topbarguy
06-08-2004, 07:17 AM
Greetings,
Last year I started a little test concerning comb management. My bees would construct straight comb towards the front of the hive in the broodnest area. But they weren't so neat about it in the honey storage area toward the rear of the hive. So I have tried two methods to get more straight comb.
With the first method, I would take a few empty top bars and inserted one of them between two broodnest combs. The bees centered the comb, but when a good flow was on, they build as much brace comb as they did normal comb. I ended up cutting most of the comb out to correct it.
With the second method, I shift the entire broodnest toward the rear of the hive about 4 to 6 top bars. Then I rotate empty top bars from the rear of the hive toward the front of the hive.
I like the second method. The bees propensity to finish out the broodnest toward the front of the hive is strong. And combs with the typical broodnest architecture continue to be built there.
This process has been repeated twice with the same results. The original center of the broodnest (top bars 3,4,5) with its straight comb is now two-thirds of the way toward the back of the hive. Normally, my bees construct the honey storage comb in this area.
I have also moved a few "unacceptable" combs to the rear of the broodnest. Eventually these combs will end up at the rear of the hive and be harvested at the end of the season.
Regards
Dennis
Last year I started a little test concerning comb management. My bees would construct straight comb towards the front of the hive in the broodnest area. But they weren't so neat about it in the honey storage area toward the rear of the hive. So I have tried two methods to get more straight comb.
With the first method, I would take a few empty top bars and inserted one of them between two broodnest combs. The bees centered the comb, but when a good flow was on, they build as much brace comb as they did normal comb. I ended up cutting most of the comb out to correct it.
With the second method, I shift the entire broodnest toward the rear of the hive about 4 to 6 top bars. Then I rotate empty top bars from the rear of the hive toward the front of the hive.
I like the second method. The bees propensity to finish out the broodnest toward the front of the hive is strong. And combs with the typical broodnest architecture continue to be built there.
This process has been repeated twice with the same results. The original center of the broodnest (top bars 3,4,5) with its straight comb is now two-thirds of the way toward the back of the hive. Normally, my bees construct the honey storage comb in this area.
I have also moved a few "unacceptable" combs to the rear of the broodnest. Eventually these combs will end up at the rear of the hive and be harvested at the end of the season.
Regards
Dennis