Can you tell me if this comb is indicative of anything to be concerned about?

joker1656 · July 20, 2009, 12:49:44 AM

Checked one of my weaker hives today. They have drawn out only a couple of frames in the second box. That isn't the problem, though. The problem is that thes couple of frames are weird. It has dark stuff in it, that I think is old pollen. One of them has weird scallop like edges to it. The rest of the box is drawn fine.

This hive is going to combine with another this week anyway, but I wondered if this was weird or normal.

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/9064/photo071909004.jpg
http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/9699/photo071909003001.jpg

oldenglish · July 20, 2009, 12:53:10 AM

The one frame looks like they are getting set to build some queen cells, the dark on the others could be anything.

G3farms · July 20, 2009, 01:45:52 AM

looks more like burr comb to me. they wont build queen cells on undrawn foundation. I would say there is not much of a flow on right now and they are looking for something to do. how is your bee space where that frame side just happen to be?

the dark on the comb looks like stains from pollen that they have tracked in on their feet.

G3

Kathyp · July 20, 2009, 01:48:47 AM

sometimes they do that. more on plastic and on new foundation. you can knock those knobby pieces off.

sc-bee · July 20, 2009, 05:03:45 AM

It's just not drawn yet. Do you have a flow going?

One side has a cup on it. Some bees just build cups. They like to have them around.Watch cups for larvae, then it becomes a queen cell.

One side looks a little darker, like they may have reworked some old comb and used the wax. Seems like some dark pollen in it. Nothing alarming.

Seems like some warped comb as mentioned above. Maybe a spacing issue. As Kathy said remove the clumps.

riverrat · July 20, 2009, 09:09:43 AM

looks to me like your using durachit foundation and the bees have ate the wax off the plastic. If this is the case they will not rebuild on the plastic area

joker1656 · July 20, 2009, 09:48:13 AM

Ha, you are correct riverrat. I was given a 25# box of it when I started beeking this year. Free is a pretty good price LOL. I am gonna remedy the situation. Thanks for all the input.

Robo · July 20, 2009, 09:51:15 AM

You sure it is duragilt? All the duragilt I've seen has smooth plastic core, that looks like it has a pattern. Seems to me the problem is your expecting a weak hive to draw comb.

riverrat · July 20, 2009, 10:33:50 AM

Quote from: Robo on July 20, 2009, 09:51:15 AM
You sure it is duragilt? All the duragilt I've seen has smooth plastic core, that looks like it has a pattern. Seems to me the problem is your expecting a weak hive to draw comb.

I was going on the assuption the pattern that was being seen was on the back side of the plastic but I may be wrong its been known to happen frequently at times :)

Robo · July 20, 2009, 11:43:04 AM

Quote from: riverrat on July 20, 2009, 10:33:50 AM
I may be wrong its been known to happen frequently at times :)

Sounds like we both suffer from the same disease..... :-P

joker1656 · July 20, 2009, 11:45:44 AM

It said "Duragilt" on the box. It was unopened and about 18-20 yrs old.

Dats all I know.

It worked pretty well for all of the other hives, so I think you might be right Robo. Weak hive.

Like I said earlier, I am gonna remedy this situation. Gonna do some combos, in the hopes that some of my weaker hives will be good and solid for winter.

Thanks, again

G3farms · July 20, 2009, 01:17:27 PM

>>>>looks to me like your using durachit foundation <<<<<<

:lau: :lau: :lau:

thats a goodun rr, that is what I think of it also.

G3

Scadsobees · July 20, 2009, 01:19:19 PM

weird but normal :roll:

Duragilt shouldn't be handled if it is cold. It shouldn't be handled, period, unless it is free :roll:.

If you had some wax flake off, those frames will never be normal. Use them for as long as you can but rotate them out as soon as possible.

The bees will also draw the comb not so nice if there isn't a good flow going on. Looking at the darkness of the comb and the shape of it, it doesn't look like much was going on.

The darker stains inside of the cells looks like they raised some brood in there. Brood raising stains the combs quickly.

Rick

asprince · July 20, 2009, 01:26:59 PM

I bought some Duragilt this year for some honey supers. So far so good. They are drawing them just fine. I get crazy comb in my brood chambers frequently with swarms. Recycled all plastic pierco frames seem to be the worse. I have lots of them that were given to me by my mentor. For free, I can put of with it.

Steve

Brian D. Bray · July 21, 2009, 01:46:19 AM

Quote from: Robo on July 20, 2009, 09:51:15 AM
You sure it is duragilt? All the duragilt I've seen has smooth plastic core, that looks like it has a pattern. Seems to me the problem is your expecting a weak hive to draw comb.

A weak hive, or a hive with no flow, the bees will eat the wax off the plastic rendering it useless. From a personal perspective, I'm surprized that 20 year old duraguilt would still have the wax attached to the plastic. I would think it would have crumbled off when the sheets were handled.
I'm not a Duraguilt advocate, just the opposite. I didn't think much of it when it 1st came out around 1960 and I still don't think much of it.

It is not uncommon for the bees to build weird combs on any type of plastic frame or foundation. With plastic frames an additiional layer of wax applied atop the one applied during manufacture can often cure that problem to a greater or lesser degree. With Duraguilt there is no way to save or mend it.