Appearance
A frame of brood comb has two sides which appear the same until one looks at the base of the empty cells. The base is a hexagon and if you hold it up to the light there is a Y on one side of the frame and an upside down Y on the other side.
Freshly created beeswax comb may appear white at first. After the first generation of bees hatch from the brood comb it becomes yellow and darker in color (Comb that is exclusively used for honey comb appears lighter). Brood comb that is used for subsequent generations of bee brood becomes darker and darker until it almost appears black. The pupal lining sticks to the hexagonal walls of the cell and is not removed. The change in broodcomb color is due to the pupal lining that remains inside the cell and also small soil and pollen particles that are tracked in by the bees over time. The general recommendation for beekeepers is to remove and replace broodcomb that is older than four years.
Read more about this topic: Brood Comb
Famous quotes containing the word appearance:
“You speak of poverty and dependence. Who are poor and dependent? Who are rich and independent? When was it that men agreed to respect the appearance and not the reality?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The President has paid dear for his White House. It has commonly cost him all his peace, and the best of his manly attributes. To preserve for a short time so conspicuous an appearance before the world, he is content to eat dust before the real masters who stand erect behind the throne.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“By nature servile, people attempt at first glance to find signs of good breeding in the appearance of those who occupy more exalted stations.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)