Bee Natural

Working a top bar is pleasantly different.

Before Opening the Hive

Have you read Heat Precautions? It’s a must read before opening or managing a top bar hive when the weather’s hot.

Opening the Hive

Top bar hive.

So, let’s work a top bar hive. A veil and smoker are used as a normal precaution when working any beehive. A serrated knife, a bee brush(the yellow plastic bristle kind) and a clean bucket to hold extraneous comb are necessities. A top bar stand, some water and a hive tool are useful.

In a top bar hive, the beekeeper starts work at the far end of hive, away from the entrance. Bees come and go without realizing the hive is open. In a standard hive, the beekeeper works near the entrance. This attracts the guard bees attention. And smoke is constantly used to keep them distracted. Normally, in a top bar hive, only a little smoke is needed. Lightly smoke the hive entrance.

Cover off. Two top bars, behind the broodnest, removed.

Remove the cover to expose the top bars. The cover isn’t propolized or glued to the hive. The bees don’t have access above the top bars. So, the cover isn’t pried or broken loose when it’s removed. there’s no jarring. And no hive tool is needed.

Starting behind the cluster, toward the hive’s rear, remove the spacer cleat or several the empty top bars. This gives rear access to the comb. Top bars, with comb, are found nearer the entrance.

Additional top bars removed to provide a working space.

Push other combless top bars toward the hive’s far end until a working space is created next to the rear most comb. This narrow slot allows access to the comb without much disruption to the hive interior.

Only a small open area is needed to inspect a top bar hive. Most bees continue working with limited bee flight coming out the narrow opening. When larger areas are opened, the bees quickly retreat to the dark, safe, broodnest area toward the hive’s front.

In contrast, a lot of surface area is opened up when working standard hives. The bees are exposed to radical changes in temperature, humidity, light, odors and movement. This gets their attention. Then, they often get yours, unless you smoke them. :>)

Cutting Attachments

Slightly attached brood comb.

The bees attach comb to the sidewalls. Most attachments are small. But they extensively attach all heavy comb to the hive. They know when and where more comb support is needed. Attachments aren’t a problem. They are an asset. But even the smallest attachment must be cut before a top bar or comb is moved.

Before moving a top bar or comb, cut it free of all attachments. Inspect every comb carefully. If attachments are left uncut, moving the top bar tears the comb. Even the smallest attachment can cause big problems. A torn or damaged comb almost always fails. It unzips from the damaged area. This failure can happen instantly if the comb is new, hot and heavy. Or it can slowly fail, before the bees repair it, leaving a surprise for the next inspection.

Comb damage also occurs if the attachments aren’t carefully and gently cut. Take your time. Don’t tear the comb free. Instead gently cut it loose. If the attachments are torn instead of cut, the comb is damaged and can fail.

Cutting attachments with a hive tool often causes comb failure. A hive tool is blunt. It tends to bulldoze the comb and not cut it. When cutting attachments with a hive tool, the force is directed toward the hive’s bottom. This creates extra stress in the comb. I’ve entirely abandoned my hive tool for this purpose.

Completely attached honey storage comb.

A serrated knife is a better tool for cutting attachments. It’s longer, thinner and sharper than a hive tool. Work from the bottom of the comb upward. Don’t saw the comb with the serrated knife. The horizontal forces created stresses a comb. Rather than saw the comb, move the knife slowly up while slightly withdrawing it. Allow the knife to ‘melt’ its way through the comb. Don’t pull the comb backward, even the tiniest amount, as you withdraw the knife.

Top bar hive beekeepers are innovative. One beekeeper bent a stainless steel auto radio antenna into a ‘J’ shape. Then fixed some thin wire across the gap. It’s works like a cheese slicer for cutting attachments.

After the attachments are cut, don’t scrape them off the hive’s sides. When the comb is returned, the bees quickly repair the attachment, which greatly strengthens the comb.

Removing Top Bars

Top bar stand with top bar.

Once a comb is cut free from all attachments, the top bar is slowly separated from its neighbor and gently removed from the hive. Don’t yank it up. That acceleration can cause a heavy comb to fail.

Keep the plane of the comb vertical. If the top bar is even slightly rotated out of its natural hanging position, this stresses the comb and the comb fails. Rather than grabbing the top bar and holding on to it like one would do with a standard frame, let the top bar ends rest freely in the hands, hanging naturally from its own weight. When held like this, any movement causes both the comb and the top bar to roll, which is much less stressful to the comb.

After inspecting a comb, gently set it down in a free space toward the hive’s far end or use a top bar stand. I consider a top bar stand a necessity, as handling a top bar with its comb requires two hands. It’s almost impossible to do anything other than observe a comb without one.

Be aware that a strong wind could stress the comb when using the stand. The top bars rest solidly on the stand but the wind can cause the comb to flap, ever so slightly. This flapping produces the same effect as rotating the top bar. It causes the comb to fail. The wind can do it. And rapid or careless comb movement can also do it.

New, hot and heavy honey comb is very fragile. If there’s room and the hive is healthy, it’s best to leave such comb alone for a season. Beekeepers using standard frames, often set aside newly drawn comb for the same reason.

