10 Tips To Draw Comb FAST! Beekeeping 101 #beekeeping

it's that time of year that many of us are  making splits or starting a high for the   very first time so that leaves us with a box  full of frames that we don't really know how   to build out fast and effectively so today  I'm going to cover 10 tips on how to build   out your frames as fast as possible and maybe  I'll throw in a bone tip at the end [Music]   so in order for us to draw out some comb as fast  as possible we first need to understand how the   bees even work to begin with so in order for  the bees to be able to draw out some comb the   temperatures have to be just right it can't be  too cold because otherwise the wax glands that   are on the bees that are producing wax when  that wax comes out as a liquid is going to be   too hard for them to mold as they need to for the  honeycomb and it can't be too hot either because   if it is then they're going to want to spend more  of their energy regulating the temperature in the   hive so they don't kill any of The Brood um so  they're not really going to want to draw any comb   and on top of that when wax gets really really  hot it melts and moves around just like butter   so they can't really form it how they want to now  the next really important tip is you have to have   some sort of flow or some sort of sugar coming in  because it requires a lot of energy in order for   the bees to use their wax glands and draw wax it  actually takes more energy from the drought wax   than it does from the Purdue to produce honey so  keeping that in mind you're going to have to be   on a flow and if you're not you're going to have  to be using um feeding them sugar water at a very   high velocity and the reason why I say a really  high velocity is because if you feed them only   a little bit say you only feed like a quarter of  like a quart of sugar water on the hive they're   just going to use that as food instead of using  that to actually draw out comb because when they   have a surplus of sugar coming in this forces  them to have to draw a comb in order to store   it so that's the reason why it has to be at  a very high velocity now in terms of feeding   sugar water there are two different ratios that I  personally like to use use you can either use one   to one sugar to water or you can use two to one  sugar to water ratio I found the two to one works   pretty well if you're not able to feed a lot all  at once just because that high sugar content still   makes them have to draw a comb but I have found  if you do feed like say like a three to one or a   four to one that that's actually too high and they  end up just storing it instead of drawing out comb   um so I don't really know why that would be but  I know there's a lot of studies in using one to   one and that that's supposed to help stimulate the  wax glands a little bit better so those are just   the two that I've noticed in my own personal  experiences that work the best for the bees   now the next thing which I'm sure you've probably  heard before but if you haven't I'm going to cover   it anyways so if you're using plastic foundation  in your hive make sure that that plastic   Foundation is waxed um because otherwise the bees  aren't going to touch it there's some colonies   that I found will still draw it out but it takes  them longer to do it versus when you have fresh   wax on these frames they just take to it super  super fast and draw it out and I've also noticed   I've waxed my own frames at four and I don't think  I did it correctly it did not turn out right they   drew them all wonky so I usually just save myself  that hassle pay the extra couple cents and get   mine pre-wax that'll save you the headache and  you'll get beautiful frames if you do it that way   now there is one thing that you do want to keep  in mind and that is your bees are not going to   be able to draw out comb as quickly and as much  if you don't have an active laying Queen in the   hive so I have all of these hives right now  that are all in the mix some are re-queeting   some are waiting for a mating flight they all have  different things going on and one of the things   that I always see whenever I have a queenless hive  is they may draw out a little bit of Comb there   in the beginning if you're on a heavy heavy flow  um but after a little bit then those bees become   too old and that's the other thing you need  young bees to draw out comb quickly because   um the older bees their wax glands end up  shrinking over time so they can draw out wax   but it's a little bit harder for them to do it and  you'll also notice that they'll the wax will be of   a different color versus that nice fresh white  color of Comb when you're on a heavy flow with a   lot of young bees so to sum that up you're going  to need one young bee in the hive to be able to   draw a comb and two you're going to need a lane  Queen in that Hive in order to draw it out as   well because the queen will force the bees to draw  out more comb because she needs more space to lay   okay I better put my gloves on before I open up  these boxes because these hives are jam-packed   full of bees um I just had to add some boxes  because they are overflowing and there's a heavy   heavy flow going on right now so they're coming  in so fast just zigzagging all over the place   um bringing in some food and bringing in some  resources so let's take a look inside well shoot   now let's play the game up where is the  hive tool oh perfect thank you Casey okay so this Hive finally has a mated Queen  um I checked um about three or four days ago   and so that she's finally back and laying and  I ended up giving them some more room and some   more frames to draw out so I'm gonna look in this  Hive and show you one of my other tips in order   to dry out home fast it's pretty important and  if you've been looking at videos of how to draw   a comb really really fast I actually mentioned  this last year in a how to draw a comb fast video   um so I kind of want to re-clarify and say hey  guys um I now think differently and that is I had   explained that one of the ways you can get your  bees to start paying attention to frames that   they're not really paying attention to is to spray  those frames with sugar water but I now believe   that actually if you have to spray your frames  with sugar water that you actually shouldn't   even be adding a box and I will show you why all  right let's see if they get kind of grumpy on me   like I said they're on a heavy heavy flow  right now okay so this box is not jam-packed   with bees but there are a lot of bees out  collecting at the moment so we're going to   take a look