In my previous posts to this subject, I ventured the opinion that two colonies had oriented their comb in a North-South direction.  One colony was in a wall parallel to the siding which happened to allow a wide comb between two studs (2x4 construction), but the other was about a dozen plates 3" wide parallel to the stud.  Both colonies oriented their comb from North to South.

Today I tore out another colony from the wall of a house.  The bees entered from the top (a few shingles were crooked), came through the attic, then descended down into the wall cavity.  We removed the inside sheet rock and the combs ran parallel to the sheet rock.  This orientation would be my choice had I been a bee.  Parallel to the wall board gives wide (14") sheets of comb.

Coincidentally, the comb also ran North-South.  The studs were about 14" apart and the comb ran about six feet long from the top sill, with two plates of comb, built between two studs.  It was beautiful.  I never paid any attention to comb orientation before.  I was thinking that bees build and orient their combs so they can have wide combs.  More and more I'll keep an eye on this.

BTW, the wall was a second story home, the bees entered the corner of the roof on the Northwest corner.  The wall was quite shaded by tall trees.  I'm still wondering if orientation is also a factor of sunlight.  If I had to venture a guess, based on what the homeowner told me, this colony was an early swarm this year.

Grant
Jackson, MO



---------------------------------
Yahoo! for Good
 Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and  other info ---