In message 
<[log in to unmask]>, 
Peter L Borst <[log in to unmask]> writes
>A while back we discussed at some length the varnishing of the internal 
>surfaces of hives, including combs. I was overruled on this one, but I 
>haven't changed my opinion. I think the bees varnish everything inside 
>the hive and maybe even the outside at times.


Peter,

I have no doubt whatsoever that you are correct in this. The only reason 
it is not obvious on wooden boxes is that on smooth surfaces the layer 
is almost imperceptibly thin. At imperfections in the box the presence 
of the propolis or propolis/wax mix becomes far more obvious as they 
seem to eliminate the little nooks and crannies where pathogens can 
lodge. (Always wary of assigning a specific purpose to a task like that 
as it is far too easy to apply human thinking to bees ways or needs. 
They may have a very different reason why such an auto response takes 
place.)

Allen may or may not have observed the following. If you give the bees a 
polystyrene hive, and keep a box back new for comparison, it soon 
becomes obvious. Those  tracts of the hive they live in become, almost 
immediately, less white than the completely new parts. On the flat faces 
it is subtle, but there, but between the beads of the polystyrene, in 
the tiny spaces, it is very obvious, as they get smoothed over and the 
little recesses filled up with the stuff. It is especially obvious on 
the roof. The roof doubles as a cover as well, and the rectangle they 
have access to, over the uppermost combs, takes on a colour directly 
linked to the colour of the propolis the colony gathers. The perimeter, 
directly over the side walls, remains starkly white. There is no 
blurring, you could run along it with a ruler. The parts they have 
contact with have been varnished.

I originally thought it was just that the bees found the polystyrene to 
be an alien and unwelcome material so wanted the whole of the interior 
which they were in contact with to be a natural and familiar material. 
However, following on from that using a strong magnifier it is plain 
that they do this to all hive interiors, and indeed as the boxes get 
older they seem to renew the surface layer, possibly annually, possibly 
as a constant ongoing maintenance task.
-- 
Murray McGregor

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