# Giving back pollen, after cutting out frames of foundation?



## Capps (Jul 21, 2012)

I am switching to a foundation-less hive deep on an active hive by moving each frame to the outside, one at a time, and cutting it out, eventually getting through all of them.

I felt bad about taking a whole frame of pollen from them. Is there a way to give that back to the bees? Or does it have any other use (being that it might be difficult to harvest in cells capped with honey)?


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

If you feel bad then give them a patty and syrup if
not much is coming in.
Actually it is better to move the brood frames into the top box
and after the bees hatched they will fill these frames with the honey. You can use these frames to extract too. If you just move the frame to the side of the box then more
pollen will bee collected. And when you removed these frame it is wasting the bee's time and food source. Consider Matt's method of opening up the hive on the sides. His thread is here somewhere.
You can also make nucs with these pollen frames by making splits too. Don't cut them out but sell them on CL to get something out of them. Part of bkeeping is like an art so think like a
creative artist.


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## Capps (Jul 21, 2012)

Thanks, I will look for his thread.

Now I can see why it would be convenient to have all mediums. Any way I can move a deep frame up to the top and just let it hang?


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Matt's method just don't let the deep frame hanging. He
replaced the empty slot with foundation less frames so the bees can
draw out to make more room. Deep or medium it doesn't matter because the
process is the same although it would be easier to use the same size frames thru out.
I use all deeps so no issue at all because I don't move my hive much. Moving a deep hive is
easy when I just use another hive box to divide the frames evenly to make it lighter to lift and move.


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## Capps (Jul 21, 2012)

By the way, are you foundation less? If you have deeps, do you use wire? I didn't think about wire until today... I hope I didn't make a mistake. Will deeps hold up without wire?

Does Matt's thread have a title? Is that is login name?


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Yes, in the brood nest I have small cell but not in the honey super with foundation.
If you are using the deep like I do then do wire the frames because about 2"
from the top is the most brittle area. The comb will break if you don't reinforce them with wire. And don't use fishing line or mono filament either. They will sag over time. The metal wire is better that will not sag the comb when you do inspection.

http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...ing-the-Sides-of-the-Broodnest&highlight=matt


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