# Inspected my hives - question about comb



## turtlehead (Jul 22, 2005)

Okay, did my first hive inspection today. It's a couple of days early (day eight) because tonight is the once-a-month beekeepers meeting and I thought I'd best have a good look before the meeting, in case I had questions.

I need to practice keeping the smoker going but they were real gentle. Didn't get angry even though I jostled them a few times by accident. 

I saw both queens (one queen in each of two new hives).

One hive had eaten a gallon of syrup and were flying in and out like mad. They had made the most progress. The other hive had only eaten about a quart and a half to two quarts. They made progress too but not as much.

I could see lots of cells with sugar-water syrup in them (I guess that's what it was, it was clear) and some with dark amber syrup in it.

Some bees had little pollen saddle bags. 

In both of the hives, I had some "extra" free flowing comb. It's not burr comb because it's not burr shaped and not attached to the walls of the hive. It's more U shaped and like what you'd find out in nature. Both hives built this stuff right smack dab in the center of the hive between two frames. It's because I had placed the queen cage on the "floor" of the hive and didn't push the frames close together. Extra space = let's make some free-form comb.

So... what do I do with it? It represents, at this point, the majority of their work effort so I wasn't sure if I should tear it out.

Will it tear up the "regular" comb in the frames?
If it does, what do I do?

I'll ask these questions tonight at the meeting, too, but I'm dying of curiosity.


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## turtlehead (Jul 22, 2005)

Well the folks at the bee meeting called my extra comb "burr comb" even though my reading suggests that technically burr comb is built on a flat surface and is burr shaped, not hanging and U shaped. Semantics.

It was recommended that I cut out the excess comb whenever it becomes a hindrance. I can leave it or cut it out right now, as it suits me. 

Eventually they will probably join two frames with connecting comb in between the frames and if they do that I have to cut the comb in order to inspect the frames in the hive. 

Short term I can cut it out if I like but they will likely (probably?) just rebuild it.


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## Iddee (Sep 25, 2005)

Any comb where the beek doesn't want it is burr comb.
It is best to remove it now and slide the frames together so they will not replace it.
The longer you wait, the worse mess you will have.


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## turtlehead (Jul 22, 2005)

Thanks, Iddee. I hate to destroy all that work 
Guess better destroy a little than wait and have to destroy a lot, though, huh?


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## rmaster14145 (Mar 14, 2007)

the longer you wait the bigger the mess...I AGREE.

i had added a 1" spacer to the top of my hives to feed them over the winter. when i opened them up there was a BIG OLE MESS!!!. comb going this way and that. had to remove all of it. i see it as wasted time for them too but it has to be removed. good news tho i got 1qt and 1 pt of honey from it. i think it was made from a purple plumb tree in the back yard. it was the only thing blooming. the honey was clearer than sourwood.

rm


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## dcross (Aug 12, 2005)

If it's a serious hunk of comb, you could take an empty frame and tie or rubber band it in.


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## turtlehead (Jul 22, 2005)

Really? That's amazing. 

Bees just amaze me in how flexible they are about letting people mess with them, their environment, habitat, etc.


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