Management

Let's take a look at some unique top bar hive management.

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Spring

Normal spring manage practices apply to top bar hive bees:

• hives are unpacked.
• underweight hives are fed.
• water source provided when needed.
• deadouts are cleaned up.
• comb is sorted and culled.

Comb Corrections

Spring is a great time to correct any comb that inhibits working a top bar hive. At this time, there are fewer bees. There's more empty comb. There's less hive disturbance. And there's more time for the bees to make repairs than at any other time of the year.

Before correcting a comb, determine 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.

Comb corrections are easiest when done early and often.

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.

When comb corrections are needed, 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.

Early Summer

Straight Workable Comb

Straight combs are obtained by rotating an empty top bar between several straight broodnest comb. The bees construct straighter comb there. But this is a delicate process and is disruptive if done too fast or too extensively. If done incorrectly, the bees draw out complete sheets of drone comb. Or they will bridge the open space with cross comb.

Slowly moving the broodnest toward the hive's far end and inserting empty top bars in front of the broodnest also works. This disturbs the broodnest less. But the bees will re-orient toward the displaced broodnest and draw storage comb toward the hive's front if done too fast.

Comb Spacing

Bees build different kinds of comb. And they space them differently. Broodnest comb, near the entrance, is spaced a 1 1/4 inches. Comb spacing gradually increases toward the honey storage area. This creates a few problems for a top bar hive beekeeper.

A wider top bar is needed when the combs drift off the top bar center line toward the honey storage area. This is a gradual process which progresses in about 1/8" increments per top bar.

Once this process begins, several top bars, with drifting comb, will remain workable. But by the third or fourth top bar, combs will transgress top bar boundaries. After that, things get really messy.

Like all comb corrections, it's best to make them early and often until the problem is solved. At the first sign of drifting comb, insert spacers, or use a wider top bar, or move the drifting comb into the honey storage area.

Swarming

Any organism that has enough vigor, resources and motivation reproduces. Bees are no exception. Most management practices that preclude swarming also diminish the colony in some aspect.

The first sign of swarming is a shift toward raising drones. This is a good sign indicating a colony is vigorous and has enough resources to reproduce.

Later, after the first drones hatch, queen cups are built. Then the bees fill the broodnest with nectar or diluted honey. Two weeks later, the colony swarms even if abundant space is available inside the hive.

Close attention is needed now. Cells are pinched or cut out. Unlike standard equipment with its multiple comb margins, communication holes, etc., queen cells are easy to find in a top bar hive. They are all located along a few comb margins and communication holes in the core area.

A week later, I return and cut cells again. In my location, that's the end of swarming. I check one more time. Then I'm done with swarm management.

If any hive increase is needed, it's a good time to make a split. You have the bees, cells, brood, the food and the mood. If hive dimensions and the design permits, establish a split behind a follower board, at the other end of the top bar hive. This is an easy way to control swarming and replace queens. It's also provides a backup should a queen fail.

Some beekeepers insert empty top bars between broodnest frames to prevent swarming. This is a delicate process and requires a fair amount of beekeeping expertise to do correctly. When done at the wrong time or too fast, it results in a mess and the colonies potential is damaged.

A final option is to let the bees swarm. It's a colonies natural propensity. After the swarming process, the bees quickly focus on preparing for survival. A swarmed colony has a vigor and work ethic that makes swarm prevented hives look lazy.

I've let standard colonies swarm. And those hives didn't experience a decrease in honey production or over wintering success. The only real risk a swarmed colony faces is the successful rearing of a mated queen. I like this option and will probably use it on all my top bar hives in the future.

Moving

Moving hives is a necessity as few locations, in our modern world, can provide optimum forage for every season. Hives are often moved for a variety of other reasons too.

Comb attachments are a beekeeper's best friend when moving top bar hives. They should be as intact as possible during a move. So, if possible, never work a top bar hive just before moving it. Always allow the bees enough time to repair any cut comb or attachments before moving them.

Remove all feeders or anything else stored inside the top bar hive. Loose items rattle around and can destroy an amazing quantity of broodnest comb.

Summer

Hot Weather

It's essential to provide free flowing airspace between the top bars and the cover during hot weather. I prop up the thb covers using 2"x4" blocks. The blocks are set on the top bars and the cover replaced. This elevates the cover and allows heat to dissipate. Before elevating covers, a few new and heavy comb would fail each year. But I haven't lost a single comb since elevating the cover.

I've tested flat covers insulated with 2 inches of blue foam. They also required a free flowing airspace to prevent comb failure.

Honey Production

Initially, my top bar hive's honey production surpassed my conventional hive's production. They easily kept up with my other hives, even while having to draw out new comb. But that changed as the season progressed. When the top bar hive had drawn about two deep supers worth and packed it with honey, hive activity diminished. The bees became very complacent with their situation. Honey production quickly fell behind my other standard hives. They continued to draw out some comb, but at a reduced rate. Other top bar beekeepers have reported the bees reluctantly work past twenty top bars.

