Beekeeper's Gold - Honeycomb

The biggest reason bees use comb is for storage – for honey, pollen, and the place where the queen lays her eggs, and the bees raise their young.  In addition, the comb is important in communication and the health of the colony.

Beeswax is the substance from which the hexagon shaped cells are made.  Each cell shares walls with 6 neighbor cells.  In addition to being very strong, the hexagon has a smaller surface area with the largest storage capacity and requires the least amount of material to construct. The cells are constructed at an angle of 8 to 13 degrees.  That is to help with honey storage, and it adds to the weight carrying capacity of the cell. A layer of wax called coping is added the tops of the cells. The coping makes it easier for the bees to walk on the comb and it is important in colony communication.

Comb takes a lot of energy for the bees to build.  Each bee has 8 wax glands, and each can produce one wax scale in a 12-hour day.  It takes up to 450,000 scales to make a pound of wax.  A good source of nectar or sugar syrup is needed to stimulate the wax glands and provide the material to make wax.  When building their comb out of wax, the bees engage in an activity called festooning – forming a chain with their feet to bridge gaps in the comb and provide support as they build the structure.

There are 3 types of cells: honey, pollen, and brood.  Brood cells are where the queen lays her eggs, and they are constructed specifically for her by the worker bees.  They serve as incubation cells for developing honey bees as they grow to a full-grown bee.  There are 3 brood cell types - worker, drone, and queen.  The majority (typically 85% or more) are worker cells.  The colony builds drone cells for mating and queen cells only when needed.

Karl von Frisch, a German Austrian research professor discovered bees use gravity and the earth’s magnetic fields to construct their comb.  A NASA project on the space shuttle confirmed von Frisch’s theory. He is also credited with decoding the dance language of the honey bee.  Bees communicate by pheromone (smell) and vibrations.  The wax comb or more specifically the coping carries vibrations of the dancing bees to the rest of the hive. Bees have sensors in their feet which can detect and interpret the vibrations.  These vibrations impact the foraging activities of the colony. 

Burr comb is comb that is out of place violating “bee space”. It is most often found on the tops of frames, side walls and between hive boxes.  In most instances, burr comb should be removed to avoid any damage to the queen during inspections.

Beeswax or comb is like a sponge absorbing pathogens that get in the colony.  It is often called the “liver” of the colony and is essential to colony health.  Because it absorbs different substances that can impact colony health.  The pathogens are brought into the hive by foraging bees that have been exposed to them. Old comb should be rotated out of the hive regularly. 

Getting bees to draw comb requires several considerations.

1.        Lots of carbohydrates (honey or syrup) for energy and building material.

2.        Good timing – bees only build or draw comb when they need it.

3.        Attention of the bees – they need to have a place to make the comb.

4.        Warmth – cold beeswax is brittle and difficult to mold.

5.        A large population of bees that are not taking care of brood.

Healthy comb is critical to the success of your bees. Besides your bees, drawn comb in the beekeeper’s most valuable possession.