Honeybees’ Hidden Building Skills: How They Tackle Odd-Sized Foundations

Ever wondered how bees handle foundation sheets that don’t quite match their natural cell size? A new study published in PLOS Biology (August 2025) has revealed just how adaptable honeybees really are when building comb.

Researchers used 3D-printed foundations with cell sizes ranging from half to four times the normal worker cell. With X-ray microscopy, they discovered three clever strategies bees use when faced with unusual dimensions:

• Merging (smaller than normal cells): When given undersized foundations (about 25% smaller than usual), bees combined multiple cells together until they achieved their preferred worker-sized hexagons.

• Tilting (slightly larger cells): For foundations up to twice the normal size, bees built larger cells but tilted the walls at sharper angles. This adjustment reduced the effective cell opening while keeping the comb strong. These cells were often repurposed for drones or honey storage.

• Layering (much larger cells): With foundations three times larger than worker cells, bees ignored the oversized pattern and built a new layer of normal-sized hexagons on top, creating a two-layer comb structure.

  
  

When the foundation was either too small (half-size) or too large (four times normal), bees often disregarded the pattern entirely and built freely.

A) Schematic of the honeycomb cells built on a control frame with S = 1. B) Two snapshots of the initial frame with the plastic, 3D-printed foundation, along with the same frame after 20 days. The printed cell size on this frame is S = 1. C) XRM-based 3D-visualization of a section of the frame with S = 1, segmented to highlight the comb in dark yellow and the plastic in blue. The direction of gravity is indicated by the arrow labeled G. D) Overview of the different modes of honeycomb construction on 3D-printed frames with varying cell sizes. The top row shows the building mode in relation to the cell sizes on each foundation, displayed beneath them. More 2D images of all the built frames used in this study, organized by the 3D-printed cell size, can be found in https://datadryad.org/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.z8w9ghxmw. The subsequent row presents images of the built honeycomb on the foundations, accompanied by a zoomed-in view beneath. The bottom row illustrates schematics depicting adaptive strategies for honeycomb construction with differing cell sizes.

Why Beekeepers Should Care

• Foundation flexibility: Bees don’t just follow the sheet—you can expect them to adapt to foundations that are a bit off.

• Drone vs. worker cells: Larger foundation sizes encourage the development of drone-sized or storage cells, which can alter colony dynamics.

• Resilience: This research highlights how colonies overcome building challenges, whether from odd foundations, hive damage, or natural cavities.

  
  

The takeaway? Bees aren’t rigid builders. They solve construction problems in ways that keep the colony functional and efficient. As a beekeeper, this explains why your comb sometimes looks “off-pattern” but still serves the colony well.

Find the study here: https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3003253&utm_source=pr&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=plos006