Follower board

[SeanStuart]

Hey, Beginner here,

What is the purpose of the follower board?
Is there really a need for a follower board? It seems like most that have it drill a hole in it or leave a gap, so I am wondering whether it is really necessary.

Thanks.

[SteveBee]

There is a lot of information on this site about follower boards and how people feel about them. Do a search and you'll get all the info you want. Here's my opinion after two years of working TBHs. I think the follower board gives the bees a sense of space but don't confine them to it. Ours have gaps at the sides and bottoms. I think when you first install a package, it keeps the bees in the area you want them to start and the cavity doesn't seem too big to them. But after they get started, I don't think they're important. Again, just my opinion. We have two hives now that we have the follower boards moved tight against the combs so the bees can't expand and are forced to swarm. We are starting new Langs and catching the swarms is easier than trying to cut up top bar combs and putting them in frames. The important thing with TBHs is to put empty bars between straight drawn combs to get more straight combs. You won't realize how important this is until you get a few crossed up and have to destroy them to inspect the hive. Every comb must be straight and attached to it's own bar.

[Adam Foster Collins]

I use them and like them. They provide easy access to the the combs, as you can remove it without breaking anything, and then look for attachments. I put a few screened ventilation holes in the top edge of mine - just under the bar, and it reduced bearding - the bees have never closed them.

They also allow you to split a box into two if you need to, and act as a comb guide when you're first starting out. Just don't accidentally restrict them and forget to move it out of their way once their established. I find the follower board is useful enough so that why wouldn't I build and fit one before I've got bees in the hive? It's easy to make, and I can always remove it.

Adam

[mmiller]

I think they work great with packages when you have no comb by giving the bees a defined area to work. With that said, I quit using them a couple years ago and have seen no ill effect. I don't consider them worth the time to build.

Just my current thought.

Mike

[SeanStuart]

Mike, have you installed a package into a shiny new top bar hive without one?

Thanks,
Sean

[Bush_84]

I am going to assume that if he installs a package now he'd have comb, which would completely negate the need to limit their space. I know that Michael Bush doesn't use them either. I have them, but not sure if I really need them.

[Baldursson]

For me my feeder acts like a follower board. So while I did make one for my hives I will use that mainly to block off a few inchs at the end to put my SHB traps behind. Give them a safe place to run to sorta

[mmiller]

Mike, have you installed a package into a shiny new top bar hive without one?

Thanks,
Sean

I have not. My original hives had followers and I started packages in them. Now I increase using splits rather than packages and have plenty of comb. I think that once there is comb a follower is needed less.
Mike

[Barrett]

It seems to me that the bees make their own stop at the point where they can no longer cover the comb. That said when I start my new package this weekend I'll use a follower with a feeder built in. I have noticed that if the follower doesn't fit tightly the hive beetles like to hide in the cracks. I've tried filing the cracks with wax, which works well but the bees seal it to the sides with propolis. I think I'll try a follower with a gap big enough for bees to pass. I figured this will keep the bees happy and give the SHB nowhere those hide.

[SteveBee]

Here's something we noticed last year. Once the packages had built combs and were established in the hives, we moved some of the followers all the way to the back, against the far end away from the entrance. On inspection, we found the bees had "corralled" the small hive beetles in the narrow space between the follower and end wall. Since the bees can't kill he beetles, is it a good place for them to keep them hemmed in? It sure makes it easy to kill a bunch of them if you know where they're going to be hiding!

[Baldursson]

SteveBee that is exactly why I am going to leave my follower in the "back" of the hive. I am going to leave just enough roome to put in my CD case SHB traps. Let the bees chase them in there and then let the beetles run to the cd case for their "dinner"

[PatBeek]

.

So mainly, the follower board is needed for when installing the bees just to make them start building at the front, am I correct? I noticed other comments about other usages, but those seemed like personal preferences more-so than necessity.

I have Corwin Bell's DVD on bee keeping and he also says that the follower board is to only stay about midway through the hive after the bees are installed just to get them to start building up front. Then after about three days, he removes it unless it's exceptionally cold.

[Bush_84]

Well don't most TBH designs require a follower board to build the hive? So I suspect that you will end up with a couple just to build the hive. I would use them at first and form your own opinion.

I started my TBH last year. I was glad that I started with one, but as of now It's pushed all the way to the back.

[PatBeek]

.

I have a real nice TPH that my neighbor and I built using Corwin Bell's plans for his "Golden Mean" design. It has a follower-board and I will definitely use it when installing bees (or hopefully catching a swarm as a bait hive - whichever comes first).



And I also have the following wacky creation I slapped together the other day using spare wood and culled wood. It does not have a follower-board in it yet and I'm wondering if I should really even bother:

[PatBeek]

Here is an excellent video I just discovered tonight of Sam Comfort talking about top bar hives.

He points-out an excellent usage for the follower board somewhere in the middle of this film.

Basically, he points out how you can have two queens in one hive to make a split:

http://anarchyapiaries.org/hivetools/node/14

[jmgi]

I have always used one, it does help when adding new bars at the back of the hive to get straight combs, it also gives the shb a place to hide between the side of hive and edge of follower so I can crush them when I see a few hiding there. I tried drilling a few holes in the top of the follower and screening them but the bees propolized the screens shut. I am now thinking that not using the follower may be helpful once the weather warms up, better ventilation. I think I will try not using them this summer. John

[Wildwood]

Now that is what a TBH is supposed to look like! You should paint each board a different color.

[PatBeek]

Now that is what a TBH is supposed to look like! You should paint each board a different color.

I'd have to fight with my wife on the purchasing the paint at this point. lol.

Great idea, though.

[mrobinson]

Intuitively, the idea seemed appealing to me that these boards (which are, after all, "always removable and therefore discardable") would be handy if I didn't want to immediately give the bees access to the entire width of the hive enclosure. I've read in more than one place that you should start a colony in a small space and then gradually increase that space, instead of dropping them into a large space right off the bat. I figure I can see a certain rationale in that.

Another idea that appealed to me is that the follower-board would always be the first thing that I knew that I could safely take out. Unless(!) the girls had found their way around it and had started setting up their beauty shop in the "unused" area behind it (you never know...), the follower and the area behind it would represent "unused" space that could be taken out as a safe place to start working from. "The hive itself," however large or small it might currently be, would (probably...) be located beyond (or between) the follower board(s), and so, removing the board would give you an inch or so of space to look through as you begin your work.

Those notions made sense to me, so I made a few. (And, hey... if they don't work out, they're firewood.)