# Picture of small cell comb



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bush/images/47mmComb.JPG 

And here is how you measure it:

http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bush/images/47mmCombMeasurement.jpg

Just to show some measurements. Here is the first brood comb I found in my Top Bar Hive. To measure, start at the 10mm mark and count over 10 cells. Looks like 4.7cm for ten cells to me. That's 4.7mm. When the bees are flying I'll try to actually look through the hive for some smaller ones.

I put a package of large cell Carniolans in this hive in the Spring 2004. There was no comb just bar top bars. I have swapped no comb out.


----------



## naturebee (Dec 25, 2004)

Mike, this is fascinating! I am impressed with the small cell drawing you are getting! The nice even pattern IMO indicates the bees are keyed in on that size. Also impressed that you managed to do this with the relatively larger Carnelian bees.
Occasionally I see small cells with confused pattern of uneven rows. I think I am seeing this because I need to adjust my frame spacing down to 32mm. 

I had my bees down to 4.9, using old recycled frames, but when I shook them down onto new frames last year, they went up to just under 5.0mm even though I had 4.9 foundation in them. After measuring the frames, I discovered that the old frames had a smaller bee space as compared to the larger. Im checking into routers, or some tool that will enable me to cut the frames down out in the field. Comb space seems to have a very strong influence on cell size.


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Yes, the Top Bar Hive they cheat to whatever spacing they want anyway and they build whatever they want with no foundation. My top bars are 1 1/4" wide in the brood nest, but they still cheat them bigger when they start storing honey.

I think 4.7mm for large cell Carnis with no subsequent regression is pretty good.







But from what I've observed I think letting them space the comb correctly (or you spacing it correctly) helps with smaller cells.


----------

