all. Every couple of years I rotate them back into the middle so the bees have to use them up.
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