Friday 11 April 2014

I remembered!!!

Its been a while since I've needed to make frames,  and as I was gathering everything I needed together it did occur to me that I might not remember how...


Thankfully just like riding a bike it all came flooding back...
Slice the wedge off from the top bar...


Tap in the side bars...


Pop the bottom bar into its groove..give a little tap to make it snug...


Slide in a sheet of foundation bees wax and bend the long wire loops to 90'...


If it doesn't fit, like the one above, trim a little from the side....


See! ... a little trim and it fits perfectly...


Tap in another bottom bar to trap the wax in place...


Finally nail the wedge back in place ...


So, why am I making all these frames? 
Well its all about keeping the disease levels in the hives down, as the brood frames are used to hatch new bees over and over again they gradually get dirtier and dirtier; more and  more mis-shapen with thousands of little feet walking over them day in day out.  So its good practice to change out brood frames every 3 years...so its time for the frames from my first year of bee keeping to go; just look how dirty they are....

 

Look at the difference between 3 year old frames and fresh new foundation....


Now all I need to do is suit up and set about switching out old frames...better dash its starting to cloud over....

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