Holding honeycombs during cutout

[montauk170]

I noticed in cutout videos posted by JP and others, where they are holding the comb and shaking the bees off. Are the combs pretty tough or are they fragile? I assume recently constructed combs are more fragile and can fall apart if held wrong?

[JP]

Newer comb sections, really white ones especially ones top heavy with honey usually fall apart on you. Hard to even hold those let alone try and shake them. The older they get, the more rigid they get.


...JP

[montauk170]

Ah ok, cool. Thanks

[Rebel Rose Apiary]

~Visions of JP just shaking those combs going through my head........~ :evil:

The temperature also makes even the most solid combs less stable....especially if the sun is shining down on them for very long.

Brenda

[JP]

"The temperature also makes even the most solid combs less stable....especially if the sun is shining down on them for very long."

Very true. I did one about a week ago (haven't posted pictures of that one yet) old dark comb removed from the underside of a flat roof. It was very warm that day. Even those combs grew soft, but still workable.


...JP

[Grandma_DOG]

Sometimes the soft comb works in your favor. Occasionally, I'll have old wired frames with the foundation missing. I just can press the new white comb into the wired frame and it will stick to the wires. Otherwise the rubber band holding method would not work.

But most of the time, the fragile combs are a PitA to deal with. They fall apart if you don't use a dustpan to hold them.