It's pre-printed with a hexagonal pattern to try to control the size of the cells the bees will make. Basically, the bee will grow to roughly the size of the ce

It's pre-printed with a hexagonal pattern to try to control the size of the cells the bees will make. Basically, the bee will grow to roughly the size of the cell it's grown in, and the size of the cell also controls if the queen lays a worker or a drone. Pre-printed wax cells tend to be larger than those that bees would make on their own, on the theory that larger bees can collect more honey. They are also printed small enough that the queen will lay workers instead of drones in those cells, increasing the worker population, and reducing the drone population. Both of those practices have been called into question recently, as it appears that the larger cells provide more room for varoa mites, and that allowing your bees to regress to their natural size may increase mite resistance. Note: small cell beekeeping does not replace monitoring your mite levels and treating for mites! Similarly, it's starting to appear that drones have a more complex role in the hive than previously thought, and that artificially reducing their population might not by ideal.