Bees for Development Journal 107 PRACTICAL BEEKEEPING

FOUNDATIONSTRIPS FORSTRAIGHT COMBSIN TOP-BAR HIVESWyattA Mangum, Mary Washington College,1301 College Avenue, Fredericksburg VA 22401, USA

Keywords: beeswax, colony management, honeycomb, saw kerf,wax dipper

Combs that are built parallel and straight make hive inspectionseasier: checking that the queen is laying eggs, or for the presenceof pests and diseases is made easier with straight combs. Straightcombs are also essential for enabling beekeepers to move combs ofbrood or honey from strong colonies to weak or starving colonies tosave them, or to divide strong colonies.

With top-bar hives, wooden comb guides (either wood strips or"V" shaped wedges) have a reputation for not giving straight combs,particularly those wooden comb guides that are in the honey combarea and away from the brood nest. From my studies of USAbeekeeping history, beekeepers used these wooden comb guidesduring the 1870-1890s before foundation sheets became common.Even then, beekeepers complained about wooden comb guidescausing crooked combs.

Current dayI manage 200 top-bar hives and need an additional 500-700top-bars so therefore cannot accommodate a third of new combsbeing built crooked. All the straight combs in Figures 1 and 2 aretypical. To ensure straight combs I use foundation strips as thestarter to ensure the precise placement of combs on the top-bars(Figure 3). Besides telling the bees where they must build the comb,foundation strips tend to stop the bees from bulging the top of thehoneycomb into the space meant for the next comb (because thenext foundation strip is there). Wooden comb guides do not stopthe bees from bulging the top of the honeycomb into the spacefor the next comb (because nothing is under the edge of the nextcomb guide, just open space). When the bees finish building combsfrom the foundation strips, the combs are straight, centred on thetop-bars, and the upper honeycomb bands are the same thickness.These combs are interchangeable among all hives for management:

Figure 2: Old brood comb from a top-bar hive built straight andcentred on its top-bar. This comb and the one in Figure 1 will fit anyof the author's hives

Figure 3: The inside^ of a top-bar hive looking up at the foundationstrips. When there is a nectar flow (for comb construction), thebees build their comb straight from these strips: not ignoring themas they may with wooden comb guides and then start buildingcrooked comb

similar to frame hive management, but with much less expensivetop-bar equipment.

The top-bars are flat underneath with a saw kerf (a groove the widthof the saw blade) cut down the centre of the bar 1/8 inch (0.32 cm)deep. The foundation strip goes into this groove (Figure 4). Thelength of the foundation strip depends on the size of the top-barhive. Do not let the strips touch the sides of the hive as that would

Figure 1: A new comb in a top-bar hive built straight and centred onits top-bar

Figure 4: Putting in foundation strips. The saw kerfs (grooves) tothe left take the foundation strips

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Figure 5: A close up of the foundation strip and top-bar junctionwith the melted wax bead appearing as a welder's seam. Thewelder's seam or bead should run along the entire length of thefoundation strip and on both sides

encourage the bees to attach the comb to the hive. Let the stripend about 1.5 inches (3.81 cm) from the sides of the hive. Wherefoundation is scarce, try a 1 inch wide (2.54 cm) strip, but becautious about making the strips less than 1 inch (2.54 cm). Stripsthat are too narrow cannot stop the bees from bulging a honeycombinto the space for the next comb: crooked combs would be expectedfrom such narrow foundation strips - width is important.

Properly attaching the foundation strips to the top-bars is extremelyimportant. When the bees are building the combs, the cluster hangsfrom the foundation strip so its attachment to the top-bar mustbe strong. Use melted beeswax to attach foundation strips to thetop-bars (not paraffin or other waxes), Specifically a line of meltedbeeswax needs to run down the groove, melting the foundationinto the groove. The line of melted beeswax on both sides of thefoundation strip, should weld it into the groove with wax (Figure 5).

