Question for removers

[iddee]

My curiosity is getting the best of me. I would like to get some feedback on two items.

When you do cutouts, are the combs running east to west, or north to south?
Also, is the entrance on the east, west, north, or south side?

Please take note of these two items in your next few cutouts and post here. I want to know if there is a pattern to it.

Thanks

Would one of the mods please make this a sticky for a couple of months?

[hardwood]

We did a double cut out from a cook shed on Monday. They were located in perpendicular walls. Both colonies chose to build comb parallel to the walls so one set of comb was north/south, the other was east/west. I'll start taking mental note of this to see if it makes a difference, but I think they build more to the environment than to the compass.

Scott

[Kathyp]

i can answer both right now from memory.  the answer to both questions is 'yes'.  

in every wall that i have opened (near as i can remember) the comb has run from stud to stud rather than wall to wall.  in other spaces there's no telling.  in this last one, the comb ran north and south in the front, but east and west in the back.  it was almost a square because of the down spout in the middle.  the opening was at the top.  i have done walls where the opening was east and others where it was west.  the one that used to be in my house was on the north side.  we found the remnants when we insulated the walls.

why?  what do you find the most?

[G3farms]

The one I did last week the comb was east to west with the entrance on the north side. Comb was from stud to stud.

I also think they build to the environment rather than compass.

[iddee]

I have found more 3 1/2 inch combs in the walls than I have 24 or 16 inch combs, although I have found both. I have also found areas where the combs were perpendicular. Most entrances have been east or south, but not all. More on the north side than on the west. I'm just trying to see if there is a pattern, even tho it isn't rock solid.

[AllenF]

You have the making of a good master's thesis there.

[catfishbill]

on the wall cutouts i have done all of them were running up and down or parallel to the studs,none crossways.almost all of the entrances were either on the north side or westside.on the floor cut outs almost all of the combs were running north to south or perpendicular to the studs.with the entrances on the north or east sides.

[JP]

Two I'm thinking of now that were removed on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain were located on the south side of the two homes.

One, the comb sections ran east to west the other ran north to south.

I glanced through quite a few of my pictures and here's what I'm seeing.

Not many at all are located on the north side, many on the south side and quite a few on the east and west sides of buildings.

I'd have to do some more looking but comb orientation seems to vary greatly perhaps with no rhyme or reason.


...JP

[suncoast]

All of my cutouts were stud to stud.
:)

[JP]

Iddee, the three hives Schawee and I just removed in Reserve, Louisiana were all on the east side of the house FYI.


...JP

[JP]

Iddee, looked at a house yesterday that had one on the east side, one on the north side.

Another that had one in a column on the east side.


...JP

[iddee]

Thanks, JP, but I also need the direction of the comb. Was it running north, south or east, west? I'm looking for possibly 2 patterns. The comb direction and whether the entrance is at the end or side of the combs.

Or even if there is no pattern.

[hardwood]

Just did one from a beach house. It was in the west wall, comb ran N-S from stud to stud and the entrance was from the bottom (through the shoe plate).

Scott

[iddee]

Thanks, Scott. That's what I'm looking for.