At 12:11 AM 6/18/96 +0000, you wrote:
>  Can someone kindly point me to scientific evidence that replacing
>old brood combs actually benefits the health and/or honey production
>of a colony?
>
>   I've read speculation/hearsay on this, but would actually like to
>read the scientific basis.
>
>Thanks,
>John in Dallas
>
Hi John
 
I have not seen any scientific data or papers on the removal of old combs.
I have read several articles and listened to several lectures which advocate
rotating old combs about every 5 years.  The reason given is that toxins
build up in the wax combs from the chemicals we put in the hive and the
pollutants that the bees bring in.  I have also heard some beekeepers say
that they change so that the bees won' t become to small using an ever
decreasing size cell to grow in.  But then another beekeeper countered, "How
small is to small".
 
I attended a seminar this past weekend and one of the lecturers said that
there is evidence that bees only survived 2 to 5 years in the same nest in
the wild prior to domestication.  They would either die out or abscond.
Then the waxworms would clean up the wax and then bees moved back in and
constructed new combs.
 
I have started removing old combs a few years ago and I feel that it has
contributed to the general health of my bees.  All in all I would say that
in the absence of something more definitive, it is a matter of preference
when or if combs are rotated.
 
Frank Humphrey
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Frank Humphrey
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