Melt the wax in a double boiler, (the wax not directly heated by aflame) or with a water jacket (Figure 6). These methods are theproper way to melt wax because melted beeswax is flammable.(Note: always melt wax outdoors away from animals and children.)Cut the foundation sheets into strips using a piece of wood as a

Figure 6: A pair of double boilers on hot plates melting wax: notethe double handles, one to the water container and one to thewax container. Turn the handles away from the work area to helpprevent accidental spilling. Behind the boilers is a sloping boardfor attaching foundation strips to the top-bars with melted wax:note the white strip of wood to hold the top-bars on the slope andthe excess wax in the catch trough, which can be put back in theboilers

Figure 7: Separating the foundation strips before the edges cooltoo much

straight edge to keep a knife straight. Warm the knife near a heatsource to make cutting the strips easier, but do not get the blade toohot because it will melt the foundation too much. A pair of knivesworks well, cutting with one while the other warms near the heat.Three or four sheets of foundation can be cut at one time and thestrips separated before the melted edges cool (Figure 7).

Put the foundation strips in to the top-bar grooves, keeping themaway from the ends of the bars where the strip could touch thesides of the hive. Put about 12 top-bars on a sloped board with abracket at the lower side to keep the top-bars from sliding off theboard (Figure 8). To make sure the bead of melted wax touches thefoundation and the top-bar as the wax runs along the bar (in thedirection of the board), lift the end of the sloped board to force themelted wax bead against the foundation strips. Pour the melted waxdown the grooves, attaching the sides of the foundation strips to thetop-bars. With the board sloped from the side and the end, the waxbead flows along a little trough with the top-bar on one side and thefoundation strip on the other side. It looks like Figure 9.

When finished, let down the end of the sloped board and tilt it fromthe other end. Pour the wax bead down the grooves attaching the

Figure 8: Presentation by the author showing the sloped boardtilted from the side and from the end. Tilting the board from theside (marked by the number one and the black arrow) makesthe melted wax run down the bar. Tilting the board from the end(marked by the number two and the white arrow) makes the meltedwax run against the foundation strip and top-bar in a trough similarto Figure 9

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Figure 9: Lifting the end of the sloped board makes the wax rundown a little trough. The wax runs against the foundation stripand top-bar, sealing the two together, as the wax goes down thetop-bar. With the end lifted, the bead of wax cannot slip off thefoundation strip as when only the side of the sloped board is lifted

Figure 10: Piecing foundation strips together in a groove andkeeping them close together

Handle from a Flat Stick Knot in the Slit in the Spout

String(in old wax)

Bottom of a Soda Bottle

Figure 17: The author's homemade wax dipper made from a smallsoda bottle. For the dipper size, bigger is not really better becausesome of the wax hardens before it gets poured. Beekeepers mustcustomise their own dippers from local materials, and perhaps thisone can be a starting point

foundation strips to the top-bars on the other side of the strips. Makesure the bead of melted wax touches the foundation and the top-baras the wax runs along each bar. Pieces of foundation strips canbe fitted together in the grooves (Figure 10), but do not leave gapsbetween them. The wax will run across the top-bars, and the beeswill leave holes in the comb between the pieces.

For a wax pouring spout, use the bottom of a small plastic sodabottle, warmed near heat to form a spout. Cut a small slit in thespout and put a knotted string in it to guide the melted wax down thestring and onto the foundation strip and top-bar contact junction. Thehandle is a little flat stick (Figure 11).

Be careful not to break foundation strips because bees can usepartly broken strips. For foundation strips with some broken out, putthe top-bar between unbroken foundation strips or between straightcombs in the hive. The unbroken foundation strips or straight combshelp to keep the comb straight over the place with the broken-outfoundation strip.

With the method described in this article, the top-bars and theirgrooves are easier to cut than the "V" top-bars. The outcome isbetter bee management with straight combs and more productivecolonies.

To see my top-bar hive apiaries visit www.tbhsbywam.comAcknowledgmentThe author thanks Suzanne Sumner for her comments on themanuscript.

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