[Joe Bondra]

Caught my first swarm on Saturday and three days later they have already built comb on three top bars and working on a fourth. Super stoked. Just thought I would share and thank everyone who posts helpful info on this site. Couldn't have done it without your help.

 

[thebalvenie]

Caught my first swarm on Saturday and three days later they have already built comb on three top bars and working on a fourth. Super stoked. Just thought I would share and thank everyone who posts helpful info on this site. Couldn't have done it without your help.

that's the beauty of bees

at least for me anyways...it never gets old seeing newly drawn comb...what a thing of wonder it is nice job on the hive!!!!

 

[bean tree homestead]

I got two nucs this year for my first bees but plan to do a top bar next year. nice

 

[fruitveggirl]

Looks fabulous! I'm so jellie (as my kids would say)! I would love to catch a swarm, but I don't think there are any wild bees in my area! I left sugar syrup out for a week before getting my packages and never saw a single one.

 

[mrobinson]

Great! Now ... for the next month(!), leave them completely to their business. Don't peek. Don't ... don't whatever-it-is.

During the next thirty days, your hive has a lot of work to do. A lot of comb must be constructed in which the queen can then lay eggs, all of which must be raised-up to become brood, all in time to replace an entire package's worth of bees who are every day dying off (from old age).

Leave them alone and let them do it. Admire them from outside. "Admire them from outside" every day, so that you can begin to learn what their "normal" patterns are – knowing, of course, that the first 30-odd days of any package are not "normal."

Enjoy your bees – and, learn to relax and enjoy them.

 

[Sovek]

Great! Now ... for the next month(!), leave them completely to their business. Don't peek. Don't ... don't whatever-it-is.

During the next thirty days, your hive has a lot of work to do. A lot of comb must be constructed in which the queen can then lay eggs, all of which must be raised-up to become brood, all in time to replace an entire package's worth of bees who are every day dying off (from old age).

Leave them alone and let them do it. Admire them from outside. "Admire them from outside" every day, so that you can begin to learn what their "normal" patterns are – knowing, of course, that the first 30-odd days of any package are not "normal."

Enjoy your bees – and, learn to relax and enjoy them.

not bad advice.... for a lang. For a top bar hive however thats horrible. You NEED to check every week at least while they are building comb, otherwise you risk every single bar being cross-combed.

 

[Joe Bondra]

Thanks for the advice. I didn't put a package in, I caught a swarm, and as Sovak said, I plan on checking weekly. So far, so good.

 

[mrobinson]

not bad advice.... for a lang. For a top bar hive however thats horrible. You NEED to check every week at least while they are building comb, otherwise you risk every single bar being cross-combed.

I politely disagree, because this has never been my experience. I built the bars with popsicle sticks for use as guides, several seasons ago now. They have worked out very well. In almost every case, the bees have followed those guides.

I have found that, even though occasionally they'll glue two bars together and build a comb that crosses both, serious cross-combing has never happened to me. (Your Mileage May Vary.™) It's easy enough to lift the two bars up as one, and I make no attempt to "correct" the "problem." (Actually, I generally minimize the number of times that I go into the hive-space at all.)

I have found it to be important that the hive is level on both axes. My hives sit on cinder blocks with wooden shims that must be adjusted a couple times a season, checking with a carpenter's level. There are metal handles on either end of the boxes. It does not have to be an exact science, but it should be very close. When there is any sort of "tilt," the combs tend to follow it.

Everyone must find their own best-advice that works for them – in their situation, with their hives, with their bees. This is what has worked just fine for me, thus the polite difference of opinion.