>   Are TBHs supered?  If the bars themselves make the top cover, they
>would need to be spaced to be supered.  Otherwise, I guess they could go
>longer?
>
><...>
>
>Gerry and the other Visels at
>[log in to unmask]
>Winnebago, Illinois, USA
 
Hi Gerry.  Normally these types of hives are not supered -- the bees just
expand the nest horizontally.  Roger Morse at Cornell has oft insisted that
colonies do not grow well this way, and so has never promoted the long-idea
hives.  I suppose the expansion vertically is easier and faster, as heat
from the cluster rises to the upper parts of the hive.  However, if you
have ever seen "wild" colonies in odd cavities or in the walls of a house,
you will note that colonies forced to expand horizontally can and will
store prodigious amounts of honey nontheless! My own suspicion is that it
is more the bees (traits) than the container shape which counts.
 
It is generally found that TBH colonies don't get as large as those in
frame hives, but I am not convinced this always the rule. (As James said,
some colonies are "meat producers" (i.e. prolific) more than honey
producers; this is easily noticed in frame hives, too.)
 
Yields are expected to be somewhat reduced than with frame hives, as
surplus combs must be constructed each year by TBH colonies.  Same goes for
comb-honey producers in regular hives.
 
Regarding the horizontal idea, it is true that normally in "vertical" hives
we see pollen above brood, and surplus honey above that.  But note that
what the bees are doing is establishing the brood nest closest to the
entrance, with pollen beyond, and honey farthest away from the *entrance*.
THis is the typical order of things in a hive.  By having the entrance at
one end of the TBH, the honey you harvest is found at the opposite end.
Or, if the entrance is situated at the center of one (long) side of the
hive, the surplus will be stored at both ends, with brood nest in the
center.
 
Supering is possible, as James has related, but one of the nice things
about TBH's is that you don't need to store all those supers and worry
about wax moths.  To ensure that no brood gets into the surplus combs,
vertically-oriented excluders can be slid into the hive at the edge of the
brood nest. I believe this is being done by some users with success.   A
nice honey-filled comb at the edge of the brood nest will usually act as a
practical queen excluder in many cases, tho'.
 
It is not always the huge populations that get the best crops.  With
careful selection and queen breeding with these hives (pretty
straightforward as Jim has demonstrated) they have potential of producing
decent crops.  On average the yields won't be as high as in frame hives,
especially the first year.  Bear in mind, tho', that labor is much lower,
and you don't have all that lifting - this point is much in favor of the
TBH.  Another disadvantage is that one must remove honey more often, since
tiering of storage space is not usually practiced.  One could make the
hives good and long, with 30-35 bars for instance, to give the bees
substantially more room.  Extra depth is another possibility, but since the
combs are only attached at the top, there might be the problem of too much
weight and comb breakage.  A depth close to a langstroth deep seems about
right.
 
I have been surprised at how the bees will make almost all worker-comb,
especially at the outset.  Later as the nest grows, you will find more
drone/storage comb.  (They will do this on your expensive brood foundation
too, if they want! Unfortunately bees don't always respect our dictates.)
Eventually you can simply consolidate the best (mostly worker) combs in the
brood area for the queen's laying.
 
The trick is in getting straight combs built.  If the colony starts making
wavy or cross combs, these can be removed and a bar (with wax guide) placed
between two straight combs; then the resulting new comb will be constructed
nice and straight.                    Well so much for that...  Regards, JG