Was talking to my Father and he mentioned that someone had made the "discovery" that comb cells start off round. I had never thoug...
Was talking to my Father and he mentioned that someone had made the "discovery" that comb cells start off round. I had never though otherwise which made me think about Housel Positioning which is a big deal with some folks.
So here is how I see it.
The bees deposit wax in a circular motion moving deeper into the cell. The natural tendency with gravity is that each drop of wax will flow slightly downwards compared to the next achieving the 5% slope for horizontal necessary to keep the nectar or water flowing out of the cell. I do not think there is any conscious effort to achieve the 5%. It just fortuitously happens.
If you take circular tube and narrow it toward one end the natural tendency is for it to fold into a Y. It just has to because the same surface area is being compressed into a small space. It must fold in on itself. Cells built on the other side have the folds to fall into and therefore will take a mirror image along the horizontal plane. So as the bee stretches to its maximum the cell end will collapse into a Y. So you end up with cells back to back with a Y and inverted Y. Cells built to the side will naturally fall into the same pattern. It is like the way mineral crystals stack themselves in beautiful lattice patterns without the need for a higher power or cognition of any kind to mediate the process.
The next frame will be filled on the side closest to the brood next first so facing the nest you will usually have a vertical Y with inverted Y on the other side. But not necessarily. Any minor interference can cause the cell to fold inverted Y first. Once started that way it will continue. If the bees were making a conscious effort to make their comb with a certain configuration it would never happen. On foundationless combs started at both ends and meeting in the middle, there are sometimes opposing orientations. If Housel was correct then this would never happen...
So here is how I see it.
The bees deposit wax in a circular motion moving deeper into the cell. The natural tendency with gravity is that each drop of wax will flow slightly downwards compared to the next achieving the 5% slope for horizontal necessary to keep the nectar or water flowing out of the cell. I do not think there is any conscious effort to achieve the 5%. It just fortuitously happens.
If you take circular tube and narrow it toward one end the natural tendency is for it to fold into a Y. It just has to because the same surface area is being compressed into a small space. It must fold in on itself. Cells built on the other side have the folds to fall into and therefore will take a mirror image along the horizontal plane. So as the bee stretches to its maximum the cell end will collapse into a Y. So you end up with cells back to back with a Y and inverted Y. Cells built to the side will naturally fall into the same pattern. It is like the way mineral crystals stack themselves in beautiful lattice patterns without the need for a higher power or cognition of any kind to mediate the process.
The next frame will be filled on the side closest to the brood next first so facing the nest you will usually have a vertical Y with inverted Y on the other side. But not necessarily. Any minor interference can cause the cell to fold inverted Y first. Once started that way it will continue. If the bees were making a conscious effort to make their comb with a certain configuration it would never happen. On foundationless combs started at both ends and meeting in the middle, there are sometimes opposing orientations. If Housel was correct then this would never happen...
If you are building little sticky circles next to each other they will naturally form hexagons. It is how circular things stack. Snow flakes are a good example of the stacking of water molecules into hexagon type patterns. With snow flakes the starting point is always random but then repeats outwards. With comb the starting point is round but collapses towards the tapered end, repeated in neighboring cells. The starting point is like the seed for the next cell's collapse.
Housel proposes that the positing of Y configurations moving out from the center of the hive is important to the bees. Can not think it would matter. Bees are not conscious actors but simple insects with simple neural networks and reflex arcs. To me it is a anthropomorphic projection to think that the Y at the bottom of the comb in a reversed position will cause bees to swarm or perform badly.
My opinion is corroborated by Don the Fat Beeman, about the most experienced hands-on beekeeper alive today.