Cutting Comb

Horizontal cuts, in new, hot or heavy comb, always cause comb failure.. If a comb needs cut, do the vertical part first. Then transition to the horizontal. Make a curved cut without square corners.

Don’t think a horizontal cut is ok when a comb is light weight. The often bees shift their focus when drawing out comb. When that happens, many bees can hang from the cut comb and cause it to fail. This can start a cascade of events that destroys a colony.

Comb Corrections

Comb curving away from a starter strip.

Comb corrections are easiest when done early and often.

Before correcting a comb, decide whether a correction is worth it. Unworkable comb can be cut out and the bees allowed to salvage it. Marginally workable comb can be rotated into the honey storage and harvested when ripe. Or offending areas of a good comb can be cut out. I’ve done this and the bees rebuild straighter comb. But this process must often be repeated before a workable comb results.

When comb corrections are needed and the comb is large, new or heavy, cut out the entire offending piece of comb. The bees easily and rapidly replace it. Trying to salvage comb with horizontal cutting is just too risky.

Curved, very light, small and new comb can be redirected by cutting the offending part’s attachment free at the top bar. Then the curved comb is bent back into alignment. And a small portion of comb is squished to hold it in place, until the bees can attach it permanently. The comb pictured above is a prime candidate for this procedure. Guess wrong and you’ve got a failed comb.

Inserting Top Bars

There's no beespace between these top bars. Pushing them together would kill bees.

To maintain proper broodnest structure, keep the top bars in the same position and orientation when placing them back in the hive. Some beekeeper number the top bars so they don’t get confused and rotate or switch top bar positions.

Top bars must be set down gently and slowly. The comb is only attached at the top and if a heavy comb is dropped in place, the sudden stop causes the comb to fail. Take your time. Give bees, which might be cleaning up honey on the attachments, time to move out of the way. Only a despot kills the workers that feed him. And one of those bees might just be the queen.

Unlike standard frames, top bars don’t have a bee space between them. If top bars are set down quickly or carelessly slide together, bees are crushed. Once the hive is closed up, the bees don’t have access to these areas. Crushed bees are preserved for the next inspection. It’s a grizzly sight if one is careless or hasty.

There are two methods to avoid squashing bees. One method, a more horizontal approach, involves slowly setting the top bar in the hive. Then carefully moving one end closer than the other end to create a V shaped space. The end with the widest opening is gradually moved to close the gap. It’s moved carefully enough so that any bees feeling squeezed can move toward the wider part of the gap and escape the squeeze. Eventually the gap is closed. It normally takes less than 30 seconds and works well for heavy comb. I sometimes establish the V, then use a few puffs of smoke and a bee brush on the bees in the gap.

The second method involves a more vertical approach. The leading edge of a top bar is aligned with trailing edge of the top bar in the hive. The top bar is carefully slid down the trailing top bar edge in the hive. This pushes the bees out of the way. Some bees end up below the top bar and some end up above. It’s fast, takes less than 5 seconds, and works well with light comb.

Smoke can be used to hurry the bees along. But it seems about as many bees scurry into trouble as scurry out of the way.

Comb Failure

When a comb fails, or a piece is cut out, don’t worry. Bees construct natural comb easily. Damaged comb is quickly replaced. Put the cut off comb in a container at the hive’s rear. The bees will salvage it. Make sure the container is large enough to contain all honey in the comb. Honey flowing down the bottom board disrupts hive ventilation and can cause a catastrophic meltdown.

Sealed brood will hatch from the comb. Don’t lay it flat on the bottom board. Curl it around so hatching bees aren’t trapped.

Open brood is generally cannibalized or abandoned.

Stored pollen is mostly abandoned. But is infrequently worked during a pollen dearth.

Sometimes, the bees will use the comb to temporarily store incoming nectar during a major flow. But they will return it to the broodnest when space becomes available.

When salvaging comb, I like to place it in a horizontal position. The bees treat it differently than the vertical nest comb.

Old Habits

I learned to work bees by working for a commercial beekeeper with thousands of hives. Hives were worked as fast as possible with much of the work done on the run. And it was often a good thing as his bees were hot, even during good weather.

If one is accustomed to working bees this way, working a top bar hive is completely foreign. And working a hive that way guarantees comb failures. It’s a very disappointing and frustrating experience until the proper way of handling frameless comb is mastered.

Working a top bar hive is almost a leisurely exercise compared to my on the run commercial days. It takes time to carefully cut a comb loose from the side wall. And it takes more time to replace the comb and top bar without squashing bees, as there’s no bee space between the top bars. Often, habits learned while working with frames must be unlearned to work with natural comb.

Stuff

I found two items are almost a necessity when working top bar hives: A source of water to wash tools, hands, etc. as cutting comb attachments sometimes generate sticky tools, which makes for sticky hands. And, if your top bar hive is legless, a super or something suitable to sit on. A legless top bar hive is shorter than a stack of supers. Yep, you can keep bees by occasionally sitting to save a back and not running around :>)