Natural comb, parallel to entrance or no?

[Beaches Bee-Haven Apiary]

When I started five of my packages this spring I put an empty med super on top of the deep and laid the queen cage and feeding can on top of the deeps frames. When I went out to look at the hives I saw that I had forgotten to close one of the hives up, lucky it didn't rain, and I noticed that the bees had started drawing comb parallel to the frames below in the top super (w/no frames). Well I closed that hive up and three days later I went into all of my hives to make sure the queens had been released and to remove the cages, feeding cans, and the empty super. Well in the hive that I had forgotten to put the top back on the bees had changed their direction of drawing the comb. Instead of parallel to the frames, it was now parallel to the entrance. And when I went into another hive they had drawn out some comb in the top super and it was parallel to the entrance as well. Also I went along with some fellow beeks to do a cut out, and I noticed that the bees there had naturally drawn out their comb parallel to the entrance. Have any of you out there noticed this as will? Perhaps comb being parallel to the entrance is better for the bees, maybe easier to fight off pests?

-Nathanael 8-)

[JP]

In my experience there is no rhyme or reason as to the direction they will build comb.
I think I understand how you layed things out. A deep with frames and a deep atop without frames. It will be very difficult to work your hives if you use supers that are frameless. Even with frames that are foundationless, you can place the frames together, observing proper bee space, and they will use the bee space to build comb, that you can work. Without frames you will have one big unworkable mess on your hands.

[Beaches Bee-Haven Apiary]

JP,

I'm sorry I didn't make myself all that clear at first. I went and edited my original post. I didn't intend for the bees to build comb in the empty super, I just had it on there to make room for the queen cage and feeding can. Instead of removing frames from the deep super I just dumped the bees into the empty super on top over the queen, then I removed the super when I went in to take the queen cages and feeding cans out. Only two of my five colonies started building comb in the top empty super.

-Nathanael

[JP]

Alrighty then. ;)

[Michael Bush]

In my experience they usually go at an angle to the entrance.  Not the warm way (parallel to the entrance) or the cold way (right angles to the entrance) but something in between.  My guess is that it's a compromise between shutting down the draft and getting easy access to the hive.