Burr Comb Disaster
When I put the queen into the hive, I set her in her little wooden queen holder down on the "floor" of the large brood chamber in the middle, between a couple of foundation frames. By the time she escaped and was accepted by the colony, the bees had built some burr comb in the extra space between the frames. It was just a little bit, but I hated to destroy it and undo all their hard work.
I have a book entitled "The Hive and The Honey Bee" that says burr comb is always attached to the floor or walls of the hive, but most beekeepers call any unwanted comb "burr comb".
I asked advice from experienced beekeepers, and they said "Clean it out!" so I went back to clean it out. As you can see in the photo above, it was no longer "just a little bit" but had grown and had at least honey in it.
I pulled the frame out and the burr comb was in a HUGE piece. I scraped it off the frame at the top, and fortunately it wasn't all entangled with the foundation - it was a separate sheet of comb, almost like they'd made a "filler" frame in the gap I'd left. I went ahead and let the sheet fall into a plastic bowl. It spilled over the sides, there was so much of it.
To my great dismay, the burr comb had lots of brood in it. I am now a bee-baby killer :( In retrospect, perhaps I should have let them keep their extra "frame" of comb but it might have only gotten worse and made it impossible to pull the frames and inspect them.
The lesson is: clean up burr comb as soon as you find it! You have to be able to pull the frames and ensure there aren't any mites or moths or other problems getting into your hive. You also need to make certain eggs are being laid and raised and that the bees are putting away an adequate supply of honey to survive the upcoming winter.
Labels: bees
posted by Leslie @ 8:24 AM
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I've been delaying poking around in the brood chambers of my bees, primarily because I don't know what to do if any of the things you mentioned are happening. What if they aren't putting away enough honey? Do I have some sort of bee incentive to motivate them?
Hi Ernest, I thought I'd replied but apparently not.
You should check them out. If something is going wrong you need to know about it. You figure out the "what to do" when the problem happens, just like with chickens or a garden.
Because I don't know how much honey is "normal" and because we've been having a drought here (reducing the honey and pollen flows), I've been keeping sugar syrup available to my bees 24x7. I don't know if that's a good idea or not, but it's what I'm doing.
TE BUR COMB PROBLEM OFFTEN HAPPENS WHEN STARTING BEES ON FOUNDATION AND SPREEDING THE FRAMES TO PUT IN TH QUEEN CAGE. IT CAN BE AVOIDED BY USING QUEEN INTO FRAME MADE OF 1 x 1 TO ALLOW THE QUEEN CAGE TO BE SET IN THE HIVE ON TOP OF THE FRAMES. THE 3 HOLE STILE CAGE IS SET ASTRIDE THE CENTER 2 FRAMES SCREEN SIDE DOWN, CANDY END FORWARDS TO THE BACK OF THE HIVE WITH THE NO CANDY END TUCHING THE SHIM. THE PLASTIC STILE QUEN CAGE IS SET DOWN ANY PLACE OVER THE FRAAMES WIH 2 FINGER SPACES AROUND IT TO GIVE THE BEES ROOM AROUND. ALSO IF SET AWAY FROM WHERE THE HOLE IN THE INNER COVER WITH BE IT ALLOWS PUTTING A FEEDER PAIL OR HIVE TOP FEEDER ON THE HIVE AND ANY ENTRANCE FEEDER CAN THEN BE USED TO TO GIVE THE BEES CLEAN WATER WITH A TEASPOON OF SALT ADDED. THE BEES WILL USE THE WATER WITH THE TUCH OF SALT AND LEAVE OTHER SORSES ALONE.
Wow, that's great information, thank you!
I'd been told not to use the entrance style feeder because it can promote robbing, but using it as a water source is a fantastic idea.
I lost one hive this winter and have ordered a package of bees to refill my empty hive; I'll use the method you describe with my new queen.
Thanks!
Thanks for the post. I just started beekeeping and found what I later learned to be burr comb in both my hives. It wasn't as extensive as yours, but I was unhappy that I had to destroy brood to remove the comb.
Like you, I figured I had no choice but to remove the comb, otherwise managing the colony would be impossible.
I received some input from an experienced beekeeper, and he told me the burr comb usually contains drone cells. So actually it is not such a bad thing to remove it. Also mites tend to like drone cells, so removing the burr comb could have an ancillary benefit of destroying some mites.
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