How to Get Your Bees to Draw Comb

Drawn comb is gold dust to beekeepers. Frustratingly, it is sometimes as difficult to obtain as it is valuable. In this extensive article, originally published in the Irish Beekeeper’s Magazine, An Beachaire, we will look at comb and discuss how best to get the bees to build it.

How do Bees Make Beeswax?

Beeswax is secreted from the wax glands of young worker bees, approximately 12-20 days old. The ability of the workers to produce wax lessen over time as the wax glands start to atrophy, or waste away, but older bees are able to produce wax also.

Honeybees have four pairs of wax glands on the underside of their abdomen. The brittle flakes of wax, once secreted, are moved to the jaws, or mandibles, of the bee and worked on to make the wax soft and pliable. The wax is then passed on to other worker bees who use it to build comb. To make one gram of wax, the bees will need to produce approximately 1100 flakes of wax. The wax-flakes are initially clear and odourless. It is only later that the wax will adopt its characteristic colour and smell as pollen and propolis get worked into it. Making wax is hard work for the colony, not just the worker bees who produce it, as large amounts of food are needed to keep the production going. It takes approximately 6,5-9 kilos of honey to produce one kilo of beeswax.

Bees building comb in a newly hived swarm. Note the wax flakes on three of the worker bees.

When and Why Do Bees Draw Comb?

The trigger for bees to initiate wax production is related to the offloading and depositing of nectar. When forager bees come into the hive with nectar, they are offloaded by young worker bees close to the entrance. The young bees will then set about finding a space to store the nectar for drying. If a nectar receiver struggles to find an empty cell to deposit her load, she will ingest the nectar and convert it into wax.

This behaviour shows that there is a strong and rational correlation between nectar flow and space (or lack thereof) and wax production. When we want to encourage our bees to draw comb, we need to always keep this in mind, and try to work with our bees for the best possible result. Hence, there is little point in expecting a weak or queenless colony to draw comb or even a strong colony if there is no food coming into the hive. A swarm, however, or a colony in the expansion stages in spring, are prime candidates for drawing comb.

Incoming food

The economy of the hive provides that the bees do not readily draw wax from stored honey. There should ideally be a nectar flow on to stimulate the bees to produce wax and draw comb. If you would like your bees to draw comb at a time where there is no flow, the colony can be fed very light syrup, 1:1 syrup or lighter. Remember that it takes large amounts of honey to produce wax, and the same can be said for syrup. So feed abundantly and not just dribs and drabs.

If feeding to draw comb, it is important to make sure that the syrup is converted into wax and not stored in the supers. If super wax is being drawn, the frames of drawn comb can either be removed once drawn or moved towards the front and back of the hive. To avoid getting syrup in the super, stop feeding once the frames are mostly drawn (about 2/3).

Timing

The time of year affects the bees’ ability and willingness to draw comb. Spring is a time of natural build-up and is a good time to get colonies to draw comb. There is a need for more space for brood as well as nectar from the spring flow. In spring, bees generally need little if any coaxing to start working on foundation. Getting them to draw comb early, especially in the brood nest, will also act as swarm prevention or delay by offering more space for the queen to lay. Fluctuating ambient temperatures can be an issue in spring, so it is important not to break up the brood nest with foundation as this can cause chilled brood. Instead, frames of foundation should be placed adjacent to the outermost frame of brood on either side of the broodnest.

The practice of splitting the brood nest in order to introduce foundation is one of those topics that are highly contested among beekeepers. Some will advocate in favour and many against. It should always be done with caution and attention to the status of each colony. Splitting the brood on a single box by introducing foundation between brood frames can be done in late spring or early summer when the colony is still in expansion mode. Strong colonies can have a box of foundation added above the brood box to give more space for the queen to lay.

Feeding to Encourage Comb Drawing

Whereas spring and early summer are ideal to get comb drawn, colonies will build comb throughout the summer season providing there is a flow. It can be a good idea to get comb drawn after the main flow and honey harvest as well. The bees will then need to be fed weak syrup as opposed to the thicker 2:1 syrup usually fed in autumn. Once the comb is drawn or partly drawn, the box can be removed, and regular autumn feed provided.

Reasons for Bees Not Drawing Comb

If the bees are not drawing comb, it is likely that at least one of the above elements are missing. Hence, the lack of wax building can be used as a diagnostic tool in reading the colony. Consider the drawing of wax as an indication of the health, strength and status of the colony. If the bees are not drawing comb when they should be, further investigations should be made to ascertain what the problem/-s might be and be remedied if at all possible.

For instance, a colony with high Varroa load or otherwise affected by viruses or disease will be very slow to build comb. A colony intent on swarming will not expend unnecessary resources building comb, so the lack of comb drawing could be an indication that swarm preparations has begun. It may be the case that the beekeeper added a box of foundation too late for the bees’ liking and they initiated swarm preparations instead of utilizing the proffered space. With swarming preparations under way, backfilling of the broodnest, the queen reducing her egg laying and an imminent brood less period, the colony’s need for more space suddenly disappears. Largely, any attempts at getting those colonies to draw out fresh comb will be futile, regardless of nectar flow or supplementary feed, until the new queen has started laying.

