Laurence Edwards explains why beekeepers should replace old brood frames every 3-4 years by adding 2-3 fresh frames annually. In April, colonies convert 30-40% of new foundation into drone brood, but in September they draw it as pure worker comb. Replace frames in September for better results.
In this video, I'm going to talk to you about the differences between adding foundation in April versus adding foundation in September. So it's good to get into the habit of recycling your brood frames around every 3 to 4 years. So what that means is that when the frames get old and black and manky, you take them out and you need to replace them roughly around 2 or 3 frames a year with fresh frames of foundation. Now I did a video last year showing what happens if you add those frames of foundation in September, Which is a really good result. I'm gonna compare that now to the video showing you what happens if you add those frames of foundation in April. We'll stitch it all together. You will see the difference. What is best, adding frames of foundation in April or adding frames of foundation in September? It really is counterintuitive, this one. You kind of think about it. Well, when are the colonies at their strongest? When are the flows in place? When are the bees most likely to draw the wax? Everything points you in the direction of April. Or spring as a really good time to add foundation into your colonies, but it's not. It's the worst time of the year, and I'll show you why in this video. So in this apiary, I've got some colonies over there where I added frames of foundation in April because I was running out of room in these colonies and I needed to double them up. It's now the middle of May. I'll pull out some of those frames and I will show you what the bees have turned worker foundation into come the middle of May when I added those frames in April. They've worked them, they've turned them into brood, They filled them with stores. Not got any problems with that, but wait till you see these frames. Right, so you've got to excuse the really horrible bees in this apiary. This frame, as you might be able to tell, is fresh. This was a 2021 frame and the bees got this in April this year. Look what they've done with it. They've drawn it out, they're storing nectar, they're using it for worker brood, but I would say we're talking maybe 30 or 40% of that frame there, they have converted my worker foundation into drone brood. And there is only one reason that they do that. It's the time of the year. It's as simple as that. April, May, all bees are thinking about is producing enough drones in order to flood the area and to share their genetics. Okay, they're going out, they're rearing brood, they're collecting pollen, they're collecting nectar, but that mechanism within the hive is to ensure that there is sufficient drone brood in order to pass the genetics on in the wild. Which means that it doesn't matter what type of foundation you put in there, Whether you put drone brood or worker brood, the bees just kind of turn it into what they want. Now, if you were to put drone foundation in there, you'd get a very high proportion of drone foundation, especially at that point of the year. But if you were just to give the bees some space as well, they will fill that with drone brood. But most annoying out of all of those is when you give them nice new frames of worker foundation like this and they turn loads of it into drone brood. There's nothing more annoying. So let's compare that with what we did in September. People think it's too late in September, but most people are still feeding syrup at that point of the year. And generally the temperature allows the bees to convert that syrup into wax, and it means that they'll draw out those frames. So nothing else has changed here. They're the same colonies, same apiaries, the same type of bees. Only thing that I'm changing is when I put that frame of foundation into my brood box. If you do it in April, you'll get lots of drone brood. If you do it in September, you will get pretty much zero drone brood, because in September the mechanism within the colony is completely different. What they're trying to do is they're trying to get ready for winter. They're kicking out the drones. The drones are saying goodbye and clustering up outside. So the last thing that the bees are going to do is put effort into changing worker foundation into drone brood. They're just not going to do it. I've done this for a few years now. I got the tip from Murray McGregor, really good I've practiced it, it definitely works. If you're going to go in and you need to start replacing dark combs using foundation, don't do it in April, do it in September. If you want to see the previous video where I just showed you in a little bit more detail the September stuff, check out this video here, and it shows you just how perfect the bees will turn wax foundation into brood combs in September.
