brood comb cell height variation

1395 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Countryboy, Jun 3, 2010

Clark10

Discussion Starter · Jun 1, 2010

I was checking in on one of my hives and noticed that the brood cells are all at various heights. The cells are all differing heights and many are capped with larva inside. It is almost as if they are only building on the cells with eggs in them first and then focusing on the others as the queen lays other eggs. In addition, the queen would be laying all over the place in no particular pattern then.

This is a swarm that was hived within the last month and they are small in number. Has anyone seen this before? Does anyone know why they are building comb like this?

Thanks.

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fish_stix

· #2 · Jun 1, 2010

Because they want it built that way! They're bugs! They don't build comb to suit the beekeeper; as long as it works for them it's A-OK.

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Clark10

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 2, 2010

Thanks for your thoughts FishStix. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

Thanks

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Michael Bush

· #4 · Jun 2, 2010

Brood is pretty consistent in thickness, but it is based on the diameter of the cell. Is the mid rib flat?

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BEES4U

· #5 · Jun 2, 2010

Here's a search that I did for you:

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=216693&highlight=DRONE+BROOD+PHOTOS

Ernie

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Countryboy

· #6 · Jun 3, 2010

It is almost as if they are only building on the cells with eggs in them first and then focusing on the others as the queen lays other eggs.

Has anyone seen this before? Does anyone know why they are building comb like this?

They are building comb like that because they are focusing first on the cells the queen laid eggs in.

The queen will often lay in partially drawn cells. Once the queen lays an egg in a partially drawn cell, the bees are forced to finish drawing that cell out completely in order to raise the brood.

This happens often when bees are started on foundation and the queen is constantly searching for any cell big enough for her to lay eggs in.

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