I'm new too, but I've seen other threads like this and people say it's fine. If they had comb on the last frame though, it's time to add a second hive body I believe, I added mine a few days ago. Bring up a frame of brood to the new hive body to draw them up there.
Broken Comb Help
Hello! New beekeeper here. I just did an inspection on my nuc that I installed a little over a week ago. The bees had burr comb on the inner cover which made it difficult for me to open the hive, and resulted in one of newer pieces of comb on the end frame to break off. The comb was approximately the size of my hand. I was able to reach down and grab it but it was pretty smushed. I was searching for eggs and/or the queen and could not find her anywhere, but plenty of larvae and capped brood. After closing up the hive, I took a second look at the piece that had broken off and there were eggs! I am so upset about the piece that broke off, as I was not able to reattach. Do you think it is a big loss or will it be okay? Like I said it was about the size of my hand and was attached to the last frame which had another piece much bigger.
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The loss of a small number of eggs is negligible as the bees have no resources invested. Queens lay 1500 eggs per day on average. The comb does take some resources, but at this time of year they will replace it quickly.
This is something we all have experienced.
Alex
This is something we all have experienced.
Alex
put an elastic around it, bees will repair the comb , chew up the elastic and drag it out of hive - they are magic
crittersHello! New beekeeper here. I just did an inspection on my nuc that I installed a little over a week ago. The bees had burr comb on the inner cover which made it difficult for me to open the hive, and resulted in one of newer pieces of comb on the end frame to break off. The comb was approximately the size of my hand. I was able to reach down and grab it but it was pretty smushed. I was searching for eggs and/or the queen and could not find her anywhere, but plenty of larvae and capped brood. After closing up the hive, I took a second look at the piece that had broken off and there were eggs! I am so upset about the piece that broke off, as I was not able to reattach. Do you think it is a big loss or will it be okay? Like I said it was about the size of my hand and was attached to the last frame which had another piece much bigger.
1 - 4 of 4 Posts
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