Hello everyone
As a new beekeeper designing my own hive, I'm trying to keep beespace in mind (and by that I mean specifically the space between the sides of the frames and the side walls of the hive, not the space above and below the tops and bottoms of the frames). I'm quite concerned that I'll get the measurements wrong and that I'll end up with either too much space or too little space. I know that either too much or too little space is bad -- too little space leads to bees glueing the frames to the walls using propolis, and too much space leads to them glueing the frames to the walls using wax comb. I don't want to "plan to fail", but I may have to anyway. So my question is: which is worse: if the bees glue the frames using propolis or if the bees glue the frames using wax comb?
[By the way, I use 22 mm wide frames with either hand-spacing or castellation spacing, so the frame tops are never less than 8-10 mm from each other. This means that the question of frames being glued to each other is not an issue for me.]
My guess is that wax comb would be the lesser of the evils, because one might be able to wring the frame free, or otherwise use a long knife to slice it free. Frames that were glued to the walls using propolis, on the other hand, will be impossible to loosen without breaking the frame, I think. Do the bees fill the glue comb with honey as well (i.e. if I have to slice such a frame free, will there be lots of honey leaking out all over the hive)?
What are your views on this? If my hive building skills are not yet so good that I'm guaranteed to avoid either of these options, which one should I err on the side of?
Thanks
Samuel