Fresh foundationless comb collapsed in the 38°C heat — how do I stop this happening again?
İzmir hit 38°C this week and I opened my second-year hive to find a disaster: a big new foundationless comb, drawn just this month and heavy with nectar, had sheared off near the top bar and folded onto the comb next to it. Maybe forty bees drowned in the spilled nectar, and the cleanup robbed a full afternoon.
I understand the physics after the fact — fresh wax is soft, heat makes it softer, and a deep comb of nectar is heavy — but I clearly don't know how to prevent it. The hive is in full sun from about noon. Do I wire my foundationless frames? Give shade? Stop inspecting in the afternoon heat because handling is what actually snapped it? All of the above? My older darker combs were completely fine, which I found interesting.
#foundationless#comb-collapse#heat#summer
▲ 15 votes💬 4 replies
4 replies
muglabalci · Jun 20, 2026
All of the above, and your observation about old combs is the key: comb strengthens with age as cocoons reinforce it. Fresh white comb full of nectar at 38° is basically warm butter. My rules for Muğla summers: never handle new comb in afternoon heat (morning only, and keep frames vertical — never flat), shade cloth or a reflective roof from June on, and yes, either wire foundationless frames or add fishing-line supports before they draw. Also make sure they've attached the comb to the side bars before you lift that frame at all.
AbejasCarla · Jun 20, 2026
Andalusia checking in — same battles. Shade is the single biggest fix: my full-sun hives ran several degrees hotter inside and had every one of my collapses; the ones under 30% shade cloth, none. Also give big colonies ventilation so they can cool: staggered boxes no, but a small upper entrance yes, and water within 50m so they can evaporative-cool properly.
MieleMarco · Jun 20, 2026
One more: don't let them hang huge slabs. I run foundationless with three horizontal fishing lines per deep frame and the bees incorporate them invisibly. And in a strong flow, harvest or move new combs to the outside before they're brimming — a half-full new comb survives what a full one won't. Fourteen years, maybe two collapses since I started wiring.
elif_arici · Jun 21, 2026
Thank you! Shade cloth going up tomorrow morning and I've found the fishing line. The broken comb is draining into a bowl at least — earliest harvest I've ever had, if you can call it that.