# Rotating Comb



## whalers (Jun 4, 2011)

wadehump - thank you. My four hives are built on deeps with small cell. (except for 4 regular size frames in two hives that came with two nucs) Above that I run medium supers and they are a mixture of small cell and foundationless. This year was an experiment with the foundationless and I feel its been a great success so want to continue to move in that direction. My dilemma is how to change out the foundation in the deep supers for foundationless frames. Any ideas on how to do that?


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## wadehump (Sep 30, 2007)

*Re: Survivor bees vs regular stock and mite counts*

You could move the 4 frames to the outside of the boxes and let them use them for honey and pollen storage i did that and it worked fine or you can rotate them out.


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## whalers (Jun 4, 2011)

*Re: Survivor bees vs regular stock and mite counts*

Do you use fishing line to support your deeps? The mediums work fine without it, but I'm wondering if the deeps would need some help.


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## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

*Re: Survivor bees vs regular stock and mite counts*

I have received a few nucs strung with fishing line, and I don't like it. It breaks after about two or three years and then it hangs on and gets in the way.


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## whalers (Jun 4, 2011)

*Re: Survivor bees vs regular stock and mite counts*

Solomon, once the deep frames are filled with comb, I'm assuming they hold up well to a normal inspection. I can see how they could fall apart if not filled in, but once they are filled with comb do they hold up to an inspection during hot weather that might make the wax soft? I would assume so but not having used them before, I'm just wanting to get off to a good start if I decide to use them.


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## jbeshearse (Oct 7, 2009)

whalers said:


> wadehump - thank you. My four hives are built on deeps with small cell. (except for 4 regular size frames in two hives that came with two nucs) Above that I run medium supers and they are a mixture of small cell and foundationless. This year was an experiment with the foundationless and I feel its been a great success so want to continue to move in that direction. My dilemma is how to change out the foundation in the deep supers for foundationless frames. Any ideas on how to do that?


Use your deeps as a honey super with a queen excluder below it. If you run unlimited brood nes, put the box of deeps above a full honey super. After all the brood has emerged from the deeps and the bees have filled them with honey, crush and strain (or extract if that is what you do). Then you can put the box and empty frames back in the hive low, just space the empty frames between drawn comb to insure straight comb.

I would follow Soloman's advice on the fishing line. Proably better to use wire in the foundationless deeps for support. Vertical and crosswired on deeps. If you crush and strain you don't need either.


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## wadehump (Sep 30, 2007)

I use wire on supers i have some deeps that have wire and some that don't since i am all foundationless i just make sure it is all drawn all the way out when i inspect and turn them on end if not drawn all the way out you have to turn them so the comb will not fall out.


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