Hi
my experiance seems to differ
In a managed hive, whilst the cells get shorter in old comb and the midrib
thickens the basic cell size does not change much as the bees chew away most
of the sidewalls and renew it with fresh wax.

In a "wild" colony, during autumn, the centre of focus moves off centre by
about 1/3 of the colony width and thus a different set of marginal comb is
exposed for demolition by waxmoth every winter. Giving automatic renewal.

as far as queens preference goes it seems to me that they prefer the
dirtiest and oldest combs most highly...I suspect they contain a higher
proportion of absorbed "queen pheramone" and so the worker bees prepare them
for egg laying first.

----- Original Message -----
From: Harry Goudie <[log in to unmask]>




> As the comb get older the cell size gets progressively smaller...>