Why do my bees tear a foundation apart? (photo inside)

[shemer]

All frames in one of my supers look like this:



And it never got filled in with honey... Anyone seen something similar?

[poka-bee]

I'm no expert but I think the bees rework the wax & put it where they want it. Looks like it is only where the wires are, maybe it melted.  Mine put random holes in mine, usually at the bottom or on the edges.
Jody

[shemer]

I'm no expert but I think the bees rework the wax & put it where they want it. Looks like it is only where the wires are, maybe it melted.  Mine put random holes in mine, usually at the bottom or on the edges.
Jody

Thank you for such a quick respond. By "rework" you mean that the bees took the wax away to where they thought it was more needed?
And yes, because all the holes are along the wiring I begin to suspect it`s exaclty what they don`t like, I mean the wire... Maybe it smells bad, for instance? As for melting, I don`t know... How could it be melted? Outer temperature can`t melt it and if we presume that the heat was inside all the bees would have died out.

[Brian D. Bray]

I'm no expert but I think the bees rework the wax & put it where they want it. Looks like it is only where the wires are, maybe it melted.  Mine put random holes in mine, usually at the bottom or on the edges.
Jody

Thank you for such a quick respond. By "rework" you mean that the bees took the wax away to where they thought it was more needed?
And yes, because all the holes are along the wiring I begin to suspect it`s exaclty what they don`t like, I mean the wire... Maybe it smells bad, for instance? As for melting, I don`t know... How could it be melted? Outer temperature can`t melt it and if we presume that the heat was inside all the bees would have died out.

I've found frames like that from time to time, the cause is usually 3 fold: 1. Bees on new comb, most often a swarm or split, 2. Little or no nectar flow at the time, 3. Bees steal the damaged comb from the spots where the wire was overmelted into the foundation or where the wire isn't fully imbedded into the foundation and use it to make comb.  They will sometimes abandon those frames when supered as the reworked wax really isn't suitable as it is harder for the bees to rework the old melted wax of the foundations than it is new wax.  In those cases where they have made fully drawn comb I've found it doesn't stand up as well as comb made from new wax.

The best fix is to cut it out, rewire the frames, and replace the foundation.

[BjornBee]

There are a couple lessons from this....

1) Consider plastic foundation for supers. So what if it is plastic? The discussion of natural, wax, or no foundation at all, is something to consider in the brood chamber. In the supers, where no brood will be raised, it is less important.

2) With plastic, where they stop this season, they can resume next year. But with wax, they will rework and tear down foundation to be used in for mainly capping late season nectar, when they do not want to use resources in wax production.

3) So much for those warnings, directions, and claims by manufacturers, in regards to only using some product with the supers off etc. Pure crap! The chemicals gets into the wax, and then bees move it where they may need it.

4) Get an observation hive. You will see bees late in the year tear down and rework wax. Much of the capped honey in September (fall flow) is not capped with virgin white wax. It is capped with dark wax taken from burr comb areas and other nonessential places.

Any comb building after the main flow with wax foundation runs the risk of being destroyed. And they may start with places wires are, but they will take from any edge presented to them.

Here is a good picture....