Strip foundation brood frame with bamboo

[Mellifera Crofter]

Not my idea ... I read somewhere (perhaps on this forum) about using bamboo sticks instead of wire (or fishing line) in a brood frame - so I tried it out: It works, and the bees seem happy with it. You can also see one of Jon's queens.

Kitta

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[fatshark]

Nice one Kitta. I've seen that (Michael Bush perhaps?) and always meant to try it ... did you use BBQ skewers?

[The Drone Ranger]

Is the first one drawn as drone comb Kitta ?

Sent from my LIFETAB_S1034X using Tapatalk

[fatshark]

DR ... my experience with foundationless frames is that they mix'n'match drone and worker as they want depending upon the time of the season. At times they draw drone throughout. I've got a swarm on (fishing line) versions of these frames from about 10 days ago that has filled a box with about 60-70% worker. Often in the same frame.

I see a real advantage of the type that Kitta posted is that you could easily cut out the section with drone brood/cells and allow them to rebuild it without necessarily trashing the frame.

[Mellifera Crofter]

Yes, Fatshark, they're barbecue skewers from Lakeland. It's been sitting with my other beekeeping stuff for a year now, and came in handy just now as I've run out of wired foundation.

I've never used any extra support in my brood frames when using strip foundation. I just handled the combs with care, but it can be tricky when the comb starts to flop over - so this time I've decided to give them extra support. I also did a few with horizontal wires, but I haven't seen the results yet.

I think it's drone comb in the first two sections, DR, all of different sizes for different sized drones. The third section seems to be worker cells. I didn't inspect it too closely as I didn't want to upset the queen. I just quickly clicked the phone's camera and hoped for the best.

Kitta

[Emma]

Hi Kitta,
That's quite a fun setup. Before I saw the picture, I'd imagined horizontal skewers. But it looks as if having them vertical means the bees have to start separate crescents of comb in each section, which probably means the structure & design of each section is more independent, for if you did want to take just one section out as FS suggested. It certainly looks like an abrupt change to worker cells on the right.
At the top - is that a wooden starter strip? or the wedge turned through 90 degrees? or is it simply an empty frame? I'm still experimenting with comb guides in mine.
Emma

[Mellifera Crofter]

It's the wedge turned 90 degrees, Emma. I used a very narrow starter strip and pinned the two bamboo skewers in place at the top and bottom using gimp pins of which I've nipped off the tips with wire cutters (the longer pins are too long; and shorter ones too short). I also used the wire cutters to shorten the bamboo skewers once fitted. I'll see if I can get some follow-up photos.
Kitta

[Mellifera Crofter]

I forgot, Emma - I have a before photo. It might be easier to see what I've done.

Kitta

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[Emma]

That's great, yes, thanks. I hadn't thought of a wax starter strip as well - I don't use those these days.

Did the wax have to bend around the skewers, or did it lie straight?

[Mellifera Crofter]

Just straight, Emma. The strip, then the sticks, and then the wedge. Nailing down the wedge and the bottom brackets caused them to bend, or curve, somewhat around the sticks to hold them in place.

I think the wedge on its own without the wax might work just as well.

Kitta

[Emma]

So the curve's in the wedge, not the wax - that's good! Waxy curves have such a tendency to amplify, that's which was bothering me.
I've heard about using the wedge, but it seems affa wide to me - two choices of corner for the bees to start building from them, and one is quite a distance from the centre of the frame, which seems like asking for trouble. I think I may have tried one like that this year, but if so I've forgotten where I put it, and haven't noticed the outcome yet. Spring was a bit of a scramble, work & life interfering with beekeeping...
I've started trying just leaving the wedge out altogether, and instead shaving the deep side of the top bar to a triangular cross-section, leaving a sharp pointed edge along the middle of the frame. Turns out to be quite quick to do with a big, sharp knife (usually when desperately trying to get out to the apiary before the next rain shower), and the few I've looked at so far seem quite promising. Makes the frames utterly useless for normal use afterwards, but it cuts down the number of bits & the number of operations, including when reusing the frame, which is very much what I need!
It'd be nice to hear more about how you get on with those reinforcements, though. Could help a lot with keeping things straight, & simple.

[Mellifera Crofter]

I found an alternative to bamboo skewers: bamboo plant sticks (from eBay) which are longer than the bamboo skewers and means I can run them horizontally, and are much easier to make than the frames with vertical skewers.

The bees still need to give their verdict. I wanted to link to the Apiarist's really good article on foundationless frames (http://theapiarist.org/bamboo/), and its follow-up (http://theapiarist.org/foundationless-frames-update/), but there's a server error (Fatshark?), so I'm linking to his Twitter feed. (https://twitter.com/The_Apiarist)

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