What happens to comb after birth?

[MagicRay]

This is my first year in beekeeping and my first post here.  What happens to the comb after a bee is born and vacates it?  Does it get reused?  Does the queen go back and lays another egg in it?

-Raymond

[Jerrymac]

It gets cleaned up and either an egg is laid or becomes storage space for honey or pollen

[MagicRay]

Thanks!

-Raymond

[beemaster]

The actual cells are reused many many times and darken with age and use. Most of the coloring as it darkens comes from the disguarded egg shells and any waste from the developing brood.

The cappings though are chewed away by the emerging bee and remains "HINGED" to the cell (as a can lid remains to a can of beans when NOT totally removing the lid) and typically falls to the bottom of the hive's botom board as workers walk over the capping or prepare the cell for its next use - whether brood or food.

Other properties of the darkening cells is pollen which is carried around or stored in the cells - but the cells blend and age EVENLY as does the rest of the comb in any frame. Eventually it will all become hard, dark and brittle.