I’m itching to get back in the hives. It’s so meditative and peaceful watching these industrious creatures move about the hive working away.
Wild bees know precisely how to orient all of the chambers of their home for the ideal ventilation and temperature control. They utilize all of the available space and fill in large gaps with comb and small gaps with sticky propolis.
In a wild hive, the comb and propolis provide structural integrity to the hive. However, in a man made hive, this can make hive inspections a bit tricky.
If your gaps between frames are uneven or too wide, the bees will build out extra comb to connect the too far apart frames. This undesirable (to a beekeeper) comb is called ‘burr comb.’
If I notice any burr comb during my weekly hive inspection, I remove it with a hive tool in order to keep the frames tidy and manageable for me to inspect.
Most of the time, I take the burr comb and press it on to a section of the frame foundation that the bees have not built on yet, in order to encourage them to build there instead. I ran into a bit of an issue this past year where I didn’t wax my foundations heavily enough, so the bees were more inclined to build burr comb where they saw fit.
On rare occasions, when I ensure the colony has enough honey stores, I will collect a bit of the burr comb if it is filled with honey. It’s not usually capped honey at the ideal moisture content for longer term storage, but this treat doesn’t last long in our house!
This honey filled burr comb is often referred to as ‘a beekeeper’s spoils’ – a treat that only beekeepers get to enjoy as it’s not something you will find in the grocery store.
There’s nothing quite like biting into the pale yellow freshly drawn comb. The sweet honey floods your mouth and the wax can be enjoyed too – my husband and kids like to chew on it like chewing gum!
Until I can get back into the hives, I’ll be daydreaming about these treats to pass the gray days by.