I've heard many references to extra old black comb on the forum and it made me wonder about it.
I re-used some black comb from last year's dead out in my hives this year. The bees made themselves right at home. Why would someone not use old black comb? There's so much talk of having it laying around and to use it for bait boxes and such, where does it come from? Do people retire comb after so many uses? Do the bees need a fresh foundation every once in a while?
Perhaps this is comb in which has been extracted but I thought that the black stuff is mostly brood comb. Or maybe I'm just small time and those beeks with dozens of hives have old black comb because of losses, splits, and swarms.
Any input here?
I re-used some black comb from last year's dead out in my hives this year. The bees made themselves right at home. Why would someone not use old black comb? There's so much talk of having it laying around and to use it for bait boxes and such, where does it come from? Do people retire comb after so many uses? Do the bees need a fresh foundation every once in a while?
Perhaps this is comb in which has been extracted but I thought that the black stuff is mostly brood comb. Or maybe I'm just small time and those beeks with dozens of hives have old black comb because of losses, splits, and swarms.
Any input here?