[Olly398]

This is a thread for anyone interested in how to (and probably quite likely how not to) keep bees in a TBH!
 
As mentioned elsewhere I have been building a top bar hive and just finished my beginners beekeeping course at Grantham BKA. I've never had bees before.
 
I got a call yesterday from the wonderful Norfolk Newbies saying there was a swarm in their tree if I wanted it!!! Er, wow, okay!!! Thanks guys! The story of getting the swam is here.
 
So now, with much less chance for preparation, but also less hassle than I had anticipated, I have a swarm in my hive. Or at least they were there when I left this morning. Thankfully it is quite cool and overcast today so hopefully they'll stay.
 
I plan on feeding them sugar syrup tomorrow. Lets hope they don't build cross-comb!     
 
Any hints and tips appreciated! 
 
 

[Greenerlife]

My bee keeping mentor built a top hive but put the exit in the wrong place.  he's moved them into a national now.


Good luck with your first colony!  i would like to read your swarm adventure but your link doesn't seem to work?

[Olly398]

Thanks for the heads up, I've fixed the link.
 
In the rush and excitement, nothing was as I planned. The follower board bottoms proved not to be bee-tight against the mesh and since that means the hive isn't bee-tight, I just left all the entrances open too.
 
Will have a look when I get back from work and see if they've started building comb.

[Greenerlife]

Have you put a little strip of foundation comb on the frames?  i seem to remember my mentor doing this and moaning it was fiddly!   

[Olly398]

No, I've gone with a plain unwaxed saw kerf - a groove of about 3x3 mm or 1/8th inch in old money, straight down the middle of each bar.
 
Update from my wife - there are a few flyers. She's reported them going in and out a bit. Lets hope they don't get too much of a taste fot it and abscond. They've been hived for about 18 hours now.

[spandit]

Watching with interest - how exciting that you got a swarm so quickly!

[OldGaffer]

I have kept a Top Bar Hive for several years and I have always added wax to the sawn grove in the top bars, as this acts as a guide for the bees to build their comb.

In fact I am just off to check my TBH now, as they are thinking about swarming! Bait hive near by just in case ...

[darkbrowneggs]

I had grooves sawn into my top bars, then cut a sheet of printed wax into one inch deep strips and melted some old beeswax in an old roasting pan in the bottom oven of the aga then dipped one edge of the comb into the hot wax and inserted it into the groove.  It starts them off straight and if the follower boards are reasonably close in it helps.  As soon as they have got some straight comb started you can put any extra bars in between two straight pieces of comb and then they have to build straight - well it worked for me anyway - but try not to be too invasive with them whilst they are settling in, especially if the hive is newly constructed, as they may decide to decamp. 

[Olly398]

Thanks for the encouragement!

So far so good - they are still there. I'll leave it for a few days for them to settle before I inspect the hive, but a cursory 5 minutes watching from a few feet away suggests there were plenty off bees  returning at about 7pm. Couldn't see any pollen being carried, but I suppose with no comb yet this wouldn't be expected?
 
I'm going to make up some 1:1 sugar syrup and feed them through an inverter jam-jar type feeder within the hive, starting tomorrow.
 
 

[cloddopper]

You only need to run a fine bead of molten wax on the saw cut of any sort of frame the bees will draw the com from that  ...  It's easy to store new top bars setup like this in the freezer away from the dreaded wax moth
You do have to feed fairly heavily when you set up like this so they can quickly draw comb and get going making honey and baby bees other wise things are slowed down quite a bit till they use natural honey for the hive energy fuel .

If the June weather gets hot and they're struggling with the June gap in flowers and nectar you'll also have to feed heavily till the weather changes... many a hive with Varroa starts the sharp decline  in the June gap and is not strong enough to over winter.
  It is a good idea to have a gallon or so of ready made 1 to 1 sugar syrup handy from mid april to Mid July  for feeding quickly obtained swarms & for june gap feeding .  Don't for get to treat the swarm with anti Varroa treatment just in case they are so lousy with it they die from all sorts of diseases that strike a weakening swarm  before setting up for winter.

[Olly398]

Very tired but to cut a long story short:
they absconded today - only to my pear tree
I caught the swarm
Fixed a few problems with the hive
Installed a 2lb sugar syrup feeder.
Shut them in now for 24h.
Lets hope they stay.
More here
 

[Greenerlife]

Good luck second time around!


Just got round to reading about your swarm collection.  Nive blog.   You look a bit happy in that photo  .  Nice size swarm - hope they stay

[darkbrowneggs]

You could have tried repositioning your hive so it was aligning with how they were building their comb, but leave everything alone for now, and try to resist opening the hive if you can as if they are not sure whether they are happy  and there some big monster poking around it will reinforce the idea that it is not a safe place to live


If they swarmed again my guess it they have already found somewhere else they prefer     but fingers crossed. 


I wouldn't see much point in feeding them if they are not settled as it might just give them the easy energy to keep looking for other places

[Olly398]

Yep, I won't be looking in for a few days. I have an observation window (normally covered) and could see that they are using the feeder this morning. My rationale for feeding was that they need to draw comb and there's not much forage about. Lets see.

[Olly398]

Haven't disturbed the hive, but can see they've taken all the sugar, and drawn some comb (I think, hard to see covered in bees). I've opened the entrances with a queen excluder nailed over as a precaution.
 
Will have a proper look on the weekend.