# Bees building comb in a jar?



## keeper

In order for it to work the hive has to be managed near swarm conditions or the bees ignore the space in the jars. It is a fun project that everybody should try at least once. One thing the video failed to show is that this is done inside a hive body, the jars would not normally be visible.


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## bhfury

Smarsh7903 said:


> Has anyone ever done this before?


Check out Fatbeeman's video's on youtube. He has a video about it. We are going to do it this year.


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## KQ6AR

I took an inner cover & drilled holes for pint canning jars. Didn't have any luck, one thing I noticed was a lot of condensation gets in the jars.
Might try it again one of these days.


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## Vance G

There is a thread that covered this subject, this winter. I asked if anyone had sucessfully done it. Several had and basically said it just wasn't worth the headaches.


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## Smarsh7903

Thats cool. I may give it a try myself anyways. I think it would be cool to have my own personal jar of this stuff. Definitely for novelty.


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## jdmidwest

Do they fill the jars with honey? That could just bypass alot of work.....


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## Vance G

The bees build comb in the jars and it definately is not a work bypass! It is lots of work, more work to attempt it and the bees have to have a very heavy flow to be made to do it. It will cost you honey productiona and maybe a swarm and the whole crop. Don't enter into the project lightly.


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## tommysnare

im thinking it would be better to use ross rounds or cassettes. im gonna try some ros rounds that i got when i purchased a bunch of wooden ware from a veteran who was selling out (his back went bad  anyone have any luck with ross rounds and/or cassettes ? any tips would be mega rad !


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## jrbbees

You must place a foundation starter strip in the jar so they will find comb 'started' in the jar.


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## beemilk

Bee Culture magazine.....May 2012. Page 57


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## keeper

tommysnare said:


> anyone have any luck with ross rounds and/or cassettes ?


Sure: Most of Europe. Only they call them "Section Racks".


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## tommysnare

word up ! does there ned to be a particular great flow at the time or can they go on as a regular honey super ?


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## pedrocr

This gave me an idea for the simplest possible observation hive. Just get a very large glass bowl and set it up as a skep, like in these old videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upbONroWPic

A few strips of comb attached to the bottom, a hole for an entrance and a dark cloth over it and you have a nice observation have with minimal effort. Drilling the entrance without shattering the glass is probably the most difficult step.


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## Rob73

I put some empty jars on a hive last year after when I stopped feeding sugar syrup. I just replaced the syrup jars with empty ones with just the rings and no lids. I just dripped a few drops of melted wax in the bottom of the jar. They just went up in there and filled them with comb. Some filled out better than others. They look pretty cool. It wasnt any trouble to do. I just left mine on all season to see how they would turn out. Some had very white comb and some got dark yellow/orange, like they tracked it up. I used quart jars. When I do it again, I will use smaller jars. I dont really have a use for a whole quart jar of comb.

Rob


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