How to Introduce Pierco Frames and Foundations

Differing weather conditions, floral sources and nectar flows will influence the best method of frame and foundation introduction. Your colonies should be strong, healthy and free of stressors — it is difficult to get bees to draw new comb if they are under any stress.

Colonies must also have a good nectar flow, be it natural or artificial (sugar syrup). Bees cannot produce wax without carbohydrates coming in.

The following two methods have proven to be the most successful for new frame introduction.

Method 1

Inter-space Pierco frames with drawn comb

Insert three new Pierco frames and foundations in the 3, 5 and 7 positions. The reason for using these positions is that bees are often slower to draw foundation on the outside of the super.

We recommend feeding the bees heavily until the honey flows begin. This will encourage the bees to start drawing new comb immediately.

Note: if the inter-spacing method does not yield, try Method 2 below.

Method 2

Replace all drawn combs with new Pierco frames and foundations

With this method you are running 100% new, undrawn Pierco frames and foundations in your standard 9 frame super. This approach gives the bees no choice but to go to work and draw out the Pierco frames and foundations.

Any undrawn Pierco frames or foundations with brace or burr comb can be scraped clean with a hive tool and returned to the super.

We recommend feeding the bees heavily with sugar syrup at this time, to stimulate comb building. Some beekeepers also place a drawn comb on each end of the super as bait comb.

If your results vary

Remember that your local conditions of weather, floral sources, colony condition and so on can cause your results to vary. If the above two methods do not yield the results you expect, call us at (800) 233-2662. We’ll be glad to help.

When you call you’ll get a knowledgeable “bee” person on the line to serve you. We provide excellent commercial shipping rates and always have inventory available.

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