Extra thick comb

When I was removing the queen cages from my recently installed packages I noticed something troubling. I only waited two and a half days but already one of the frames had comb almost to the bottom of one of the medium frames. This would have been great but it looked like they had started two lobes of comb on each side of the popsicle stick guide on one the frames. Is this something I should risk disrupting them again before next weekend over? The two lobes looked to have already been merged together in the middle of the frame so I think that the frame will just be extra wide. I am sorry that I didn't take a picture but if necessary I can try to describe it better.

So you are saying the bees are starting the comb on both sides of the popsicle stick and at the bottom of it they have joined it as a single comb and it is still running the length of the frame as it should? It doesn't sound like anything to worry about at all.

That is pretty much it. both pieces aren't joined at the bottom but appear to be joined at the middle of each lobe.

I do not know. I wish someone else would help. If it is two actual combs I would slice it off in a hurry to make them draw it out again. Did you have your frames pushed together tight?

The main thing I would like to know is how dangerous it is to their development to mess with them so soon after I fiddled with them (i.e. yesterday). Correcting bad comb just to have them abscond seems like catching the house on fire while trying to move a couch.

I have to agree with you. You know that does make the most sense to let them get accustomed in their new home . As long as frames are removable you can fix them later on with a pocket knife.

won't they start all the other comb off wrong once the starting point is set? my understanding is that it is better to fix it right away otherwise you have to fix every frame.

caveat: this is "book learning" only... don't have my bees yet.

So how far off-center is this comb, a few millimeters, or a centimeter or more? From your description it sounds like a few millimeters, at most -- for me I wouldn't even consider that off-center.

If memory serves me there should be roughly a centimeter of space between the center of each of the lobes. Maybe this picture I drew will help:

Attachment 1522

Keep in mind that is by no means to scale and is just suppose to give an idea of what I am talking about. If I had to guess the comb would stick out an additional half a centimeter on each side - but it would just be a guess.

I would be inclined to fix it sooner rather than later. If the next comb goes off at a tangent and crosses several frames it will be a much more difficult problem to fix. My first hive was a TBH, and I saw the same thing a few times.

If the comb is in the frame I wouldn't worry about it.

Would one cut the comb off the existing frame or put in a new one?

Thanks Mike and everyone for your patience. I think I am just going to do a "wait and see" one on this one. If when I inspect it this weekend it has caused them to draw comb on the adjacent frames incorrectly I will fix all three frames before it becomes too problematic. I have bugged the girls enough since I have installed them.