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How to Introduce Pierco Frames and Foundations
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Differing weather conditions, floral sources and nectar flows will influence the best method of frame/foundation introduction. Your colonies should be strong and healthy. It is difficult to get bees to draw new comb if they are under any stress. Also, colonies must have a good nectar flow, be it natural or artificial (sugar syrup). Bees cannot produce wax without carbohydrate 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 Piercos in the 3, 5, and 7 positions. The reason for using the 3, 5, and 7 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 of the drawn combs with new Piercos.

You are now running 100% (10) new undrawn Pierco frames/foundations in your standard 9 frame super. Any undrawn Piercos with brace or burr comb can be scraped clean with a hive tool and returned to the super. This approach gives the bees no choice but to go to work and draw out the Pierco frame/foundation. 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.

Remember that your local conditions of weather, floral sources, colony condition etc. can cause your results to vary. If the above two methods do not yield the results you expect call us at 951-361-1600 we'll be glad to help.

Insist on genuine Pierco products.

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