# Drone Foundation in Honey Supers



## GaryG74 (Apr 9, 2014)

Because the cells are larger, they are easier for the honey to come out. From what I've read, it works quite well and you get more honey. I've had drone cells in some of my frames that were empty while regular sized cells on the same frame didn't get completely empty when I extracted. I'm not sure if it has to do with the cell size or honey source (thicker honey in smaller cells).


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## Bob J (Feb 25, 2013)

Biermann said:


> Hello,
> 
> I was told that Drone Foundation in honey supers are easier to extract. Has anyone tried this?
> 
> Best regards, Joerg


I use drone foundation in all my supers.... Makes for a very quick and easy extraction.....


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## mgolden (Oct 26, 2011)

Heard the same thing and tried ten drone frames in honey supers. Think it was BeeWorks out of Ontario who were promoting drone comb for honey supers.

My experience has been that given a choice of regular sized cells and drone sized cells, bees fill the regular size comb first.

IMHO, drone comb for honey is over rated. My 10 drone frames sat in storage last summer. 

If you extract during the summer heat or warm the full frames, non crystalized honey extracts well. You can really empty the comb and clean the honey off the frames extracting in tangential mode(for the hobbiest).


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

If you used all worker comb in the brood chamber you would certainly need to use a queen excluder because the queen would have a field day with all that drone comb.


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## capitalbeesupply (Jul 28, 2013)

We run one-piece Acorn medium drone frames in about half of our honey supers. It works well for us anyway. Some others that I know who use it honey supers felt that the bees had a harder time drying the honey down in drone sized cells vs. normal cells in areas where it is humid for a long time, but where we are it doesn't seem to be an issue....:scratch:

Rich
Capital Bee Supply


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## Slow Drone (Apr 19, 2014)

Drone comb in the fall works great. Queen rarely moves up into the honey supers in the fall so I don't use excluders. Drone comb extracts very nicely.


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

Welcome to Beesource!

I'm converting to Lauri Miller's method of 1/2 a worker foundation in the middle of the frame, and let them draw drone/honey size cells on the side 4 inches. Bees in the middle, drones on the sides.

Cut the drone comb out with a knife to control mites just before the first drones hatch (22 days after the drone brood has eggs), they draw it out again and fill it with honey later in the year. This puts honey right where they need it for Winter cluster feed. With a box of 20 to 40 lbs. of honey on top, they should make it through Winter in fine style and increase like crazy the next Spring.


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## Biermann (May 31, 2015)

Hi kc,

whom did you welcome in to beesource?

I am talking about drone frames in honey supers for extraction. Not drone frames in brood boxes.

Like mgolden, I ike to maximize my honey production.

Cheers, Joerg


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## Mr. Biggs (Jul 20, 2015)

For those that are using drone comb how did you go about getting it drawn out? Are you using an excluder?


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## Bob J (Feb 25, 2013)

Mr. Biggs said:


> For those that are using drone comb how did you go about getting it drawn out? Are you using an excluder?


Mine drew it out just like regular frames in a flow.... I did paint on an extra layer of wax to help get them started.... No excluder....


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

Bob J said:


> Mine drew it out just like regular frames in a flow.... I did paint on an extra layer of wax to help get them started.... No excluder....


Did you have drone comb in the brood box for the queen to lay in at that time?


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## Dominic (Jul 12, 2013)

I'd imagine they are easy to extract, given how when the bees put nectar/honey in mine, they leak all over the place when manipulated.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>I was told that Drone Foundation in honey supers are easier to extract. Has anyone tried this?

I have. They extract very quickly. Having brood comb in the supers also discourages them from building it in the brood nest.

>If you used all worker comb in the brood chamber you would certainly need to use a queen excluder because the queen would have a field day with all that drone comb.

Yes. The queen will cross anything to get to some drone comb if there is none in the brood nest. I made that mistake once when using the drone comb in the supers...

7/11 is nice in the supers. It's in between drone and worker so it's a bit easier to extract but also discourages the queen from laying in it. Unfortunately, if she does it will be drones but usually she doesn't.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

>7/11 is nice in the supers. It's in between drone and worker so it's a bit easier to extract but also discourages the queen from laying in it. Unfortunately, if she does it will be drones but usually she doesn't.

I tried 7/11 as an excluder substitute but found my queens love to go up and lay it full of drones. Also I got wonky brace combs when spacing it 8 to a ten frame box. The bees seem to get confused with it similarly the way they do with small cell foundation. Now I sorted the 7/11 to dedicated supers and will use them above an excluder. Or loan them to Charlie if he needs brood combs.


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## Bob J (Feb 25, 2013)

drlonzo said:


> Did you have drone comb in the brood box for the queen to lay in at that time?


Yes, I have been using Laurie's idea with frames that are half foundation and the rest foundationless.... The bees pretty much build what they want/need....


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

Bob J said:


> Yes, I have been using Laurie's idea with frames that are half foundation and the rest foundationless.... The bees pretty much build what they want/need....


That makes perfect sense then. With drone comb in the brood box the queen had no reason to go search out more. It's when there's a lack of drone comb in the brood box that the queen goes looking.


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

B - sorry, McDonald's wifi was acting up that day. I may have posted top the wrong thread.

FWIW, I hope to try 3-D printing fully-drawn drone size comb out of bees wax for the honey supers next year, as well as the above-mentioned small cell + drone cell scheme in the brood boxes. Wish me luck - I think that if it works, I'll get a considerable amount more honey earlier in the season, which should really help build-up rates.


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