Wax Question.

[johnnybigfish]

 I was looking in on my bees this weekend as it was almost 80 degrees. I had to clean some wax off between boxes from the frames where they were stuck to the frames above. My front yard hive had a "Brittle" sort of wax. These were bees I caught. My other 2 backyard hives wax was soft, more normal I suppose. These 2 were package bees. My backyard bees are Italians.
 Any comments?..Is one type of wax better than the other?
 your friend,
john

[rdy-b]

wax is wax sometimes it is warm and pliable from warmth in the hive sometimes it is cold and brittle-the hive with the brittle wax is not as warm as the other hive -something to think about many people losing colonies because they cant maintain regulated warmth -but on a brighter note wasn't the brittle wax easier to scrape clean-the brittle wax will return to the pliable state in time-RDY-B

[johnnybigfish]

Oh yeh,..You're absolutely correct! The brittle WAS easier to scrape of than the soft!...And, again I believe you're correct about the temp. too! The front hive DOES get more shade than the back two I think.
Thanks RDY-b
your friend,
john

Oh, while I'm here...What is the "Peanut looking comb" jutting out from the rest of the comb?..I've seen pictures of this many times but I cant remember where at.

[rdy-b]

are you talking about on the bottom of the frames -I believe that to be ladder comb the bees build to climb up on the frames easier -most folks call them queen killers and scrape them off -if it is something else then i cant say in-less i see it  RDY-B

[Jerrymac]

What is the "Peanut looking comb" jutting out from the rest of the comb?..I've seen pictures of this many times but I cant remember where at.

Like from the middle of the frame? That would be supersede or emergency queen cells. On the bottom of frame is swarm cell.

[rdy-b]

threes a pretty good pic of ladder comb in her  http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?topic=12588.0      RDY-B

[Cindi]

John, I think too that you are talking about queen cells.  When you spoke of the peanut shape, that is a queen cell capped.  Here is a couple of pictures of some queen cells in my colonies this summer.  Is this the "peanut comb" that you were speaking of?  Have a wonderful and great day.  Cindi

[johnnybigfish]

YES!...Thats the ones!..And they are pretty much in the middle of the frame. And they have holes in them just like the picture.
 If they're emergency queen cells or supercedure cells am I fixing to have a problem?
 I've never seen the queens in any of my hives since the day i put them in.(They had green dots on there back) I just know that theres eggs and brood(I mean there was last summer.) Should I be doing something soon, like splitting or something?
your friend,
john

[Understudy]

YES!...Thats the ones!..And they are pretty much in the middle of the frame. And they have holes in them just like the picture.
 If they're emergency queen cells or supercedure cells am I fixing to have a problem?
 I've never seen the queens in any of my hives since the day i put them in.(They had green dots on there back) I just know that theres eggs and brood(I mean there was last summer.) Should I be doing something soon, like splitting or something?
your friend,
john

Leave the bees alone. They know what they are doing.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Michael Bush]

If the cells already have holes in them, then whatever was going to happen already did.  If you caught them before that, and the cells were on the bottom, then maybe a split would have headed off a swarm.