# Swarm Prevention on Top Bar Hives ???



## Duncan151 (Aug 3, 2013)

Depends on how big you TBH is, but either way you have to really stay on top of putting empty bars into the brood nest.


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## crmauch (Mar 3, 2016)

If I remember correctly Les Crowder's book has some excellent pictures/diagrams. My knowledge is all theoretical, but did you put empty bars within the brood nest?

Also swarming is a natural process, and you can't always prevent it. 

I question destroying the queen cells. I don't think that will prevent swarming. But people with more knowledge should comment here.


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## krista45036 (Oct 7, 2014)

my top bar of russians came thru the winter well, and i added a couple bars for expansion. they swarmed anyway. luckily they went into a bait hive i'd set out.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

You have to keep feeding empty bars into the brood nest to keep it open.

Les has very good diagrams on how to not only manage the bars to keep them from swarming, but also to get them drawn nice and straight.


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## Briarvalleyapiaries (Feb 26, 2015)

Michael Bush said:


> You have to keep feeding empty bars into the brood nest to keep it open.


The topbar hive is 48" long. About 75% of the frames had brood on them. Would you still keep adding empty bars in the brood area even if it means filling almost the entire hive with brood frames?


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

You have to keep feeding empty bars into the brood nest to keep it open.

Les has very good diagrams on how to not only manage the bars to keep them from swarming, but also to get them drawn nice and straight.


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## shannonswyatt (May 7, 2012)

Splits will prevent swarms as well, but you may not want a bunch of TBH nucs. The best thing about feeding bars to the brood nest is they draw them out very quickly and they are as straight as the two bars they are between (which I hope are straight!)


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