at some of these frames to see  if they're starting to draw them out or not   um but one of the things that I have learned over  the last couple years actually really last year   is that if you have to spray any of your frames  of sugar water you might as well not add a box   because in reality you shouldn't be adding a  box to your hive until literally The Hive is   overflowing with bees the bees like to be stressed  a little bit and what happens is when you push   your bees to that stress level just before they  start swarm preparations where there's a ton of   bees in the hive they have brood that's about  to hatch and then you throw a box on that Hive   and let all those bees then fill up this Hive they  will draw it out so fast you won't even be able to   Blink you will not believe how fast they draw it  out because they have all those active young bees   right away going into that box taking over that  box there was that instant though that um stress   response they're having before so that forces  them to really really work hard on that next box   now the next tip that I have which this works  wonderfully I've used this for so long and I've   used this so many times I really pushed my limits  last year in drawing out comb all the way even   through September like not even kidding um so  it definitely works and let's see so yeah this   is a frame um that was actually waxed poorly and  it looks like they're starting to fix it which   I really like to see um I know there's some gaps  right there in the middle but they're not drawing   it out so it's away from the uh the frame so  that's okay they will still draw this back up   um and they're starting to draw out this back  side this was one of the frames I waxed myself   um but yeah this box has uh they had a lot of  bees so and they finally have a lane Queen so   they're going to start going ham in here okay  so there's still probably some young bees in   here that's why I'm seeing this this is what  I meant by it's not coming up off the frame   um so they're not really wanting to draw  this out the best but that's okay so what   I am trying to show you guys here is something  called checkerboarding this works absolutely   fabulous in your hive if you want to draw it comb  as quickly as possible and what checkerboarding is is okay say you go into your box you have brood  frame brood frame brood frame brood frame brood   frame and then honey frames honey frames if  you were to then so well hold on let me back   up a little bit so the bees they like to have  their whole entire Hive in a cluster so they   will form pretty much like an arc in a circle  of their brood and that will be their brood   pattern they like to keep it all right there  close together at the front of the hive this   is because if there's any Invaders that try to  come in and steal their honey they already have   um bees in a in a force at the door to attack and  defend their honey so they like to have that brood   Nest right there in the middle in a circle and  then they like to have honey in an arc around   it so it's like they're encapsulated in honey so  knowing this they don't like to have any frames   any emptiness anything separating or breaking  up their broodness when this happens it drives   them insane so knowing this you can kind of trick  them a little bit and work off of that and that is   exactly what checkerboarding is so say you have  a brood frame brood frame brood frame if you are   then to instead put brood frame empty frame brood  frame empty frame brood frame they will draw out   those empty frames super fast especially when  they have a laying Queen because you just broke   up their broodness you just made their brood right  here and right here and now they have this Gap in   the middle that has absolutely nothing on it so  what they're going to want to do is draw it out as   fast as possible and let that Queen lay in it so  they can still maintain that Center Arc and circle   that they have and that they want in the hive now  the cool thing about checking for checkerboarding   is it will in fact work year round like I said  I did it last year all the way through September   um like I said not ideal I had to feed like  crazy and the whole reason I even had to do   that because I did some splits really late and I  live in Michigan so I would not recommend doing   splits late otherwise you will definitely pay for  it um but another thing you can do let's see so   this is a good example um so when you pull out a  frame that's on the edge of the colony like this   and you see one side is completely filled up but  then say this side was completely empty I know   there's comb drawn out in it right in it right  now but I'm still gonna flip this Frame around   because then they'll be able to start working  this side but say this side was empty and you   pulled it out like this so that the empty side  was facing the wall you then could take this Frame   spin it around and put it back in because they  were already working that one side because they're   going to work from the center and slowly move  their their way out from The Brood Nest they will   then start working that other side and drawing  it out because there's another Gap there that   they don't like all right let's take a look in  this other Hive and I will give you your next tip   okay so this next tip I actually got from  Mike Palmer I'm not the one who found this   and it actually works amazing I am in love  with it um so I'm going to share it with you   oh yeah this High looks a little bit better for  you okay and that is so say that you have some   open frames so some open nectar frames so that you  here let me show you guys an example that'd be a   little bit better so you can see what I mean when  I say an open nectar frame as you can see I've   been checkerboarding in this Hive and it has been  working fantastically it's fantastically even a   word well it is now okay so they're starting  to draw this out and you can't really see it   but there is nectar in these frames you can kind  of see the the glisten on it um in these cells I   mean not in these frames and what that is okay so  take a frame that has open cells of nectar in it   and put it in the bottom box right in the center  of their broodness they do not like honey in the   center of their brood Nest they prefer to be in  that Arc that I talked about so when you put it   in the center of their broodness and then you put  say some empty frames right above it what's going   to end up happening is they're going to go in  they're going to see that this this honey frame   is breaking up their brood Nest they're going to  take it out