burr comb question

[martyred_cars]

Is it burr comb if it's just up onto the wood of the frame a little bit? It looks like it to me, but I just wanted to check.

[Michael Bush]

Burr comb, I suppose could be anything you don't want, but to me burr is just bits of comb here and there in small spaces where they don't necessarily hurt anything but they stick things together. Anything else, to me is a comb in the wrong place.

[martyred_cars]

So if doesn't appear to be hindering anything, should I leave it? Or is it dysfunctional?

Thanks!

[Tomas]

Usually it’s eliminated because it causes you the beekeeper problems, not the bees. The bees build it because for some reason they think they need it, even though it doesn’t seem to have any useful purpose.

Sometime you might want to scrape the tops of the frames if enough burr comb gets built up on them and there are problems putting on or taking off the cover or separating boxes. You might also want to scrape it off the side of the box if you have problems getting a frame out or putting it back in. If it seems that it doesn’t cause problems you can leave it.

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Tom

[BjornBee]

Burr comb can be an indication of improper bee space, and they will just normally rebuild it after you scrape it off. If it is not a nuisance I would just leave it. Burr comb between the boxes usually means smashed bees when you replace the boxes, so smoke the bees off the top of the frames (or under the box being placed) prior to putting them on.