Links and Observations

So, the previous sequence of photos verifies that the bees in a top bar hive build brood comb near the entrance and honey away from the entrance.

I did find some cells that are 4.9 mm, although most are 5.4 mm. Matt suggests that bees that start at 5.4 and do not have foundation will gradually move to small cell (4.9). Finding some 4.9 does suggest that.

At a beekeeping conference on Sunday, I heard that the cells are not horizontal, but angled upward at 4-5 degrees. Sure enough, they are. Makes sense to help keep things in. One implication is that, when brushing bees off comb, brush towards the bar so that any bees partly in a cell are not caught.

 I'm saving the bars for the next hives so the new bees will have a head start. There are a lot of bees in cells head first. I don't know whether the new bees will clean out the bodies or avoid them because they are dead. I started removing the dead ones, but it's a slow process; we'll see how much patience I have.

No sign of the queen. She may have been in the first batch I gave to Rachel.


Various Beekeeping Web Links:
Resistant Bees
The Barefoot Beekeeper
Dave's Bees
Warre Beekeeping
The Melissa Garden
Eastern Apicultural Society  - list of Beekeeping organizations under Links
Honey Bees - Letters from the Hive  - book
Honey Bee Suite
The Practical Beekeeper - this is Michael Bush, major expert
Pennsylvania State Beekeepers Association
Philadelphia Beekeepers