How to put a 9 1/4” frame in a Indiana super and How to get them back out.
When using all medium boxes and your bee supplier only sells nucs that are on deeps?
There are a few ways to use your own equipment.
1. Buy a deep box – have one deep box on your hives. Yes I know but i had to say it.
2. Buy a hive shim. It is not the same as a building shim. It is a wooden frame from 2” to
2 5/8” deep that you can use for multiple purposes in hive management.
a. Placing it under your first box. It would go between the bottom board and the the first
brood box. To add deep frames.
b. You can use it for winter/ spring feeding
c. Use it to treat hive with medicines, patties and mite treatments.
d. Use it for gathering wax.
3. Place the correct amount of frames to fill out your box. Either deeps or mediums.
Medium ones will require a little more effort. Deeps you will need to store the frames
when not using them.
You can also use a mixture of deeps and mediums. The deep frames being the nuc and
the surrounding frames can be mediums. This will require that you cull off the crazy
comb they will build on the bottoms of your med frames when your done. You can save
that comb if you don’t want to throw it away. Usually its drones and losing a few hundred
drones will not harm the hive in any way. Also it can be put in a foundation-less frame
held in place by string or wire or rubber bands. You pull the bottom off the frame and
pull the foundation out. You can either use it as is or put the bottom back on. Cut the
comb off the bottom of you medium frames with a knife or hive tool and secure it in the
empty frame. The bees will secure it all in place. If its drones, place them on the very
outside of all the frames in the hive. The brood nest is hot and will sterilize them.
4. When the frames in that bottom box are 70 -80 percent full you put on a second box,
(another medium) when that gets comb built out and the queen goes up and starts
laying in that box.
5. FIND YOUR QUEEN! you can not go any further until you find her. Even if you must
close it up and try again another day.
6. After you find her. Place the queen in the second box. Make sure she can’t fly off or
drop out of the bottom on the grass. Be careful of frames squishing her while you
move the box aside. Place a queen excluder on top of the box with the nuc
(deep)frames in it. Then carefully replace the box with the queen on top of the
excluder. In 25 days, it could take less but not more for all the brood to hatch out of
the nuc (deep) frames. There will still be food and nectar in those frames.
7. Place the empty nuc frames back in the nuc box. Take the frames that you use to fill
out the box and do one of the things mentioned above. i.e- Mediums put back in the
boxes or deeps set aside for storage. Culling or framing the cross comb.
8. Place your second box in the bottom position and place the bottom box on top. Make
sure there are enough frames to fill (what is now) the second box. This will draw the
queen up on drawn out comb. She will lay this box really fast and you will have to add
another box in 5 -10 days. Depending on the weather.
9. It is also possible that you may need to add your third box before you can take off
your box with the shim. All depends on the nectar flow and the amount of eggs your
queen lays.
10. You can take your nuc box ( the box the nuc came in) after you put the frames back
in it, move it 50ft. or more from your hives and set something over it to keep the rain off.
Your bees will find their way in and clean out most of the stores. You can’t keep it out
very long because of other bugs getting in. Bring them in one at a time or if you have
room all at once and freeze them for 24 to 36 hours to kill any varmints, such as wax
moth, and store these frames where light can get to them or seal them completely. If
you do not freeze then you may bring in wax moth eggs that will hatch out and eat your
wax and the frames also.
Franklin County, Pennsylvania