# cross-combing



## FindlayBee (Aug 2, 2009)

I have been cutting part of the comb and bending it back to make it closer to being straight. Be careful not to cut too much at one time or the comb will break off.


----------



## Mike S (Dec 25, 2009)

Do you guys use a follower board and move it back as you add new bars?


----------



## honeybeekeeper (Mar 3, 2010)

I find it alot easier using a following board, specially at the beginning until they start drawing the comb correctly or when they have 2/3 of the TBH filled up. Alot of others will say differently and thats fine to but what i do is use the following board and give them 10-12 bars to start out. I also use spacers in between each top bar. so far i have had nice straight comb!


----------



## adamziegler (Jan 4, 2010)

I had a bit of cross combing also. I actually cut off the offending parts of the comb. Yes, I cut through brood, and honey cells. I placed the comb cut bars in between bars that were straight. 2 weeks later, not only was the comb re-established, but it also straight. 

When I add more bars of space, I have been placing the empty bars in between full straight bars. As my hive fills, I plan to start moving some of the less that straight comb towards the end of the brood nest in hopes that I can eventually harvest those combs for honey.


----------



## mmiller (Jun 17, 2010)

I had a little cross comb in the begining in one of my hives. Gereral concensus is to get it straight early and you won't have a real mess later. Thats what I did. Got it straight and now they are building the comb perfectly:applause:.
By the way I let it go for 3 bars and it was only getting worse and I could see how it was going to snowball if I didn't correct it.

Mike


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

One bad comb leads to another. One good comb leads to another. The important thing is to have a good comb at the end where they are building... if the last one in the row is crooked, the next one will be crooked. If the last one is straight, the next one will be pretty straight at a minimum.


----------

