> To add to what I said previously, I'll mention that, some time back, on
> this
> list, someone pointed out that bees seem to prefer new comb for brood
> rearing and darker comb for honey storage.  That has been my experience.

This is not my experience.  For most that I speak to here in Australia, all
say that queens will lay in a dark comb before laying in a white comb if
given a choice.  In late summer early autumn, a white comb in a brood nest
will actually act as a barrier to the queen laying in the bottom box.  She
will often only lay on the side of the white comb she is on.  She will not
cross it to lay in dark combs on the other side of the brood box.  We are
using excluders.

Sometimes in spring I will lift the excluder and let the queen run in the
second box before again putting her down and putting in the excluder.  Here
again, my experience is that the queen will lay in the dark combs before
laying in the new white comb.  When I talk about new white comb, it is a
foundation that has been put in above a queen excluder, the bees have drawn
it out and capped it.  I have extracted it.

This is the way I draw combs to use in rotating out older combs from the
brood box.  I paint code the top bar so I know how old the frame is in terms
of years.  I am in favour of rotating out combs from the brood nest and it
is a common recommendation here in Australia for helping with disease
control.

The best time to put down white combs in spring when the bees are in
expansion mode.  I know many successful beekeepers who will not put down
white comb after Christmas as they find the queens will not or a very slow
in starting to lay in these combs.  On certain conditions I have put down
white combs after Christmas but it is on a good honey flow with good quality
pollen coming in.


Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA

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