beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture, from ) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in artificial beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most commonly kept species but other honey producing bees such as '' Melipona'' stingless bees are ...

, in a Langstroth hive, burr comb, also known as brace comb and bridge comb, are portions of

honeycomb A honeycomb is a mass of Triangular prismatic honeycomb#Hexagonal prismatic honeycomb, hexagonal prismatic cells built from beeswax by honey bees in their beehive, nests to contain their brood (eggs, larvae, and pupae) and stores of honey and pol ...

built by the bees in other places than in the intended place in the

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

s. Burr comb is commonly found on the top of frames, particularly if the hive has been assembled with a void above the frames; burr comb may also be found hanging from the bottom of frames, if the frame itself is too shallow in height for the height of the hive it has been put in. Burr comb can cause problems if they join together frames on the hive which should stay separate (thus 'bridging' the gap between frames with comb). Burr comb can be avoided or minimized by keeping the width of all internal spaces inside the hive to the " bee space" limit of . Care should be taken when removing burr comb, as the adult

queen bee A queen bee is typically an adult, mated female ( gyne) that lives in a colony or hive of honey bees. With fully developed reproductive organs, the queen is usually the mother of most, if not all, of the bees in the beehive. Queens are develope ...

may be found on it, or the comb itself may contain brood cells, including sometimes queen brood cells.

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Example of burr comb, built out from a frame of comb into an adjacent void where a frame had been removed and not replaced
{{bee-stub Beekeeping