Do you know why bees form hexagon shaped cells?

[Rader Sidetrack]

..... But my favorite is that it is their punishment for having ticked off some god or another.

Apparently Beesource members have ticked off that same god and this is our punishment ...

[Tyson Kaiser]

There you go, issue closed!!

I'm always willing to be wrong!

[jrhoto]

bees use these hexagonal cells for strength and maxium storage space.



www.poorvalleybeefarm.com

[Aerindel]

Yeah, its seems utterly obvious to me. Its the best shape for the application as is the case with any process that is the result of millions of years of trial and error.

[Acebird]

There is structurally no difference between brood cells and honey cells.

Well there certainly is. I think you are confusing the fact that bees will use any cell to store honey but if the cell was never used for brood it will always be hexagon. It structurally makes no sense to make circular cells and then morph them into a hexagon. It would consume more wax and be weaker than a hexagon made from scratch. However, it does make sense to make a hexagon cell and then modify it for brood.

[BeeGhost]

My bees don't make hexagon cells, or round ones. They make triangle ones.

Would this abnormality mean they are succumbing to varroa mites, or is it that I heated the water to one degree above boiling and tainted the sugar syrup?

I can't believe this is happening to my topbarlang hive where I had the frames narrowed down to 1 11/3456 of an inch.


My guess is this is the slow time if the year for beekeepers!

[sqkcrk]

Brian, Regardless of the fact that queens will lay in cells previously occupied by honey and worker bees will fill cells w/ honey or pollen which were previously filled w/ eggs?

[Rader Sidetrack]

I think you are confusing the fact that bees will use any cell to store honey but if the cell was never used for brood it will always be hexagon. .... However, it does make sense to make a hexagon cell and then modify it for brood.

One little problem with your theory, the image below is clearly brood comb, and the interior of the cells are not round, they are hex shaped. Surely even an engineer can see that.



Image linked from http://www.honeybeesuite.com/mixed-brood-comb/

[Daniel Y]

Rader, Center bottom of that photo is a bee pointing head down. in line with the end of his abdomen look two sells to the right. That is a cell that has 5 sides.

I pin this out because what I am seeing is a transition from brood comb to honey. And much of the comb in that area is distorted as a result.
I don't see hex cells. I see the appearance of hexagons as the result of many cylinders being joined together. and there is a thicker wax in the gap where any three cylinders meet.The gaps that woudl normally form between cylinders grouped like this woudl already be small. on a bees comb scale they are so small that by the time you have 3 points all meeting each other. the gap getting filled is almost unavoidable.

An example of how a cylinder or circle matches to a hex. look at the cap at the end of a bic ballpoint pen. the cheap plastic one. the body of the pen is a hex. the cap is obviously a circle. the match does not leave a whole lot of point sticking out at each corner of the hex. Now divide that by three because the material that fills the gap between cells is three of these point meeting. I am thinking that it will be pretty hard to see that the appearance of hex shape is nothing more than a minute thickening of the wax at each corner. but the bore of the cell is a cylinder.

[Acebird]

Brian, Regardless of the fact that queens will lay in cells previously occupied by honey and worker bees will fill cells w/ honey or pollen which were previously filled w/ eggs?

I am not understanding your question.

[FlowerPlanter]

Which came first the bee or the egg?

That is the question.

[Daniel Y]

Which came first the bee or the egg?

That is the question.

Obviously the cell geeesh.

[BeeCurious]

Call me old fashioned, but I am more comfortable with the simplicity of Gregory of Nazianzus 329-389ad

This-worketh virgin waxen comb,
Six sided pipes to form her home,
The which, inspired by duty
She weaves and dovetails, all in fine
Neat handiwork, that doth combine
Security with beauty





That doth do it for me...

[bevy's honeybees]

Do you know why bees form hexagon shaped cells?

Magnified view of a bees eye:

That is so cool!

[Jim 134]

Brian, Regardless of the fact that queens will lay in cells previously occupied by honey and worker bees will fill cells w/ honey or pollen which were previously filled w/ eggs?

Do you forget one water


BEE HAPPY Jim 134