# What Would You Do?



## Beeheck (Oct 10, 2010)

New beekeeper here and a friend and I have purchased one TBH each. After, 11 days,
she went into hers and found a nice straight comb on the bottom of the TBH. Looked pretty clean. As she was inspecting the other top bars we noticed that they were not straight comb but angled small sections of comb. None of them were straight on the bar. While looking at one of the bars with these segments, one of the segments fell off. When we pulled it up we saw a lot of capped brood. My friend was pretty upset about it and so we strung the segment back up and hope the capped larvae survivors make it after being outside on a 82 degree day.
Here's the question. What does she do at this point? All the bars are in waves or segments. None of the bars have straight comb. Does she just leave it alone and hope the rest survive and they start straightening out or once in this pattern do they stay this way. What are the prospects for a successful hive like this?


----------



## misslechunker (May 26, 2010)

Can you give a few more details? For instance, does the top bars have any kind of comb guide or starter strips for the bee's to follow? How wide are the top bars? Did you guys make certain that the hive was completely level front to back and side to side?


----------



## Merlinspop (Nov 4, 2010)

Newbie, too, and have yet to deal with this, but my understanding is that straightening comb is easier early. The longer you wait the worse it'll be. Following comb will be worse than the one before it.


----------



## Delta Bay (Dec 4, 2009)

Build a frame for that straight comb that is lying on the floor or attach it to a bar etc... Pull all the crossed comb as one away from the entrance about ten bars and place the straight comb in front of the crossed combs at the entrance end. Make sure you cut any attachments from the walls before moving the crossed comb. Don't give them any more room at the honey end by placing a follower board so they only have one direction to build which will be toward the entrance. Once they build a second straight comb at the entrance end you can feed one empty bar between the two straight combs. Keep feeding them in between as they have built the previous one out. 

Once they have nearly built the front out with straight combs you can pull the crossed combs further into the honey area and put empty bars between every second or third straight comb. That should get you 12 to 14 straight combs. Make sure you know when comb building ends in your area so you don't give more room then they can fill out.

What type of comb guide is being used?


----------



## Beeheck (Oct 10, 2010)

We're using an applied wax guide (no rubbed on wax, painted on). It's flat and about 1/2 inch wide at the bottom of the bar.


----------



## Beeheck (Oct 10, 2010)

What about the cross combs with larva and capped larvae that are on some of those cross combs?
By putting them back around bar 10 aren't you going to have the attendants ignore them because they are so far away from the entrance?


----------



## milena (Apr 6, 2010)

I would reattach the fallen comb with rubberbands. I think the brood will be OK. 

If you have a bar of nice straight comb you could give your friend to get her bees started with straight comb, that would be nice of you.

I would detach the crooked combs and reattach them with rubber bands. On another thread, a beek suggested to me that I warm crooked combs with a hairdryer to straighten them. It worked great.

I am sure it is not an accepted common practice but, while I tried to get my bees working on straight comb, I was going into the hive every other day to remove unwanted comb, and redirect comb the way I wanted it. It seems to have worked and the bees don't seem to have suffered.


----------



## Delta Bay (Dec 4, 2009)

They will look after them just fine. They will continue to use the crossed comb as brood comb until they have built new brood comb heading toward the entrance. The brood will occupy all including the crossed combs until the population grows to the point that nectar is going into the hive faster than eggs can be laid. That’s when you should give more room up front if they need it. Honey will eventually replace the brood in the crossed comb. This is why it is important to know your flow end dates as you want to only give them enough room up front so that all bars are built out and the bees can back fill the nest (crossed comb) with honey by the end of the flow. If you time it right you will have a brood nest that has been pushed up to the front of the hive at the entrance with honey above and at the back of a well stocked winter nest.


----------



## Texnana (Apr 22, 2011)

misslechunker said:


> Did you guys make certain that the hive was completely level front to back and side to side?


Yikes! Hives need to be level? Really? Does that apply to all styles, or just the TBH in this thread?


----------



## kevinhnc (Oct 27, 2010)

I'm certainly no expert, but I made sure my hive was perfectly level, and my bees' combs are perfectly straight across.

For some reason, leveling the hive (multiple times, not just the first time you set it up, as the ground may settle a little) seems to me to be an often overlooked or even unknown key to TBH success. 

It should really be stickied as a post title "Make sure your hives are perfectly level!"


----------



## kevinhnc (Oct 27, 2010)

Oh, and I think leveling generally applies and is most crucial to foundationless style, which I think includes all TBH's, and some other styles.


----------



## Merlinspop (Nov 4, 2010)

In the absence of frames, bees build comb plumb, so if the hive isn't level, it'll make inspecting and moving bars about tricky.


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Try to get a straight comb as the last one. One good comb leads to another. One bad comb leads to another. Straighten any you can. It will take some practice to learn how much you can "correct" them.


----------



## Merlinspop (Nov 4, 2010)

Is it better to brush the bees off the comb before working it? Mine are building straight so far, but because I said that, I'm sure they're now planning a parquet layout, just for me.


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Is it better to brush the bees off the comb before working it?

If you are trying to straighten it and they are too thick to work on it easily, you can brush them off. Brushing should be firm and sudden. Gentle as far as the comb but NOT gentle as far as on the bees. You should "flick" them off.


----------

