How frequently should we renew combs?
Many years ago, for four years, I observed a feral colony
in the bell tower of a church.
When I first saw this colony I was surprised by the fact
that it appeared to be built upwards from the floor. This was an
illusion as there was a horizontal rail that was part of the sloping
structure of the wall about 350 mm above floor level. I came to
the conclusion that the bees had arrived in a swarm and had clustered
on the underside of this rail and the nest had expanded downwards and
outwards from that point.
Over what I assume was the first season they built fourteen
combs. All extra combs were added on the east side (right) of the
original starting point. When the colony clustered they did so in the
centre of the nest in a section of combs that varied from having been
bred in (on the left of the cluster) to combs that had not had any
larvae in them (on RHS). The shape of the cluster was not
symmetrical... The left hand side was almost flat and vertical, the
front and right hand side was bulbous (I could not see the back, which
was attached to the sloping wooden wall), during the winter the centre
of the cluster moved 2 combs to the right and upwards to the top edge
of the combs. As it moved, its shape altered more to a rugby football
shape.
As the weather warmed up and the nest developed it was
centred about the point at which it had ended the winter. More combs
were added, again all on the east side of the nest. Most of combs
that had been bred in the previous year were unoccupied, but in good
condition.
The second winter they started their cluster centered on
the central comb, but the cluster shape was about twice as wide as it
was tall. The cluster appeared symmetrical. As winter progressed this
cluster moved upwards and to the right (more easterly) also changing
shape to be almost spherical (it appeared larger than the previous
year).
The third year the nest again developed centred on where
the cluster finished up and one extra comb was built on the right.
The two combs on the extreme left became brittle and like paper and
seemed to have been abandoned. By the time that they were clustering
again there were silken tunnels of wax moth larvae, not in the
outermost dry combs but, in the two combs next to this (probably the
ones most bred in during the first season). The cluster was in the
same place as the previous year but more bulbous in shape. There was
no sideways movement of this cluster, but it migrated to the top of
the combs. The wax moths did a little more damage during the winter
and the following spring.
The demolition of these damaged and dry combs was done by
the bees themselves. The comb was cut into irregular flakes about
2 mm across and flung outwards from the nest to lie on the floor.
If I were a romantic I would say that the bees were enjoying this
activity (they were vigorous in their flinging). They built two new
combs that summer in the positions that had been occupied by the wax
moths.
I was unable to make any further observations for about a
year (owing to illness) and when I finally went back to have a look
the nest had been removed, I made enquiries of the church warden, but
never established why, or by whom.
Although I got much pleasure from these observations (it
is rare to be able to see a whole colony at once) I don't think I
learned much from them. The nest was in a sheltered place and exposed
to a good deal of light.
- A few questions stick in my mind:-
- Why were the first brood combs not re-occupied the following year?
In general the bees prefer old combs to new ones.
- a,
- Was the direction of expansion deliberate or accidental?
- b,
- Why were the cluster shapes different?
- c,
- Why did the shapes of the clusters change over the winter?
- d,
- Why did the bees tear down the damaged comb with such violence?
Written... February 2000, Revised... 30 December 2001
Corrections... 01 July 2002
