>>We have an old (even older than me) beekeeper in our association who claims that bees always orient their combs in an east west plane.

That's an interesting observation.  It was mostly the same for the two colonies I collected from the block wall.  I say mostly because the combs turned here and there to go around mortar etc.

The combs I removed from what used be an icebox hollow under a window in an old brick apartment building in NYC last Friday, were oriented perpendicular to the entrance hole in the east-west direction.

I am doing a colony removal from the hollow space above a bay window in a cape house tonight.  I'll check on the comb orientation.

Waldemar

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