Bees move onto soft, pliable foundation easier than dry, brittle foundation. Keep your foundation wrapped up until needed or soften it by placing in a heating cabinet, in the sun for a short while (mind, it melts quickly!), or run a heatgun or hairdryer over it before placing into the hive.

Swarms are Great at Drawing Comb

Swarms are superstars when it comes to drawing comb, and if you capture a swarm, you have the makings of a wax drawing machine. Many bees in swarms have their wax glands primed, and they will draw comb as soon as they move in. If fed, a swarm will continue to draw comb so they can be used to draw out a few spare frames for later use. Conversely, a large prime swarm is ideal for drawing out nice frames for cut comb or sections as they do it quickly without staining the wax too much.

Drawing Brood Comb

The placement of frames of foundation in the brood box needs to be done differently depending on the time of year. Below are pictures showing spring and summer arrangement.

Early in the season when the temperatures are still low, foundation can be put between the outermost frame of brood and a frame of stores like this:

In late spring and early summer, frames with foundation can be placed between frames of brood like this:

If you want to draw a full box of brood frames, add a second brood chamber on top of the first without queen excluder. Arrange it so that the bottom box has all its brood in the middle, flanked with a frame of foundation on either side and then pollen/stores. In the second box, place two frames of brood from the lower box in the middle and fill up the rest of the space with foundation. You can then either move the frames to the front and back of the hive as they get drawn and move any undrawn foundation towards the middle. Leave any frames with brood in the middle or move down to the bottom box. It should be arranged like this:

Sometimes bees will draw comb on only one side of the foundation, the one closest to the brood nest. To get the other side drawn, simply turn the frame around so that the undrawn side faces into the brood nest.

Methods for Replacing Brood Comb

It is good hive management to replace the brood comb annually or rotate out old comb over two or three years. All beekeepers should have a system in place for comb renewal. Apart from regular comb renewal offered by swapping out old frames with foundation and/or drawing full boxes as a second brood box there are some more severe methods for replacing the wax in the brood chamber.

A Shook Swarm can be done to get a colony quickly onto a box of foundation. The existing brood will be lost to the colony, but done at the right time of year, colonies will only suffer a small set back and can build up strong again. This is a useful method of dealing with high Varroa loads early in the season (brood and mites destroyed) and as a method of swarm prevention or control (if brood is healthy, it can be used to bulk out other colonies or to make up nucs or mating colonies).

Both the Demaree method and the Bailey Frame Change will allow the brood to emerge in the hive while the queen is moved to a box of foundation. This allows the colony to maintain its strength but does not offer the brood break which can be so beneficial in the fight against Varroa.

Drone Comb

During the latter part of the build-up phase in spring, colonies, particularly strong ones, will draw a lot of drone comb. To avoid having drone sized cells in your freshly drawn comb, place one or several drone frames in the brood nest. These can be special drone frames with or without starter strips or drone foundation. What is easy and works really well is a shallow frame (super frame) placed into the deeper brood chamber. The bees will build drone comb under the bottom of the frame.

Drawing Honey Supers

The best position to place frames of foundation or starter strips for drawing out is immediately above the brood nest. The rising heat from the brood provides perfect temperatures for drawing comb. Beekeepers often discuss whether new supers should be placed above existing supers, or below. If you are supering with drawn comb its positioning is of less importance. However, if you are supering with a box of foundation, consider placing it as the first super above the brood nest to encourage comb building. Do this during the beginning of a flow, as colonies are often slow to start foundation towards the end.

Spring arrangement of super

Early in the season, to get the bees to move up into the supers and entice them to draw out foundation during the spring flow, you can place a super made up of foundation with two or three frames of wet comb in the middle. (Wet comb is a frame that has some honey still in it after extraction, making it completely irresistible for bees.) The bees will move onto the wet comb in no time, and then start drawing comb on the adjacent frames of foundation when they need the space. Once they do, the drawn frames will be moved towards the front and back of the hive, or to the side where they draw less comb, and replaced with foundation.

Remove the Queen Excluder?

Another way of getting bees to move up into the super is to remove the queen excluder for a couple of days. Once the bees have moved up, go through the frames and make sure the queen is in the brood box, then replace the queen excluder. If she had time to lay eggs in the super, check again after a few days to make sure they did not make queencells from any of them.  

Summer arrangement of super

Later in spring, when the colonies are in full expansion mode, you can skip the first step and instead place supers with a frame or two of drawn comb at the back and front, preferably wet, and the rest foundation. The heat rising from the brood nest will aid in comb building. If not all frames are drawn quickly, move undrawn foundation in towards the middle and drawn frames out. If you have the time and inclination, and particularly if you are feeding the bees to draw comb, you can also remove the frames when they are started or fully drawn but before the bees have started filling the cells with syrup/nectar. Replace with foundation to continue the process of comb building. The frames can then be used when the honey flow has started without the need for the bees to use up valuable nectar to draw comb.

If you do not have drawn or wet comb to bait the super with, you could try spraying a little syrup onto the foundation.  

I hope you enjoyed this read and that it will help better manage comb building in your colonies.

Hanna Bäckmo

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