Festooning bees -- back to this topic!!!

[Cindi]

Last night I checked one of my packages that I had hived on Saturday.

I use 10 frame Langstroth deep bodies.  The hive body has 4 frames of honey/pollen.  There is 3 frames of drawn, kind of messy drawn comb that the bees will have to fix cause they got a little wrecked up from honey extraction and one frame of foundation for the bees to build fresh comb for the queen to lay in.  That is a total of 9 frames. 

There was indeed something good (and lots more too, for that matter) that came from the loss of so many colonies last year.  The bees did not have any disease like AFB/EFB, so I was able to reuse honey/pollen from these lost colonies.  Remember, my issues were swarming and varroa destructor.

In the 10th position there is an inner frame feeder half full of sugar syrup.

Now onto the point of the topic.

When I lifted the inner cover, there was a group of festooning bees.  Yes, this is what the bees do to secrete wax, known fact.  BUT.....the festoons were hanging off the inner cover, right above the half filled inner frame feeder.  They were festooning probably as far down as the level of the sugar syrup.

So, now this question that I am putting "out there" is:

When the bees festoon, once they are completed their wax secretion from their bodies, do they take this wax with their mandibles and move it to any place in the hive where they choose?

Or another thought, do they pass it from bee to bee and then specific bees move it around.

Do they work on areas closest to the festooning first?

I think that this is going to take some time to get some good answers, but let's see what we can get.  I have an extremely curious nature and can't wait to hear some of the answers that I know will be forthcoming.

Have a wonderful day, great day, great health wishes to all.  Cindi

[pdmattox]

>Or another thought, do they pass it from bee to bee and then specific bees move it around.


I have seen this done.


>Do they work on areas closest to the festooning first?

They work on expanding the brood area first.

[Michael Bush]

>When the bees festoon, once they are completed their wax secretion from their bodies, do they take this wax with their mandibles and move it to any place in the hive where they choose?

I would expect them to build the comb where they are hanging.  That's what they do and why they hang.  You will soon have comb hanging from the inner cover if you don't restrict their access to it.  I bet you already have the attachments there now.

http://www.bushfarms.com/images/BroodNestInFeeder.JPG

[BenC]

     The hive body has 4 frames of honey/pollen.  There is 3 frames of drawn, kind of messy drawn comb that the bees will have to fix cause they got a little wrecked up from honey extraction and one frame of foundation for the bees to build fresh comb for the queen to lay in.  That is a total of 9 frames. 

That's nine?  Sorry just had to ask...

[Cindi]

     The hive body has 4 frames of honey/pollen.  There is 3 frames of drawn, kind of messy drawn comb that the bees will have to fix cause they got a little wrecked up from honey extraction and one frame of foundation for the bees to build fresh comb for the queen to lay in.  That is a total of 9 frames. 

That's nine?  Sorry just had to ask...

Yep,
4 frames honey/pollen
3 frames drawn comb
1 frame foundation
1 inner frame feeder in the 10th position

Ooops, Ben, your right, it is only 8.  But I did put 9 frames in so then there must have been 4 frames of drawn comb and 1 frame of foundation to make up to 9.  The frames fit quite nicely and tightly into the hive body with the inner frame feeder, makes things beautifully snug.

I appreciate your bringing the error to the forefront.  Yes I do!!!!  Have a wonderful day, beautiful life and great health.  Cindi

I know that I definitely had 4 honey/pollen.

[Cindi]

Michael, wow what a picture.  NOw you have brought a very important thought to the forefront of my mind.  Bees like to hang interrupted, got that point.  That is why using the starter strips is great.  Got that point too.

My next step here is to remove the inner feeder and replace this with either foundation or starter strip foundation I would venture.  I believe they have lots and lots of food, so maybe as a safety precaution I will give them a baggie feeder just to keep them happier.  We have lots of fruit trees, etc. for their nectar.  Having a brood nest inside the inner feeder would just not be a good thing in my point of view

I still stand in awe sometimes about the valuable words of wisdom that are generated through this forum.  Again, my hats off to John for his innovation with getting this a wonderful place to play.  Can't wait for his video to be on the forum, eh?

The only problem that I have now is that I do not have any empty frames, so I guess we'll just put in a plastic foundation and let the bees have adder.  Best of this beautiful day, great life and health wishes to all.  Cindi

[TwT]

from what i seen, the bee's hanging are just making wax flakes from their bellies ;) , other bees come along and remove the wax and build.....

[smallswarm]

The festooning honey bees are also converting nectar to honey. I have read that it takes up to 30 minutes to break the sugars down, condense the liquid, and add all those wonderful antifungal, antibacterial enzymes. That's why nectar often gets passed to the house bees. Then the foragers can do more flying. Of course, they could also be simply taking a nap. zzzzzz

[Cindi]

Ted, right, makes sense.  The wax machines and the builders.  LOLL.   Have a wonderful day, great life, good health wishes to all.  Cindi