and they're going to instead move it   up to the next frame and build out the comb when  they do this so this is a little bit of a trick to   get them to move that honey that you already  have there that Foods those food stores you   already have there and for them to use that as wax  instead by building that frame above them instead   the honey flower on right now is absolutely insane  you see that comb like I just had to take out some   frames every day because they're drawing them out  so fat and they're already capping them and they   look beautiful okay now let's take a look at  here for my next tip so when you are putting   on a honey super or a honey box it can be a deep  box as well I like to use deeps for honey supers   um right now I'm using a super though so I'm  kind of contradicting myself a little bit but   that's okay um so when you put on a honey box  on your hive and you want them to get in there   and start working it and start drawing out  some comb and putting some honey in there   oh yeah they're active up here  that's great oh hold on guys okay so when you do that you think okay Emily said  to do checkerboarding so I'm gonna do that in the   honey box that they start drawing it out super  fast I just want to preface and say do not ever do   this it literally will create a nightmare for you  and you will have a giant mess because what will   end up happening is so the bees yes they work hard  but they're also a little bit lazy so say you put   in a frame that is drawn out and you do drawn out  frame empty frame drawn out frame empty frame well   what's gonna end up happening is they're gonna  put all that honey in that drawn out frame and   they're going to keep expanding those cells until  they cannot expand them anymore and what's going   to end up happening I actually ended up having  this as a problem down in this box actually I   should probably open it up and show you that would  actually be great because I did not checkerboard   them um but they were already bringing in so  much honey that they were like screw it we're   just gonna draw this out as far as we possibly  can so what ended up happening is they end up   drawing out that frame so fat that it started  to interfere with the frame and next to it so   I ended up having to go down to only nine frames  one two three four five six seven eight nine yes   um and I usually like to only do nine frames in  my honey super anyways you'll see in here I only   have nine frames but since I still have to draw  some of the comb I pushed them all together so   they can't draw it out wonky that is key once they  draw it out then you separate them back out but   I only have nine frames in here because they will  draw this comb out so far that it interferes with   the next frame and then you can't get that next  frame out like you see how like this one's like   pushed all the way out to this Frame at this Frame  they still have to draw out um which they actually   did start to draw it out but um you'll start to  interfere with the next frame and the reason for   this is it doesn't matter if the honey interferes  with any of the other frames next to it at least   in the bees World it doesn't matter at all so they  will keep drawing it out because it's already made   now the reason why you're able to do it in the  brood Nest but you can't do it in the honey in   the honey box is because if they were to draw out  cells too far in The Brood Nest one those cells   are going to be too big and the brood's not going  to be able to develop properly because they have   to be a certain size and two if they were to draw  it out too far it's going to interfere with that   next frame of brood and it's going to impact those  bees as well and on top of that they like having   that little bit of b space in between us they can  maneuver around bees can hatch out and all of that   wonderful stuff so that you can you can do it in  The Brood Nest without any problems and it will   work wonderfully but if you ever do it in your  honey box you will be in for a surprise and they   will draw it out stupid and you won't be able to  get anything out um so just keep that in mind but   the reason why I do like to only do nine frames in  the honey box once they are drawn out is because   it'll be easier for you to uncap all of these  versus having to cap an extra frame when they're   all nice and flush it's kind of hard to put that  knife across versus when they're nice and fat it's   a lot easier to get those cappings off and you  have one less frame that you have to worry about   okay and my very last tip for you if you were  to be adding on a brand new box to your hive   say that you have two boxes on your hive and you  want them to draw out a third box what you can do   is you can put that box in between those other two  boxes so you have a drawn out box an empty box and   then that drawn out box and they're not going to  like that Gap in between um what their their main   broodness is below and what their honey and maybe  even some brood is up above so they're going to   end up drawing out that middle as fast as possible  so they can connect to everything and I do just   also want to mention uh something I kind of forgot  to do to say I know I'm kind of like jumping all   over the place I'm just trying to give you guys  all the knowledge that I possibly have and that   is so when you are checkerboarding do keep in mind  that temperatures are important if your nights are   getting down to below 50 degrees at night time  unless you have a huge huge Hive like a lot of   these are I would not recommend sugar boarding  because like say you're in like a five frame nuke   I would not check your board below 50 50 degrees  at night time and that is because they're going   to have problems keeping that brood warm and you  may run into the risk of having chilled brood I've   done that before I pushed my limits last year  so trust me on that okay well I am definitely   sweating it is almost 90 degrees but the warmth  is finally here and the flow is hitting so so   great so I hope this video was very helpful and  I hope to see you guys in the next video in the   comments I love reading all of your comments I'm  sorry I'm not able to get to all of them right   away but just know I do read them and it does  mean the world to me all the advice you give   all of the love that you guys give and just keep  passing along all right I'll see you guys soon foreign [Music]

Channel: BeeFit Beekeeping

Views: 26,165

Keywords: beekeeping, how to build comb, tips to draw wax

Id: 8mJw82gpIMs

Length: 19min 52sec (1192 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 03 2023