As in many other areas of husbandry, the ancient truths of apiculture collect like cliches and grow into aphorisms. Thus, it is widely known that honeybees expand their nests with the warmth of spring and its abundance of nectar and fresh pollen for the rearing of brood (Butler 1609). Unfortunately, this old truth hides a horrible conundrum in which the role of brood as a stimulus for wax production lies hidden among many other complex and interdependent factors. Hence, bees build in response to the queen’s need for places in which to lay eggs (Huber 1814), and that bees never build combs if they lack a queen, or, if queenless, they lack brood from which to rear one (Gundelach 1842). Finally, the great Dzierzon (1861) tells us that as soon as breeding commences, the bees also produce wax; if breeding be interrupted, wax-making is discontinued immediately, even in the most favourable conditions.