This is my second year with hives. I'm using all top bar hives. Installed a new package of Buckfast bees May 15, 2010. They have drawn 7 bars of wax and are in the process of filling them with brood and some honey. They have connected adjacent bars with comb on 5 of the 7 bars. I tried cutting them apart yesterday, but they started collapsing. I attempted to fasten one section of brood and honey to a new top bar with zip ties, but the comb was too new and fragile to hold. I closed the hive back up to take time to devise a repair strategy.
I’m considering taking all 5 the cross connected bars out of the hive in one connected group and placing them in a new top bar hive till all the brood hatch. Then combining them back together in the original hive.
But, I’m open to other suggestions.