Here’s one I think helps the bees, gives you a chance to monitor for mites on drone pupae and saves work. Leave the burr comb that goes from the bottom of one frame to the top of the one below it. Yes it will break when you separate the boxes, but it makes a nice ladder for the queen to get from one box to the next. Also, they often build some drone comb between the boxes and if you tear them open you’ll see the drone pupae and maybe you’ll notice mites (you should be looking).
“Some beekeepers dismantle every hive and scrape every frame, which is pointless as the bees soon glue everything back the way it was.” --The How-To-Do-It book of Beekeeping, Richard Taylor
Bees don’t need cocoons for anything. But cocoons get in the way of tearing down and rebuilding comb. It makes the comb tough and hard to tear down. So when they need drone comb and there is none in the brood nest, they tend to build drone comb where they can tear down the comb (comb with no cocoons).
Since I started out over two years ago. I gave up trying to sort out the crazy comb in the brood boxes. It seems if they are happy then I’m happy. To start pulling apart the brood frames I feel it would do more damage than good. As they are really healthy I don’t want to upset anyone. I do have to deal with small hive beetle and some wax moth. The Guards are pretty good. I noticed if I watch the entrance for too long in a dark shirt I will be sent away.
Hi @harrya. You need to inspect each single brood frame at least twice a year to check for diseases and pests, also for queen cells and overcrowding. Not inspecting for years will catch up with you and perhaps even infect neighboring hives. Cleaning up crazy comb is best done early before it becomes unmanageable. The bees will fix minor damage within days.
I’m just saying they don’t generally tear down comb with cocoons in it because it’s too much work. If you have been culling the drone comb then the old comb has little drone and the new comb will likely have a lot because they are attempting to fix the problem. If you’ve been leaving the drone comb, then the old comb will likely have a lot of drone and the new comb will likely have little to none because they already have enough.
