My two teenage sons, T and J, captured a swarm for the first time (with advice on the 'phone from me in India) and E put it in the topbar, which has now been moved to a more secluded spot in the grounds of the local manor house (photo above).
The comb is lovely - as you might expect because it's brand new (photo above).Only in one case have the bees not followed the waxed groove in the underside of the bar. They have produced a convoluted shape that spans two bars (photo below).
The V-shape of the hive is supposed to prevent them from bridging the comb to the side of the hive, but on most bars there is a small amount to bridging comb (photo below).
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Way to go team T, J and E!!
ReplyDeleteThe comb is beautiful too! Do you plan to extract the honey from the top bar hives? I've wondered how it can be done, since there is no support for the bottom of the comb.
Joan, one has to destroy the comb, sadly, to extract the honey.
ReplyDeleteWhich means that one must take less and give more sugar back so they can make up the comb.
I can now see the advantages of removable frames!
But it's an interesting experiment rather than a honey machine. One can see how bees PREFER to organise themselves - and I want to learn from that and use the learning in regular beekeeping.
Steve