I read Dennis Murrell's website on the design and management of top bar hives (TBHs) with great interest.  It said bees tended to attach combs to the walls and bottom of the hive and the combs beyond the broodnest often come out curved.  The tbh combs are also fragile, especially in hot weather.

My first question is: instead of just top bars, can trapezoidal frames be used?  One would still allow the bees to build their combs from scratch and arrange the combs per their needs.  These frames would always stay in the same order so as not to disrupt the bees' arrangement.  One drawback that comes to mind with trapezoidal frames might be an alteration of the bees' ventilation scheme...

My second question is: has anyone tried lettting the bees produce their combs from scratch (no foundation) in empty Langstroth frames in standard equitment?  Did the bees follow the frame structure or did they orient their combs differently?

Waldemar

PS. I was called to remove a feral colony from an eave of a house this coming Saturday.  I'll be paying particular attention to the natural arrangement of the feral combs... :)

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