If you are just starting beekeeping or thinking
about starting, then this is the time to catch the wave to get setup for the
2008 bee season. The first year of caring for bees in the top bar hive is a simple
setup.
You will need to:
1) Get bees for your hive 2) Purchase a hive or build a hive from plans 3) Coat the top bars with beeswax 4) Pick a proper location on your property to set the hive
5) Wear proper clothing
6) Install the swarm or package of bees 7) That's it to getting started
Honeybees form a "chain" by hanging on each others feet . This is how they calculate the shape of the
honeycomb they will draw out in a top bar hive.
Brood Nest Top Bar Hive
Placing the falseback (divider board) in the middle of the hive when installing the bees, helps the bees set their brood nest towards the front of the top bar hive.
You'll see in this video, falseback (divider board) was not put in when the bees were installed
into the hive. So the bees started building the comb in the middle of the hive.
The steps to placing the falseback when installing bees are:
1) Place the falseback about 2/3 from the front of the hive
2) Install the bees
3) Wait until they draw out about 6 combs
4) Remove the falseback, and move it to the back of the hive
5) This sets the bees up to have their brood comb near the front of the hive
The first few combs they draw out will be quickly filled with honey and pollen.
Then they draw out comb to put the larvae (brood) in. It is best that the brood
comb is near the front of the hive.
In the fall, heading into winter, bees tend to rob honey from
each others hives since there is little nectar to collect this time of
year. The solution is to put in the entrance reducer in, in the fall, if the bees have not propolised their entrance shut (or partially shut). Then "intruders" are easier to fend off as there is only a small area to enter the hive.
Putting in the entrance reducer
Honeycomb Attached to Sides of Hive - Brace Comb
The walls of a top bar hive are sloped inward towards the bottom so the bees will build less
comb attachment to the walls. This is the reason for the angle of the sides of the hive.
If the hive were a square box the bees might attach the
comb they draw out along the entire side of the hive. This would make it very difficult to harvest the honeycomb from the hive.
Bees attach a few inches of honeycomb to the sides of the hive, this is called, brace comb.
Caring For Bees 
Brood comb being pulled from the hive
