# Natural Broodnest



## Scut Farkas (Jun 7, 2007)

Wow, that's pretty cool. So the comb accurately reflects the inside of the hive as the bee's made it, correct?

I notice you have a bar down the center - is this to help keep the comb attached across a long top bar?


----------



## BWrangler (Aug 14, 2002)

Hi Scut,

These comb photos were all taken at the same time from an undisturbed broodnest in my top bar hive. Most of the bees were brushed off so comb details could be seen. 
The photos were resized to the same scale and imported into Sketchup.

I experimented with different ways to reinforce top bar hive comb on my first tbhs. They add substantial support to the comb. But are a hassle to work with, build and store. Once I unlearned my frame handling habits and developed some good top bar comb handling skills, I discarded the supports.

Regards
Dennis


----------



## db_land (Aug 29, 2003)

*Comb Area and Brood Ratios*

Since this thread is about the "Natural Broodnest", I have a couple of questions:

1) Is there a near constant area size for average (say 25000 bees) sized colony? Is there a bees-per-square-centimeter relationship that a colony grows to before swarming or making new comb?

Really natural broodnest takes many shapes depending on the "cavity" shape and size. But colony/swarm population seems very homogeneous for established colonies and primary swarms. This is merely an anecdotal observation - I've never measured comb area in natural broodnests, but I have done 100's of removals and swarm pickups.

2) Is there a more or less fixed ratio of drone cells to comb area? Is there likewise a ratio of small-cell or large-cell, etc to comb area? How do the bees "know" when they have enough of each cell type?

Any relevant observations or references would be most welcome.


----------



## BWrangler (Aug 14, 2002)

Hi Db,

I'm not sure about constant area for a colony. But have noted that tbh bees can function optimally in about the same volume as 2 deeps in Wyoming.

I'm not sure about swarms versus bee density. I know that just adding more space isn't enough to stop swarming unless it interferes with the broodnest dynamics in some way. But the swarm impulse can be manipulated to produce populace colonies early in the season by checker boarding them. I've observed the same behavior in my tbhs that Walt Wright has.

Drone cell and small cell ratios do tend to be fixed. I've measured them in several hives and they both run about 15 to 20 percent each with larger cell sizes making up about 60% of the total broodnest. But the cells aren't randomly distributed. Small cells comprise about 60% of the comb near the lower front and drone cell sizes comprise about the same, away from the entrance to the broodnest.

My bees had plenty of room to draw out the kind of comb they desired. There's some indication that different percentages exist in more restricted cavity shapes as the bees decrease cell size down a comb's length when building a broodnest. Shorter comb has less small cell size comb than a taller one.

I've examined, but not measure comb that was in a 4" tall space. Whole combs tended to be either drone, large, or small cell size, with very little small cell size comb. And it lacked the structure seen in a taller cavity.

Db, what have you seen in those small spaces?

I've got a few thoughts on a natural broodnest at:

http://bwrangler.litarium.com/natural-comb/

http://bwrangler.litarium.com/nest/

Regards
Dennis


----------



## clintonbemrose (Oct 23, 2001)

Great pictures and project. A great project to help teach beekeeping.
Clint


----------