Research has indicated that a northern swarm prefers a cavity size of 40 to 60 liters.. That's about the size of a deep super to almost two deep supers. It appears the bees are capable of carrying out their colony's life cycle in a volume that size. They control the environment better. They store sufficient food, raise enough bees to survive, thrive and reproduce. At some point the bees sense they are in an optimum state for survival. Then they reduce their activity, mirroring swarm preparations.

Making excess honey isn't a priority for the bees. That extra effort strains the colony. The extra honey wouldn't be consumed, or of any benefit during the next season. It could actually impact colony buildup if comb needed for brood rearing is filled with honey.

Unfortunately, the bees natural behavior doesn't leave much surplus honey for the beekeeper. For a maximum surplus from a top bar hive, the beekeeper tricks the bees into thinking they don't have enough resources. Options include:

• rotating full honeycombs toward the hive's far end and moving empty top bars forward
• frequently harvesting a few full honeycombs before the bees sense optimum conditions
• top supering above the broodnest.

If producing the most honey per hive isn't a priority, it's easy to run another top bar hive. A new top bar hive costs about the same as one new, deep super with frames and foundation. The lower honey yield per top bar hive is actually an advantage for beekeepers more interested in the bees or pollination than producing tons of honey.

Did I actually say that? :>). Yet, after processing semi-truck loads of honey, that's the situation I find myself in. As a hobbyist, I've more honey than I can use or parcel out. I know that more honey per dollar of investment is produced in a top bar hive, at least on a small scale.

Late Summer

Comb Thickness

After the bees switch their focus from swarming to winter survival, they build thicker combs that extend into adjoining comb space. These bulges usually consist of sealed honey near the top bar. If the bulging comb is a keeper, brush the bees off. And cut off the excess thickness with a serrated knife. If it's marginal, move it into the honey storage area. And harvest it when ripe.

Treatments

My small cell experience proves bees tolerate mites without treatment. Small cell beekeeping works because the smaller cell size is a better approximation of a natural broodnest core.

A top bar hive's undisturbed broodnest isn't a man made approximation like small cell. It exactly matches the bees seasonal needs.

Top bar hive combs aren't switchable or interchangeable. The bees construct a broodnest structure that is optimum for their survival. If the combs aren't put back in the right order, the broodnest arrangement are messed up. And colony health is compromised.

So far, I haven't had to treat my top bar hives when the broodnest was left intact. But when I disrupted the broodnest structure by inserting empty top bars, etc., the mite problems returned and those hives need treatment.

When a top bar hive needs treatment, don't contaminate the hive with pesticides. Many non-contaminating options are available. Oxalic acid is my favorite. Powdered sugar is more labor intensive. But if used wisely, is just as effective. Other non-contaminating solutions like Sucrocide, formic, etc. are also available. There's no reason to expose the bees, or the beekeeper, to additional pesticides.

Treat a top bar hive just before they re-orient for winter. After that, the bees rear a lot less brood. Bee populations begin shrinking and that concentrates the mites. It's that late summer brood cycle which produces the winter bees. So treat early when needed.

Comb Management

A top bar hive beekeeper must know when the bees shift their focus from horizontal to vertical. The broodnest should be as intact as possible just before those shifts occur. Do all comb management early enough, so the bees can rebuild the comb before their focus shifts. After that time, the colony population shrinks until an optimum cluster size is reached. If done later, there may not be enough bees or time for extensive comb rebuilding.

Before the bees prepare for winter, any top bars that were shuffled or rotated, must be checked. Rearrange them so the broodnest structure closely approximates an undisturbed broodnest. It's essential to get the smaller cell sized worker comb together to form a broodnest core. This must be done before the bees pack the broodnest with honey for winter. If the core isn't intact, then broodnest cleansing won't effectively occur. The bees won't remove mites from the larger worker size cells or drone comb. And the bees will go into winter with a high mite load.

Winter Stores

A hive can be weighed to determine if the bees have enough stores. But experience is the best guide. Leave more than enough feed and watch what the bees use. After several seasons, experience will be the best guide. It will encompass climate, the bees needs and the beekeeper's management preferences.

Feeding

If feeding is necessary, feed early. Once the bees get complacent, they won't process much. I attempted to feed a hive, when they were complacent, thinking they would fill empty combs at the far end of the hive. They completely ignored the feed. Those combs remained empty.

Fall

Winterizing Equipment

Standard winter preparations apply to top bar hives:

• move hives to winter locations.
• reduce hive entrances.
• insulate above the top bars.
• fasten down the cover.
• control ventilation.
• block up the hive for proper drainage.
• orient the long side of the hive toward the sun.
• face the entrance away from the prevailing wind.
• pack or wrap hives.