So today I did a hive inspection and the bees had built a pretty large bit of comb from the hive cover. I pulled up the cover and shook the bees off and removed the comb.
I set the comb down on a board I had outside the hive and continued inspections of my other hives. I then returned to the comb for a closer look.
Upon closer inspection, I see that the comb was full of very recently layed eggs which means the queen was either on that comb or had very recently been on it. And it had a LOT of eggs (i.e. this was a very large bit of comb(.
I put the comb back in the hive.
My questions are: 1) Will the eggs be okay even though I took them out of the hive and had them out for about 20 minutes and 2) Based on your experience, do you think the queen is okay based on what little info I have?
My
It was probably drone comb. Better to remove burr comb than leave it, regardless of what's in it.
If you saw eggs, your queen was laying at least within the last 3 days, so odds are, she's doing just fine. :)
Draginol, that is a good question, I would love to hear the answer. But I am wondering, where did you put the comb? You said back in the hive, I think you need to clarify this a bit for a better answer. I get burr comb between the brood chambers, that bugs me, they have lots of room for brood rearing. More often than not this brood gets destroyed (accidentally of course), and I see the bees immediately begin to pull the pupae out. I still can't figure out why they would build this brood like that, but they do. Beautiful and wonderful day, Cindi
If you removed the drone burr comb from the frames the bees will pitch it and eat the eggs and larvae. If the comb as left attached to the frame it can be left outside the hive for about 15-30 minutes and the bees will still work it. The longer the brood comb is left uncovered of nurse bees and exposed to the air, the greater mortality rate you'll find, which will evidence itself in a few days with "holes' in the brood pattern as the bees remove those that were chilled too much.
Hope that answers you question.
The bees will not build "drone" cells in the perfect "drawn" worker cells.
If you damage worker drawn comb the bees repair it into drone cells most of the time.
I would say 90 to 95% of this wild/burr comb is drone cells.
Simple reason is some years the bees seem to brood more drones than others.
Some say it's the same each year, re guard less, if the source the bees have to work with doesn't have enough space for building drone cells. The workers will find some where/anywhere to build drone cells.
If you are starting with starter strips you shouldn't have as big a problem with wild comb.
They have room to build what they need/want.
If not, in stall drone foundation, or just damage some cells around the edge of the frame of some good worker/honey cells on one or two frames.
My story and I'm sticking to it. ;)doak
If you have any intentions of "NOT" having to work with wild/burr comb, then you need to find another hobby.
Sorry that's the way it is.
Queen is probably just fine. At least before your inspection she was... :roll:
I agree, most likely drone comb. Best pitch it or render the wax. They can afford the eggs.
I don't know how you put it back into the hive, but depending on that, you may have introduced the possibility that they will create some funky cross comb, making your job harder later. They will continue to draw that comb, and if there is room around it they will keep going. If it was back between the tops and bottoms of frames then they will just repair it.
If it is just eggs, I don't usually worry about it. I feel a little bad if it is worker comb, but they haven't invested too much into them at that point.
Rick
I think some hives have more of a tendancy to draw burr comb than others. You think? I have a hive that just loves to build it so I can damage it/destroy it when I inspect. Don't they understand it would be much easier if they would build where I want them too:)
Derrick
When you get a bee that understands us, let me know. then we can teach them not to sting.
QuoteI think some hives have more of a tendancy to draw burr comb than others. You think?
I can buy that. The breed of bees plays into it I think. I also believe the frame material plays a factor. I noticed that my plastic wax coated frames get considerably more burr comb than my wood frames do. Also, I think that if you have a hive that needs more room is more prone to develop excessive amounts of burr comb.
QuoteI have a hive that just loves to build it so I can damage it/destroy it when I inspect. Don't they understand it would be much easier if they would build where I want them too:)
It probably is helping them to get around the hive easily. I don't destroy it for this reason. If it's already there, they won't waste time on the inevitable...building it again.
I have never really had much of a burr comb problem in the past. This year I have a new package that is building it like mad. I even found a queen cup in the burr comb.
Cheers,
Patrick
Sometimes burr comb is dictated more by the spacing. Too much space and they will fill it with burr comb. I've got plastic frames that are a fraction smaller top bars than the wooden ones, and those get burred really bad compared to the wood.
Why did they have a place for a large comb built not in a frame? Do you have frames missing? Do you leave an empty box on top?
one of my hives is building burr comb in the top of the frame feeder. i have taken the burr out and they put it right back!! the last inspection there were eggs in the comb as well and just before i scraped the comb off i noticed the queen so i made her climb onto my hive tool and placed her on the next frame over then continued to remove the burr comb...
I agree w/ Ross. Your queen needs more room to lay if it went through inner cover and layed eggs inside telescoping top. Just chuck it ater inspecting for mites.
Caucasian bees were infamous for drawing burr comb. I would have to say the same thing for Minnesota Hygenics. Another good way to insure burr comb in the hive is to use plastic frames and foundation. I've had much less burr comb since changing to foundationless frames.