You already learned about different types of bee frames. Today in our beekeeping for beginners, let’s talk about comb, especially naturally drawn comb!
Naturally drawn comb has many benefits, and we recommend using foundationless frames to allow the bees to build their own comb.
Comb guides:
- For foundationless beekeeping, it’s important to have a good comb guide.
- The comb guide is a thin piece of wood that is nailed or glued to the edge of the frame, which helps ensure the bees build straight comb.
- The comb guide will need to support a lot of weight, so it should be securely attached to the frame.
- OPTIONAL: Some people prefer to extend their comb guides to further encourage the bees to build straight downwards. If you wish to do this you can stick a flat piece of wood such as a paint stirrer to the existing comb guide.
Young adult worker bees secrete wax from glands under their abdomens, which they mix with saliva, which other bees will use to form comb.
Bees shape the comb into perfect hexagons, of which 100g can support up to 4kg of honey.
Tips:
- Make sure the hive is level sideways so that when the bees build their comb it will hang straight downwards inside the frame rather than at an angle.
- Push the frames close together – any extra space in the brood box should be at the edges of the box.
- Inspect the frames when the bees are getting established to ensure the comb is being built straight.
- Be careful when removing frames from the hive, as comb in foundationless frames is fragile, especially in the early stages of building.
- If you have a traditional hive, extracting honey from foundationless frames requires a lot of care. Go slowly when starting to spin the honey for extraction.
- When adding foundationless frames to an existing hive, put the new frames in between two of the already present frames.
- Be prepared for damaged comb or cross comb.
Benefits of naturally drawn comb:
- Foundationless frames are less expensive than frames with pre-built foundation, and are quicker to set up.
- When given the choice, bees choose to build natural comb rather than using pre-built foundation.
- Using foundationless frames in the brood nest is the most beneficial for the health of the bees, as it allows them to build smaller cells than when using foundation.
- Foundation frames provide uniform-sized cells, which are too big for worker bees and too small for drones. This prevents the bees from producing drones, which has negative effects on the health of your colony and the wider honeybee population.
- Natural comb allows the bees to build cells that are suitable for the physiology, genetics, and health of their own colony.
- Larger drone cells are often used to store honey after the bees have hatched
- Another benefit of using foundationless frames is that you’re not contaminating your hive with wax from other hives that may contain pesticides. This is particularly important if you like to eat your honeycomb.
Do you have more things to add? Do not be shy and drop us your comments below.
Originally posted 2020-08-21 17:29:17.
