I have a couple of hives that have chewed cell
> walls down to the foundation in areas as large as a hand-span in several
> combs where the surroundings are packed with brood.

I have sometimes noticed this phenomenon in hives when they are capping
brood or honey.  Wax is stolen from the foundation to cap the other cells.
I have no idea why the bees do this.  I have also noticed that those areas
are never drawn again.  Once the embossing of the foundation is chewed away,
the bees seem to build elsewhere instead.  Yesterday I was looking at a hive
that had drawn a supa and started filling it, but had cleared the foundation
on the two outer frames in the brood box.

Not many solutions, but you are not alone.

regards
Paul Collett

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