One of my mentees who is new to Beekeeping forgot to close up the gap where the queen cell had been and the bees built a nice frame of wax, not on the foundation. It has been very cold here during the first week after packages were installed and the bees were fed 2:1 sugar syrup. The drawn comb, only a week old, was so white it made cappings wax look Grey. It was also more brittle than normally encountered loose wax cells like burr comb, which are usually more yellow. So what if pollen is incorporated to a small degree with the wax for strength? I have no idea but I am sure Peter has something on that. And what if cappings, which are always the white wax in the hive, are intentionally not mixed with pollen so the bees have an easier time getting past it? As i said, that comb was brittle and was probably from pure sugar syrup. Bill Truesdell Bath, Maine *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html