They always connect combs together, so every time I inspect there’s puddles of honey with drowned bees, smushed bees between boxes or under the edges of the lid, exposed brood where they had put it in the comb connecting one box to another… I just feel like I’m causing so much damage and disruption! Do everyone’s bees insist on connecting each box together with comb full of honey and brood that gets destroyed every time the hive is opened?
I always kill one or two bees - unintentionally. Yet another reason not to inspect too frequently. 
Most of the bridge comb I have is at the frame top bars and is in new hives. More established hives don’t seem to do it quite as much. I think when they are pulling out comb from new foundation or foundationless frames, they are more prone to make overhead bridges between adjacent frames. Once it is fully drawn, tidied and trimmed back, they don’t seem to do it quite as much.
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unfortunately this is a side effect of raising bees. On side note though I cut some burr comb of my tops of frames before placing a super on and the honey was all raspberry. Extremely Yummy!!!. Right out my own garden too. It’s very tempting for me to take a few frames from the brood box as it is full of this delicious honey, but I chose not too just yet. I want to see how fast they fill the super and if it will be raspberry too. We’ve already harvested and still are getting plenty of black raspberries right now. Around September we will get the red berries.
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I am new (this year is my first hive) and feel the same way, but I also feel that without learning and knowing more (hands on) I may miss something I should have done to help them…though I work very hard to not kill any a few die every time.
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Sounds so yum…does it have hints of raspberry flavour, aroma?
I believe you’ll get better results by using frames with foundation than frames without foundation.
A good thing to practice is to keep your smoker going & have it on hand while working your bees. It’s always good to remove any burr comb. If you give the area you want to remove a gentle smoking, the bees will move out of the way for you. Also use smoke before replacing QX’s, supers & lids. I also use a little bit of smoke (if needed) on the ledges before replacing frames.
With the aid of a little bit of smoke at the right time, you can do an inspection without hardly killing any bees.
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Wow, good to know i’m not the only one that feels he destroys more than his share of a hive. Bull in china shop syndrome… and find the Queen, forget about it! I just know thy still keep flying out and coming back. I got a friend that’s going to come over and inspect my hives and i’m going to watch.
I do that, but it just seems they always come back up too soon. And I have foundation in the brood boxes, just not for the 4 non-flow frames in the honey super because I like to cut comb honey and get beeswax 
With bees that produce lots of burr comb, make sure you scrape it all right off every time you inspect.
If you leave little bits or even the edges of removed comb, it just gives them the signal to "carry on building from here!"
Much easier to manage and inspect if you keep it free of brace comb,
but I know it sometimes feels like trying to keep a kid’s bedroom tidy!
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It has a very strong raspberry flavor, not mild at all. I was surprised at the strength of flavor. Very yummy!
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That is very interesting. My all-time favorite honey is Lavender honey from southern France (Provence). However, I have to say that to me, the honey does not taste at all like lavender smells, and it doesn’t taste like “Herbes de Provence” which contains lavender flowers. I must try some raspberry honey some time, because raspberries are among my favorite berries. Thank you for the insight.
I can only dream…raspberries are my favourite 