Comb (upside-down)
In early Fall during a hive inspection I observed the bees had started to consume their own honey so I started feeding them sugar syrup to supplement their stores.
In mid-Fall, another inspection revealed the bees had absconded. No bees, no dead bees. Nothing at all but an empty hive and several perfectly formed combs.
The last two combs were misshapen with some cross-building.
They had done such a beautiful job building their comb on the top bars I wanted to give them a big hand. But, alas, they weren’t there for their well-deserved praise.
The last time I know they were still there was the day the man from the phone company moved the hive so he could dig for a cable because the neighbor had severed my phone line during a shed tear-down.
The hive was moved back into its original position the same day, but it couldn’t have been good for an already stressed hive.
I was unaware the hive was going to be moved or I would have had something to say about it, but what’s done is done and I will wait for a swarm in the Spring.
Meanwhile I’m cleaning the comb from the bars to keep the moths away and will be rendering the comb to get some homemade beeswax.