Housel positioning

[Hook]

I started a TBH this year, and I have Y's and I's like I an supposed to. I was beginning to think the theory held alot of water. It is true, the the facing I's will be the center. I have seen that firsthand.
Now an interesting observation the other day. I pulled the most recent bar out to check the position, and I had beautiful y's right in line like they are supposed to be, yet, they started another strip a few inches away, and it was opposite. As I stated, the rest of the hive is perfect, but this last strip blows my mind. And, it is not the first wax bead that they are drawing on. I know a starter strip, gives them a pattern, but I used wax beads as part of my experiment, and like I said the theory held true.

Is there any explanation for this. If so, enlighten me, because I want to understand, or is it because bees are bees!

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Dale Richards
Dal-Col Apiaries
Drums, PA

[BWrangler]

Hi Dale and Everyone,

When the bees had just started drawing out a few pieces of comb im my tbh, I saw the same thing. But within a couple of weeks, I could find no correlation within the nest and only a very loose correlation between the two sides of one comb.

The bees nest has a very defined organization but I couldn't relate it to the cell bottoms.

Check out the "Obs" section in "Confessions of a small cell beekeeper with a tbh" at:
www.geocities.com/usbwrangler/obs2 (http://www.geocities.com/usbwrangler/obs2)

I have some observations and a typical shot of what I have seen.

Regards
Dennis



[This message has been edited by BWrangler (edited August 24, 2003).]

[Michael Bush]

I have set up several hives now on blank starter strips. They all have a definite center comb that is actually a sideways "Y". It is, as reported by others, the same from both sides. I have difficulty saying what the pattern is from there. It varies too much.