This week, we will pick up our discussion from last week’s blog by preparing our Langstroth frame to hold foundation. Foundation is important as it ensure that bees draw comb within the frames and reduces the amount of drone comb production.  This means a more productive hive with a greater number of worker bees and frames which can easily be removed for inspection. We are using wax foundation in our frame, so we will start today by adding wire support!

Wiring Frames

As always, we will begin by gathering our materials. We have our frame from last week, a sheet of wax foundation, a homemade wooden frame jig, frame wire, eyelets, ¾ inch nails, a loaded brad stapler, hammer, and optional needle nose pliers and razor blade. We also have a larger nail to take the place of an eyelet punch.

Start by adding one eyelet to the outward facing side of each of the holes in the sidebars and securing them into place. This can be done simply by pressing them in with an eyelet punch, or, if you have misplaced your punch, use the head of an upside-down nail and a hammer. Eyelets protect your wood from the wire that runs through the holes.

Now you can place your frame on the jig. A jig is a useful tool for securing the frame as you tighten the wire, although frames can be wired without one. First, add two nails which will secure the ends of the wire. One nail can be positioned just below the bottom hole of the side bar and the other can be positioned just above the top hole.

Feed the wire, directly from the spool, through the top hole of your frame. Draw it horizontally across and through the opposing hole, then down, through the next hole, and across again. Follow this pattern through to the final hole where the end of your wire will end up next to the bottom nail. A jig will likely have pieces to loop your wire around as you move down each level. 

Once your wire has gone through all eight holes and you have four lines across your frame, the wire can be secured around the nails. Wrap the end piece around the bottom nail and hammer it flush. Cut the wire, leaving some to grip, and wiggle the remaining tail free to create a clean break at the nail.

With one end secure, you can now tighten the lines by pulling down on each level with your hand and rolling excess back onto the spool. Start with the bottom row and work your way up. Firmly rotating the spool can also help to create taut lines. The wires should be tight enough to pluck a tune. Once the wire is tight throughout the frame, you can secure the other end around the top nail in the same manner as the bottom.

Now your frame is ready for a sheet of wax. In next week’s blog, we will add the foundation, embed the wires, and discuss some good reasons to keep your comb fresh!

Job Opportunities

ATTTA is looking for a summer research assistant to assist in our field work this season! Click here for additional information, we look forward to hearing from you!

There are additional job opportunities within Perennia, as well! Click here to discover more!

Connecting with ATTTA Specialists

If you’d like to connect with ATTTA specialists or learn more about our program, you can:

visit our website at https://www.perennia.ca/portfolio-items/honey-bees/

Email abyers@perennia.ca

In today’s blog, we will be discussing another important piece of hive equipment to prepare for the coming season - frames! Frames of some variety have become essential to modern day beekeeping. Removable frames allow for hive inspections which are valuable for pest and disease monitoring and, in Canada, are the law in beekeeping. Today, join us in assembling a deep frame, to fit the deep Langstroth hive body we assembled previously. 

Frame Assembly

When organizing frames for the upcoming season, you first must ask yourself what kind of frame you would like. Frames for Langstroth hives come in different sizes and materials. Shallow frames fit shallow supers, medium frames fit medium supers, etc. Frames can be wooden or plastic. In Atlantic Canada, it is most typical for frames to be wooden with either plastic or wax foundation in the midrib. Frames which are one piece and completely plastic are also available but, anecdotally, less hardy. Frames can be bought assembled with foundation in place, unassembled, or you can start from scratch. Today, we are assembling a wooden frame which is intended for wax foundation. 

In all building projects, it is best to start by gathering the necessary materials. We have the top bar, bottom bar, and two side bars. It is good practice to use wire to support wax foundation in a frame. The three holes in the side bars will be used to add wire to the frame after it is assembled (see Figure 1). Plastic foundation does not require this additional support and, therefore, such frames do not need these extra holes. Our top and bottom bars both have a mid-groove to fit the foundation into place. Last, we have one-inch galvanized nails, and a hammer to fasten our pieces together. An optional but useful extra tool is a knife or a razor blade.

Figure 1. Materials for assembling a frame. A hammer, 1-inch galvanized nails, top bar, bottom bar, and two side bars. 

In addition to a groove, our top bar also has a piece called a cleat or wedge (see Figure 2). The wooden cleat is a removable piece that can be detached either before or after assembly. It can be sliced off with a razor blade or snapped off by hand. Either way, it is recommended to afterwards use a razor blade to clean up the edge of the top bar. This will make it easier to ultimately slide the wax foundation into place. 

Figure 2. Wooden cleat removed from completed frame. The razor bade will clean up the uneven break along the top bar.

Side bars have a distinct top and bottom, and the top is the wider end. To assemble the frame, press the top of the side bars into the top bar, and press the bottom bar into bottom of the side bars. The top width ensures that there is proper bee space between frames for bees to move about the hive and build comb. It does not extend all the way to the bottom to prevent the frame from being totally propolized and for ease of movement for the bees within. An unassembled frame should square up easily. 

The final step is to secure the pieces together with nails (Figure 3). We used one nail in each corner. As a matter of preference, two nails are on one side and two are on the other. The nails are oriented perpendicular to the top bar make the frame sturdier in cases when you occasionally pry the top bar up with your hive tool to free the frame from sticky propolis and wax. 

Figure 3. Assembled deep frame. Includes four nails, two are hammered into the back and cannot be seen in this photo. 

The frame is now assembled, and next week we will add our wire and wax foundation to make it complete! This week we have some additional announcements!

Canadian Beekeeping Minutes

ATTTA has a new edition to our Canadian Beekeeping Minutes YouTube series! Click here to get tips on how to light your smoker!

Atlantic Beekeeping Survey

ATTTA and Dalhousie have created an educational survey to help us fully understand the needs and wants of Atlantic beekeepers, including future beekeepers! The survey is brief, and we are greatly appreciative to all participants. Take the survey here! Thank you to those who have!

Connecting with ATTTA Specialists

If you’d like to connect with ATTTA specialists or learn more about our program, you can:

visit our website at https://www.perennia.ca/portfolio-items/honey-bees/

Email abyers@perennia.ca