The spacers are the thin strips of wood (1/4" thick) that come with our hives and are described in our hive plans. Bees in natural habitats do not create equally-spaced combs. In a tree hive, for example, the bees will create two basic spacings. The typical space between brood combs is 1 3/8", but the spacing for honey combs is slightly larger at approximately 1 5/8". The 1/4" spacer, when placed adjacent to a topbar, will create the larger space needed to accomadate the fatter honey combs. The spacers are a unique development that  thus encourages good alignment of the combs throughout the hive.

For the average size swarm or 3 lb package of bees, place your false back 10-12 bars from the entrance for a small hive or our Backyard Hive and 8-10 bars for our Golden Mean Hive. To install the spacers, start behind the false back and insert the spacers in between each top bar moving toward the back of the hive, placing each one on edge (not flat). Our DVD visually illustrates this. Once the spacers are installed, keep the extra topbars as they come in handy when it comes time to harvest honey comb. You can pull out a comb and fill the space with one of these empty top bars.

Each hive of bees is unique. Since the construction of comb is somewhat fluid you may need to adjust the position of the spacers. Observing through the window, you'll be able to recognize where the bees have recently drawn out honey comb (by the long comb attachment on the window) and will be able to add or subtract spacers accordingly.

When working the hive (during your Spring assessment or when harvesting honey, for example), you can remove the spacers in order to peer down into the hive and track the curvature of any misaligned comb -- all without having to pull out the combs. If you do need to remove a comb, you can use that space to access the walls with your hive tool.