Natural Comb Building
Lexikon
Natural comb building refers to bees building their comb themselves without a preformed foundation as a guide.
Natural comb building refers to bees building their comb themselves without a preformed foundation as a guide. They then determine cell size, cell type and comb spacing on their own. The proportion of drone comb turns out considerably higher than in comb built on worker-cell foundation.
No special hive is needed for this. The Veitshöchheim Institute for Apiculture explicitly states that special forms such as the top-bar hive, the Bienenkiste or the Warré hive are not necessary to get natural comb. It is enough to hang empty frames with a narrow strip of wax as a guide line into an ordinary modern box hive. Drone frames are nothing other than natural comb building on a small scale.
For the combs to come out straight and vertical, the hive must stand level, the guide strip must sit cleanly, and the colony must be in building mode, meaning strong, well supplied, and within the period between spring and the summer solstice. Building happens quickly, often within a few days.
Natural comb without wire is not extraction-proof and breaks more easily, especially in warm weather. It is suitable for comb honey, for the drone frame, and for planned comb renewal, but less so for the honey super intended for extraction. One tangible advantage is the closed wax cycle: anyone who lets the bees build themselves brings no purchased wax of unknown origin into the operation.