Bee Space

Apr 22, 2025

2 min read

Bees have rules for us beekeepers.

Rule number 1: Do not squish the queen.

Rule number 2: Do not violate bee space.

Bee space is not about nebulas and stars—we are talking about the proper spacing of frames in the hive.

Today, just a few days after installing the nuc, my mother and I inspected the hive to check the sugar water levels in the feeder frame. Running out of food would be trouble! Upon inspection, we discovered the sugar water levels were fine, but a different kind of trouble took place.

Retracing steps back to my first ever nuc installation, I had carefully placed the nuc frames in the same order they came in the box. I was cautious and took my time placing the frames, ever so aware of the queen—so as not to squish her. Then, I put the second brood box on top of the frame, filled the box on the first level, and failed to place any frames in the second layer. This was a violation of bee space.

I did not put frames in the second layer of the box, which led the bees to begin building comb upwards to the stars (or rather, filling the space above the frames instead of filling out the new frames I meticulously placed for them). This resulted in poorly drawn comb above the frames.

Since I am still a newbee, mistakes will happen. It was easily corrected with a bit of patience, a smoker, and a hive tool.

To correct the beeswax debacle, my mother carefully used the smoker to make the bees retreat from the troublesome comb. Then, once they retreated from the misplaced comb, I slowly scraped the comb from the frame with my hive tool. I was careful not to squish any tiny bee legs. After, I was sure to push the frames close together so this wouldn't happen again.

Luckily, we checked the hive just a few days after installation. Had it been built out any longer, the poorly drawn comb would have gotten messy and impossible to manage. This could have been a larger issue, so we are glad to have checked the hive when we did.

Beginner Beekeeper Links:

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