Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[IanT]

Alright, so I made the transfer of the swarm I caught last Saturday. I caught and kept it in a Lang deep with top bars across the top so I could more easily move it into my first top bar hive. I guess I would describe this process as a qualified disaster. They comb was already well built out and fairly cross combed. To make maters more complicated, the bees built out the comb in the Lang deep (which does not have slanted sides. This resulted in comb that would not fit into the top bar hive. These two thing in combination resulted lots of comb drop. Not what I was hoping for. I would estimate 25% of comb built up over the past 6 days is still on the top bars. The rest I had to leave propped up against the walls and divider board in such a manner the the bees could get to most of it. . In summary:

Pros:
1) the colony is numerous and very productive.
2) I did not injure the queen

Cons:
1) I really feel like I set the colony back considerably with all the comb drop.
2) I feel like there will continue to be a lot of cross combing and things will quickly turn into a mess again.

Questions:

1) Is there a way to re-attach this the dropped comb on to the top bars?
2) How quickly can i go back in and start making sure cross combing is not such an issue / retrieve the dropped comb so that I can hopefully re-attacj it to the top bars?
3) Is their an easy to read index of the podcast available on this site?

[stevecook172001]

All of the above is why I instinctively went down the Japanese/Warre route. they can build the comb any way they want in my hive. Though I certainly do concede there are various significant disadvantages to my kind of hive in terms of hive management. I think I'm just a lazy sod, is what it is....

[Dexter's shed]

use the search function, but this will get you started

http://www.thegardenacademy.com/BK_-_Rescue_Frames.html

[IanT]

Yeah, experimented with putting some flat head nails into a top bar and pressing a piece of comb onto them. Seemed to work okay. Tried it just before your post. Thanks for that. That new comb is so soft....How I long should I wait to go back in the hive, retrieve the stacked comb and re-attach? Best to give them recovery time or get the invasive stuff out of the way and help them to fix the comb?

[johno]

What kind of comb guides do you have on your bars? The only type I've tried so far are strips of triangular section wood glued and nailed to the bottom of the bar. I use a paintbrush to apply hot beeswax to the lowest point of the bar and the bees seem to be happy to build onto that.

I also use a wire comb hanger that I designed myself. It has some similarities to the rescue top bars that others use, but I think it's simpler and better. It basically consists of a pair of bent wire hangers shaped like square parentheses [ ]. I drill a hole through the comb guide and insert one of the hangers in each side. This gives 2 hooks hanging below the comb guide which allows for the reattachment of pieces of comb and holds it vertical on both sides.

I've written about this in more detail in this post and fully documented the first transplant I did from a framed hive to a top bar hive using these comb hangers in this thread.

[Chardyboy]

Hi everyone,

I went down the route of stapling wooden skewers to the top bars and then painting with some melted wax. Seems to work fine and not too time consuming either.

The skewers were sourced from a supermarket...by the barbecue section.

Regards

Dave

[IanT]

Well, the main problem is that they built out the comb, too much of it, in a square box and not a beveled walled box and the comb was just not going to fit. There was too much manipulation of the comb for its being fresh comb. I repaired most of the comb with chicken wire. Things seem to be going alright.

I use thin square edged comb guides and thin slices of wax foundation as well. I am curious to see which work best.