[mike kuta]

I have a new this spring TBH, with about nine bars covered with full comb. In other posted pics I see combs spaced with blank bars. Will someone explain please? Thnkx.

 

[ruthiesbees]

to get the bees to draw out straight comb, you normally insert an empty bar between 2 drawn bars. You can also "open up the brood nest", when it's really packed full of bees/nectar and the bees are wanting to swarm, by doing the same thing...adding an empty bar between 2 drawn combs.

 

[Dakota]

Yup. i've been doing it to avoide wonky comb, as three of my bars have wonky, off center comb. Every time they start on the backside with comb, I put that bar in between two of the straight combs to avoid added issues to the already messed up bars.

 

[AugustC]

Putting bars between the last two brood comb also gives the colony a chance to expand the brood nest as the queen will usually not cross the honey barrier. Adding bars only to the end of the hive may cause the queen to run out of laying room.

 

[Jon Wolff]

Exactly right. No matter how much room is left in the hive, if the brood nest becomes honey bound, the bees can swarm. It can happen faster than you expect. One hive caught me unprepared last year and did that despite having plenty of bars to expand on.