Anatomy of a Frame

When you inspect a beehive, you will see many frames of honey, pollen and brood in the broodchamber. No two frames are alike but there is a standard template frame that you will all the time. What you will observe is brood in the center of the frame with a ring of pollen around the brood patch and honey on the outside of the frame. This is a great layout and works to provide all the necessary nutrients for raising brood on the frame. Nurse bees need pollen and honey to provide vital nutrients during their early stages of development.

Note: When you look at honey frames, bees always cure or cap the honey from the top down. Honey that is the correct moisture is capped with a beeswax coating. For more information visit our How Honey is Made page.

Closer look at the Brood Pattern

The queen usually starts laying in the center of the frame and works towards the outside of the brood patch. A great queen can even lay a frame completely full with no room for pollen or honey. You will often see larvae in the center and eggs towards the outside of the brood patch because of the laying pattern.

You will also notice the amount of brood a queen lays has a direct relation to the amount of bees available. If there is a low population, the queen will not lay more than they hive can care for. I see this pattern in nucs when they are still small. Sometimes all they need is a couple extra frame bees and the queen starts laying more.

Below is the layout of a regular frame.