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harvesting comb

3K views 8 replies 8 participants last post by  Scot Mc Pherson 
#1 ·
If I was to harvest bar number 5, a bar from just in the middle of the thb, and cut the comb off, how does this effect the rebuilding of this comb? Does it cause the other comb on the two side to become drawn additionally and you get really bad comb spacing due to this? Or do you normally harvest from the end, and just keep removing bar by bar till you have what you need?

When you take honey from a framed comb, you are replacing the comb back intact. With a thb you are not. So is there anything to be aware of?

Thank you.
 
#2 ·
>If I was to harvest bar number 5, a bar from just in the middle of the thb, and cut the comb off, how does this effect the rebuilding of this comb? Does it cause the other comb on the two side to become drawn additionally and you get really bad comb spacing due to this?

In a honey area of the hive during a honey flow, probably. I harvest from the end.
 
#4 ·
Hi Guys,

I just haven't found a consistently effective way to 'manage' tbh comb. So, I let the bees do what they want in the broodnest. And harvest from the honey storage area toward the rear of my hive. Sometimes, I'll move some 'bad' broodnest comb toward the rear and then harvest it later in the season.

Regards
Dennis
 
#5 ·
My experience is pretty much the same as Bwrangler's, I just harvest from the ends and move unruly combs to the back. They do not seem to have trouble if a space is made between combs, in the brood nest it just forces them to build nice straight comb as long as the comb to either side of the empty bar is straight. The only exception is that I try to avoid removing comb and replacing it with an empty bar from within the broodnest late in the season, as this tends to get rebuilt with a larger cell size than early season brood comb.
 
#8 ·
Normally in a TBH you don't use an excluder (but it can be done as Sasha says).

Most of the honey that I harvest from my TBHs comes from virgin comb. Because you cut off the comb to harvest the honey (normally), the bees must rebuild it to store more honey. The comb is constantly being renewed. The only time I usually get honey combs that have had brood are combs that I myself move from the center to the outer edge becase I don't want them to be continued to be used for brood for whatever reason (too many drone cells or not real straight).

Sometimes your excluder in the TBH is a full comb of honey. Usually when the queen runs into a full comb of honey she won't go beyond it to continue laying eggs. And usually you leave more than enough space for the brood nest area so there is always room for the honey storage. One of the ideas behind the TBH is that you don't need to use an excluder.
 
#9 ·
Bees seem to work from top down. If there is a gap between the combs for a new comb to fit into, they'll fill that gap before elongating surrounding combs.

If you aren't sure, just try it a few times and see. They always fill the space first.
 
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