Top Bar Hive - Comb started across bars

[Der Alte Fritz]

Hello
My new swarm has just had their first inspection and they have built 12 new combs all running the length of the TBH (side entrance) across the top bars.

Would it help to re-drill the entrance at the ends of the TBH?
What is the best way to deal with this? Tear down all the comb and re-attach the 'right' way? Ignore it and just let them get on with it? Put in a half follower board and then attach some comb the right way on the other side so that they start again?

 

[susbees]

Redrilling will make no difference. Assuming you've levelled the hive with a spirit level? Also, what sort of guides did you use and what width are your bars?

Best to carefully detach and reattach whilst you can. When they have a few the right way and assuming the gaps are right they'll mostly get it right. Some of ours have the odd double bar with two or three at a slight angle but mostly they're quite organised.

Easiest is to bind gently with frame wire..."sewing" wire/fishing gut through doesn't work once there's stores in the frame. With tiny frames you could "solder" them on with a little melted beeswax.

 

[Der Alte Fritz]

Hive is on a good solid foundation and is pretty level. Guides were a bead of wax running along a groove in the top bar. Bar width was the one recommended in David Chandlers book, so 32mm if memory serves me right.

It is early enough to re-attach things as it is too early for much stores.

Just wondered what (if anything) makes them decide to build that way as they had three combs inserted the right way, which they have torn down and re-built the other way. Could be entrance position, position of the hive relative to the sun, etc etc.
cheers

 

[oliver90owner]

Just wondered what (if anything) makes them decide to build that way

Or even relative to the magnetic field? (See John Harding's book)

RAB

 

[Ellem]

There was some mention on another forum that a very experienced TBH beekeeping had one of his hives build cross comb & the only thing he could think of was magnetic field (they happened to build it the same way that other nearby hives built their comb, despite the hive being oriented differently)

 

[Midland Beek]

A lesson for everyone: use starter strips.

 

[Der Alte Fritz]

A lesson for everyone: use starter strips.

My bees were provided with starter strips and three bars of comb - all of which they tore down and re-built at 90'. They obviously know what they want and have set out to get it!

Am going to cut the comb off and re-attach and then move the hive 90' so that the comb will run in the same direction as the old hive.

 

[viridens]

A lesson for everyone: use starter strips.

I have had a swarm in a new TBH for a week now, so I'm an expurt, innit.

My results so far:
This was a large swarm in the new hive, a lump spanning the 12 bars between dividers. they are now being fed and making plenty of comb.

I cut slots along all bars. I left some empty, some slots were filled with molten wax and scraped back flush, others with this wax + 2" of 1/2" strip at the center.
Only the 'starter strip' bars have been drawn, and in the correct orientation. I have now grouped these together in the hope of good parallel combs. The wax only bars have been largely ignored, with only a few patches of new wax on and close to the old. The 'bare' bars had some patches of new wax on the sharp edges of the slot and also the edges of the bars themselves.

My hive is level, and the long axis runs from North to South.

 

[mexbigshow]

I have a top bar hive and don't bother with starter strips, i use square timber split down the length diagonally to make triangular shaped top bars and face the point of the triangle to the hive floor notch both ends so the bars sit flat i coat the points in melted bees wax and this seems to work and i don't bother with the level either

 

[viridens]

mexbigshow

I'd like to give that a try. I don't have the right tools to cut small section timber diagonally, and triangular 'decorative mouldings' are a silly price so I'm interested in your technique. Do you actually split your timber? If so, how do you do it?

 

[susbees]

I have tbh nucs with the triangular drop and find they tend to draw to one side or the other but have little trouble getting ordinary wax-in-groove bars drawn in the tbhs. Sometimes they decide to place three slightly angled combs across one bar but apart from that they are pretty well-behaved. As usual bees don't all read the same books!

 

[mexbigshow]

mexbigshow

I'd like to give that a try. I don't have the right tools to cut small section timber diagonally, and triangular 'decorative mouldings' are a silly price so I'm interested in your technique. Do you actually split your timber? If so, how do you do it?

Hi viridens, i'm a joiner with a portable table saw so i just set the saw to 45 degrees and run a length of timber down it, if you can't get access to 1 ask at a local builders merchants if they are decent people they will happily rip down some timber for you because it doesn't take 2 minutes then all you would have to do is cut to length and notch the ends so the sit flat.