Noticed something interesting today about wired wax

[BigGun]

Checked my two swarms today. Noticed the queen was not laying in cells that had the wire under them. It was the same on both sides. Kinda neat.

[westernbeekeeper]

Fascinating observation.

[S.M.N.Bee]

I've noticed this as well. The bees will coat the wire with enough wax in time and the queen will start to use these cells.

John

[BigGun]

I've noticed this as well. The bees will coat the wire with enough wax in time and the queen will start to use these cells.

John

Nice to know this. I thought it was a spotty brood pattern until I noticed the pattern.

[crofter]

I have seen frames that had the wires chewed bare and avoided the first draw out then gradually incorporated. I have some new nucs this year on undrawn wired wax and the wires are not being avoided at all. They are keeping the queen close to honey bound and she is laying sometimes in cells that are only about 1/8" drawn and in some cases eggs deposited directly onto the wire itself. It has been cold here at nights and they are not going great guns at drawing out the foundation but for some reason they dont seem bothered by the wires. They seem to like the wired wax a bit better than the waxed black pierco plastic that I am trying on a sister hive.

Ask the bees what gives!

Edit: I wonder if how well the wires are embedded has something to do with how they build on it.

[imkerwannabee]

That explains the two "bare" stripes I saw on a frame a week ago. Thanks for putting the piece in that puzzle for me.

imkerwannabee

[Peter]

Checked my two swarms today. Noticed the queen was not laying in cells that had the wire under them. It was the same on both sides. Kinda neat.

Typically happens when the wires weren't embeded fully. They won't lay on the exposed wires. After several broods the wires get gradually covered and then they start laying on the full frames

[iwlf]

Checked my two swarms today. Noticed the queen was not laying in cells that had the wire under them. It was the same on both sides. Kinda neat.

One of my queens is doing the same thing. I thought she was just good at math and was counting off cells . . . .

[Daniel Y]

I noticed this the first time i saw eggs in my hive. I also did not find it surprising. I also noticed on my last inspection that the bees are tearing down comb in places attempting to remove the wires.