Primary comb close up.

A local hobbiest and I had a discussion recently about my decals I have been selling, to label the tops of the frames with the "Housel" position. I am posting this pic and info for him to see what I have documented from my own observations. Maybe the rest of you will find this interesting as well... This is a close up of the primary comb, notice the tops of the cells are flat. This is not the typical construction of the comb structure, but rather what some people have documented as the first comb to be drawn in the center of the brood nest, and labeled as the primary comb. There are two very distinct characteristics of the primary comb, the first being one of the flat sides of the hex shape of the cell being at the top, typical cells have a corner of the cell at the top of the cell structure to give it more structural integrity. The second very distinct characteristic of the primary comb, is the position of the "Y" that you can see shining through the bottom of the cells in the center of this pic. In a typical honeycomb cell the "Y" looks like just that, a "Y", but by viewing this frame from the opposite side, the "Y"s will then be inverted. Some people claim that on the primary comb this "Y" is turned 90 degrees, but I believe it is a much simpler adjustment that the bees make. To acquire this sideways "Y" that appears in the photo, the bees can simply adjust their building of this cell structure by a mere 30 degrees, either clockwise or counter-clockwise and the "Y" will appear to have been tilted 90 degrees.