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Author Topic: Burr Comb  (Read 7830 times)

Offline rawfind

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Burr Comb
« on: February 26, 2012, 02:19:38 pm »
 I was wondering what experience people have out there with burr comb?
ie: how they stop it happening etc etc.

One of my hives i checked yesterday had a huge piece of burr comb from the top of the  lid to the frame, kind of makes it hard to get the lid off,
they were filling it up with the good stuff! i scraped off the piece on the lid and dropped it out front of their hive for them to clean it up,
(wasn't too keen on this didnt want to start robbing but didn't know what to do with the unripe honey) its a big hive they were all over it in seconds!
Left the other half stuck to the top of the frames to see what they would do with it, didn't have a good look to see how full the top box was as it wasn't good conditions, windy and humid  if the box is full will put another box on should i put the full box on top and have the empty in the middle? re Neil

Offline JP

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Re: Burr Comb
« Reply #1 on: February 26, 2012, 02:59:09 pm »
A question & a hunch. Are you using an inner cover? If its put on wrong side up, that will create extra space they use to draw in. Could be they need more space, like you said, you may have to add another box.


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Offline Pete

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Re: Burr Comb
« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2012, 09:18:26 pm »
I put a sheet or ply, plastic, even ice cream container lid on 2 little timber rails and it completely stops burr comb even in the busiest hives.

If put a new swarm in a hive and forget to put the inner lid then comb is drawn to the lid and its a big mess, without fail.

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Burr Comb
« Reply #3 on: February 26, 2012, 09:58:04 pm »
I have no problems with burr comb:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslazy.htm#leaveburr

If you don't see it as a problem, then you don't have a problem.  :)
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Offline ShaneJ

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Re: Burr Comb
« Reply #4 on: February 27, 2012, 01:21:42 am »
I have no problems with burr comb:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslazy.htm#leaveburr

If you don't see it as a problem, then you don't have a problem.  :)

After trialing different things I agree with this. I tried inner covers and mats but they just create places for beetles to hide. I just cut out any comb when I do my inspections.
Shane

Offline rawfind

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Re: Burr Comb
« Reply #5 on: February 27, 2012, 02:28:58 am »
A question & a hunch. Are you using an inner cover? If its put on wrong side up, that will create extra space they use to draw in. Could be they need more space, like you said, you may have to add another box.


...JP
I'm not really familiar with an inner cover don't own one here, at one point i had 3 boxes on this hive, i recently removed the top box as it had been there for ages and they hadn't touched it at all, seems after i removed it they made this burr comb.

Offline JP

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Re: Burr Comb
« Reply #6 on: February 27, 2012, 10:02:19 am »
As long as you can still place the top cover onto the hive without huge gaps between it and your first box you should be fine.


...JP
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Offline rawfind

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Re: Burr Comb
« Reply #7 on: February 29, 2012, 04:22:07 am »
As long as you can still place the top cover onto the hive without huge gaps between it and your first box you should be fine.


...JP
today i had a quick look in the top box to see what they had done with the burr comb, where it was broken off they already had started making more to what was there, i scaped it out and cut some lino to make a mat , put that on that should stop the suckers! But cant put another box on yet, have plenty of frames just 3 empty supers got to go buy me some more foundation, had plenty at the start of the season but looking sad now, i thin a 3rd box is needed now, was just too early when i put it on b4.

Offline Lone

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Re: Burr Comb
« Reply #8 on: February 29, 2012, 04:36:22 am »
A week ago I put flyscreen across the top supers under the lids in the hives where I had this problem.  Does anyone else do this and are there any possible problems from doing this?  I wanted to avoid the mats because I thought it might make things hotter.  It makes peeking into the hive easy because you can lift the lid and bees don't spill out the top.

By the way, Rawy, the extra comb is a good way to get wax if you need it for anything.  You could use the honey for breakfast honey.  Or if you want to feed it back to the same hive you could put it in a saucer with cheesecloth over it and place it on the frames.  In the 3rd box you tried putting on, did you have some drawn frames or frames with honey in them?  That can encourage the bees to go up there around those frames.  Some of my bees decided they preferred the lid to the space below for some reason and I'm not sure why.

Lone

Offline rawfind

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Re: Burr Comb
« Reply #9 on: March 01, 2012, 12:29:09 am »
A

By the way, Rawy, the extra comb is a good way to get wax if you need it for anything.  You could use the honey for breakfast honey.  Or if you want to feed it back to the same hive you could put it in a saucer with cheesecloth over it and place it on the frames.  In the 3rd box you tried putting on, did you have some drawn frames or frames with honey in them?  That can encourage the bees to go up there around those frames.  Some of my bees decided they preferred the lid to the space below for some reason and I'm not sure why.

Lone
got 3 kilos of refined wax left Lone, but nothing here goes to waste the burr comb will be melted down as soon as my wax melter is repaired, the honey wasn't cured .... still unsealed i let them have it back, ill get enough foundation tomorrow for another 2 boxes then slap another box on, i might add the empty box under the near full one, does anyone know is that what under supering is? heard the term just not quite sure how it supposed to be done, you can call me Neil if you wish  ;)

Offline Lone

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Re: Burr Comb
« Reply #10 on: March 01, 2012, 07:44:09 am »
Hello Neil!
The honey is still edible but liable to ferment.  You can eat it quickly or freeze it too if you like. 

Now, that is a very good question about under supering.  I have no idea what the term means.  But I want to know too in which order it is best to add supers.  In a couple of hives I had a super full of honey but just not fully capped.  I wanted to encourage finishing the capping and then replace with empty frames.  But the numbers grew and I got that burr comb and still not fully capped.  I added an empty super on top thinking that they would finish the lower one and move up.  In a week or so they had drawn a lot of the frames out and started filling with honey, but they hadn't capped the original super.  One of my beek mentors told me that they work from the top down and I should put the fuller one at the top and the emptier one below, which is what I did.  Now the new super is fully drawn and just about ready to start capping and they still haven't finished capping the older one. Do they work from the top or bottom, and what is the best order to add supers? 

You can call me Lone or pretty much anything else

Offline ShaneJ

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Re: Burr Comb
« Reply #11 on: March 01, 2012, 07:52:03 am »
I got the same problem in a few of my hives. Just a few frames that they refuse to fully cap no matter where I move them. If you figure it out please let me know  :-\
Shane

Offline Lone

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Re: Burr Comb
« Reply #12 on: March 01, 2012, 08:06:58 am »
The only positive suggestion I heard is what my other beek mentor told me, that they cap when they are going off the flow, when reduced amounts of nectar come in.  So time will tell whether or not this is another furphy!  Let us know the progress of your capping, Shane.

Lone

Offline rawfind

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Re: Burr Comb
« Reply #13 on: March 01, 2012, 02:18:19 pm »
The only positive suggestion I heard is what my other beek mentor told me, that they cap when they are going off the flow, when reduced amounts of nectar come in.  So time will tell whether or not this is another furphy!  Let us know the progress of your capping, Shane.

Lone

Started a new topic on  this subject Lone, see you in the new one!