Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[busybuzzybee]

I did my first inspection yesterday on my first top bar hive. They started building comb next to the follower board, not the entrance. What should I do? Thank you for the help.

[Barbara]

Basically, don't worry about it!
The important thing is for them to build straight comb along the bars, so provided that you have good comb guides (not just a waxed saw cut but an obvious ridge for them to work off),then where they decide to start should not be a problem although it's not exactly efficient to start from the back.
Are they definitely using the entrance and not finding a way in from the back or underneath somehow as that might explain why they decided to start there?

[busybuzzybee]

They are definitely using the main entrance & I do have good guides. I started them in an 8 bar space. Should I add a couple bars between the comb & follower board? And not add any bars at the entrance? Thanks for help.

[rmcpb]

If the comb is straight then leave them to it. We really have to resist the urge to "fix" the bees "mistakes". They can get along quite nicely without our help most times, just make sure there are a couple of empty bars for them to expand into and let them get on with it.

Cheers
Rob.

[AugustC]

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

[catchercradle]

The trouble is that the bees don't read the books. May be something to do with waggle not being available via Google-translate.