1. Examining Combs- What Do They Tell You? Clarence H. Collison Emeritus Professor/Dept. Head Mississippi State University

2. Why Ever Look In The Brood Chamber(s)? Are You One Of Those People Who Never Go Below The Queen Excluder; Never Look At The Brood Nest; Assume Everything Is Well??

3. Managing The Brood Nest Is Important

4. Combs Are The Basic Structural Unit Of The Hive

6. Functions Of The Comb Reproduction Of The Colony Storage Of Nectar And Pollen Foundation For Establishing The Winter Cluster Orientation Point For Communicative Dances

14. Adequate Supplies of Drawn Comb Is A Limiting Factor In Most Beekeeping Operations

15. Proper Arrangement Of Combs Bee Space 1/4- 3/8 Inches Burr Comb

17. Damaged Combs Loss Of Brood Area Increase In Drone Brood Increased Difficulty In Uncapping Honey

20. Why Examine Brood Patterns? Overall Condition Of The Colony Presence Or Absence Of A Queen Quality Of A Queen Availability of Fresh Nectar And Food Stores Checking For Bee Diseases/Varroa Mites Colony Strength Inclination To Swarm Population Balance

25. Quality Of The Queen Cannot Determine By Queen’s Appearance Examine The Brood Pattern Solid Brood Pattern Spotty Brood Pattern

28. Laying Workers

30. Combs Can Serve As A Disease Reservoir Cappings Color Changes In Larvae/Pupae Scale Mummies

41. American Foulbrood Scales

44. Check For Varroa Mites

49. When Additional Honey Supers Are Needed

51. Population Balance

52. Amount Of Brood What Is Normal? Can There Be Too Much? Can There Be Too Little?

53. EggLarvaPupaTotal Queen35 ½7 ½16 Worker361221 Drone36 ½14 ½24

54. Worker Development Eggs Larvae 2x Pupae 4x

56. How Can You Tell If The Brood Cycle Has Been Broken?

57. Once A Queen Has Laid For 3 Weeks Uninterrupted, The Healthy Hive Should Have: Brood Of All Stages/Ages 12-15% Eggs 30-35 % Uncapped (Larvae) 50-60% Capped (Pupae) Any Deviation From This Indicates A Break In The Brood Cycle/Pattern

58. What Causes A Disruption Of The Brood Cycle? Anything That Causes The Queen To Stop Laying Or That Destroys The Brood

59. Break In Brood Rearing Cycle Pesticide Kill Or Sudden Die-Off Of Adult Workers Death Of A Queen Lack Of Nectar Flow Or Food Stores Diseases And Parasitic Mites Weather

60. Emergency Supersedure Swarming

63. What Should You Do Upon Finding A Large Drone Population?

64. Prosperity! Doom!

65. How Many Pounds Of Honey?