# Nuc glued together with propolis and comb - what to do



## sapphyre (Dec 10, 2008)

Hi all,

First, my apologies if this has already been discussed. It's a weird one as far as trying to find the answer with search terms.

This is my first time with bees. The Nuc I installed about a month and a half ago was so old and so well-established that each frame was hopelessely glued together with propolis. Some of the frames were even rotting. The amount of comb in between was so thick that the frames were spread out further than they would be. When I installed them, the spread forced me to leave out one new frame. So, I could only place nine frames in the lower deep, with only 1/3 to 1/2 the space needed to to insert the tenth. So, big time "bee space" violation, but I had no choice. 

I check on the hive for the first time about two weeks ago. The hive glueing is spreading. The original five were sealed to the bottoms of the upper frames and spreading to the adjacent frames, filling them up so they practically touch - not just propolis, but honey and brood. I scraped off what I could, but it's hopeless. They've barely started to expand to the top deep. (I have no supers specifically for honey yet.)

Do I just let them have that bottom deep to fill up as much as they want, however they want, or do I have to fix this and establish some order in there? If so, how do I do that without destroying the hive? 

In the long-term, I'd like them to move out of the old, rotting worn out nuc frames altogether and replace them with my new frames. But they LOVE them. How do I do this without destroying most of their brood?

Aside from all this, the hive is flourishing!


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## indypartridge (Oct 26, 2004)

Don't know where you are, but I'm assuming nighttime temperatures are warm enough, and that you have large enough bee population that chilled brood won't be an issue.

This is what I would do:
I'd separate the original nuc frames, putting new frames between them (drawn comb if you have it, so they won't extend the comb on the old frames even further). I'd keep manipulating frames in the lower box (every week to 10 days), easing the old frames to the edges. The outside frames are often empty (no brood), and can replaced at that point. Over the course of the summer, you should be able to get all the old frames replaced.


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## sapphyre (Dec 10, 2008)

That is a great idea. I will try it. Can I move them to the top box eventually, where there's a lot less activity? Our nighttime lows are in the high 50s/low 60s now. They seem to be up and about pretty early in the A.M.

They started a new behavior last night. Hundreds of them were congregated along the seam in between the top and bottom box. I bet they are trying to glue them together!


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