Adaptive Entrances and Hive Improvement.
D Sandeman, J Tautz, M Lindauer; Transmission of vibration across honeycombs and its detection by bee leg receptors. J Exp Biol 1 December 1996; 199 (12): 2585–2594. doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.199.12.2585
Reported that the nature of the floor on which the bees dance has considerable influence on the recruitment of nestmates to a food source. Dancers on combs with open empty cells (supers) recruit three times as many nestmates to a food source as dancers on capped BROOD cells.
Crane, E. (1990) Bees and beekeeping: science, practice and world resources. https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=XF2015009986.
(Apis Mellifera Ligustica) and expanding downwards as the colony grows and increases its heat and honey production (P. 90).
Seeley T.D (1985) Honeybee Ecology: A Study of Adaptation in Social Life, ISBN 9780691639352, https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691639352/honeybee-ecology
Depending on weather conditions, honey bees will close up any small holes and seal the cavity surface with plant resins of low water vapour permeability (i.e. propolis)
Bees prefer entrances towards the bottom third of the cavity although if a higher entrance is available they will use it with increased frequency during the summer.
Owens C (1971) The thermology of wintering honey bee colonies. US Agric Res Serv Tech Bull 1429
Gain thermal advantage in cool climates by constructing their wax combs from the top of the cavity (bee hive) downwards, retreating upwards when they need to conserve heat.
Kalmus H, Ribbands C. R. (1952) The origin of the odours by which honeybees distinguish their companions. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B140 50–59 http://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1952.0043
Showed in experiments with foraging bees that the bees of every colony have their own distinctive odour and that foraging bees recognise and prefer the scent produced by members of their own colony.
Elishia Gallup, (1867) Wintering Bees. The American Bee Journal, Volume 3, Number 8 Page 153.
Again if you see a box hive with a crack in it from top to bottom large enough to put your fingers in, the bees are all right in nine cases out of ten. The conclusion I have come to is this, that with upward ventilation without any current of air from the bottom of the hive, your bees will winter well without any cobs.