Fixing Burr comb

3355 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by quigibo, Jun 24, 2014

quigibo

Discussion Starter · Jun 23, 2014

New to beekeeping. Installed first package mid April in a new Langstroth 8 frame boxes. Bees combined side + frames 1+ 2 with burr comb due to improper spacing (my fault of course). Tried to fix in May and made sure all frames were pushed together in the center. Same thing now with burr comb. Have about 100 bees at entrance day and night for the last few days. Don't want to open and tear everything up till I know what I am doing. Wanted to give them all the space they need to prevent swarming so I currently have 2 brood boxes on bottom, queen excluder on top and honey super on top so they have lots of room. Bees all over in the honey super but no drawn comb.
Is it possible to add a box on top of the queen excluder and put the 2 burr comb frames from the bottom box in there and let the workers hatch + raise the little ones and clean up the burr comb then remove the burr frames later. I don't think I can "fix" the burr comb without killing a bunch of bees. Thought it might be easier to replace the burr frames with clean new ones and start with the correct spacing.
Any suggestions would be helpful. Most of what I see are how to prevent burr comb not how to fix it.

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Colobee

· #2 · Jun 23, 2014

Burr comb, yes, 'still an issue for me

. I try to rotate it out (& then up), giving them "fresh" frames along side the brood nest. 'Problem being they build straighter comb when it is sandwiched by (already) straight comb.

'Sounds like you have a good plan, raising the burr/brood up above an excluder. Pack new foundation as tight as possible. As an added benefit, you should see renewed "interest" in drawing out the super, once it is "seeded" with some brood. Move the burr to the outside as soon as all the brood are hatched, so they don't "pattern" the burr comb in your super.

Providing restricted feed syrup will encourage them to continue to draw comb between flows. It may take a few years to get all nice evenly drawn combs. (be patient).

Every year I shuffle 2 new frames of foundation into several of my supers. It is occasionally a battle to get it drawn out straight, but those good new ones give me some latitude.

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quigibo

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 24, 2014

Well that was a clusterF#$%. By the time I got to the bottom box the bees were not too happy. Even though all the frames were touching frames 1+2 were glued together as one. the 2 frames on the other side were empty. I tried some swapping around and all the burr comb I cut off I put in a empty box on top of super so they can do what they wish with it. Dit not see queen and I hope I did not kll her with all the other hundreds I slaughtered. Probably would of been better to let them alone.

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Zbee

· #4 · Jun 24, 2014

It happens - but I would encourage you to get control of that comb early as possible or it just leads to more issues. Don't be afraid to cut that stuff out and either dispose of it, or allow them to clean it out and then dispose of it. Leaving it would just lead to more bad comb that could get equally stuck.

I regularly pull off comb attached to the side of the hive body. If it has nectar, they will clean it if you leave it on top of something - pollen, not so much. If they draw comb too thick (likely honey) for my liking and its affecting the adjacent frames, I shave it down with a long knife after knocking the bees off. It makes a mess, but they clean it up pretty quickly.

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FlowerPlanter

· #5 · Jun 24, 2014

>Bees combined side + frames 1+ 2 with burr comb due to improper spacing
Sometimes bees just burr and cross comb stuff up regardless of spacing.

>Bees all over in the honey super but no drawn comb
>2 brood boxes on bottom, queen excluder on top
Remove the QE to build supers. Insert empty comb in the brood nest to prevent swarming.

>Is it possible to add a box on top of the queen excluder and put the 2 burr comb frames from the bottom box in there and let the workers hatch + raise the little ones
Yes. Then after the brood has hatched put the frames by themself in a box above the inner cover and have the bees clean out the remaining honey. Then fix it.

>I don't think I can "fix" the burr comb without killing a bunch of bees.
They are pets and I don't unnecessary kill them.

I will sometime isolate the bad comb by putting it on the outside frames then putting a good frame beside it so they don't continue building that way. Let the bees use it for storage and harvest them later or wait until spring when they are empty.

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quigibo

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jun 24, 2014

Thanks for the suggestions. I did not think about using a long knife to slice away the burr comb. The hive tool seemed to make a mess of things. Thought I would give them a week to settle down and will see how it looks. I think the 90 degree heat and 100% humidity made them and me unhappy.
One suggestion was to remove the Queen Excluder to build the supers. Won't the queen migrate up there and lay her eggs? How high up will the queen go?

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