I've been doing my research on Top Bar hives. The intent is to build several to put on my property (12 acres).
Note: Due to the location I would only be able to get out to them every week or two.
I planned to build the movable backer board, set it so that the available interior volume is between 30l and 40l then bait the hive and wait. Ok I simplified that a lot, there is a lot of location and available resources that went into where I plan to put them as well.
What I am wondering is, should a swarm move in and set up house, how should you go about moving the backer board to expand the available space for them?
My intent was to give it a week or two then pull the board back to 1/2 the hive, then after they draw comb almost to the board to move it back again to give them the full hive. I have seen suggestions that once they move in you give them the whole hive and others that talk about moving 1 or 2 bars at a time into the existing build to get them to expand and draw straight comb. Just not sure if there is a right / wrong way or if it is 6 of one and half a dozen of the other.
The other question is how common is it for bees in a KTBH to cross comb and not follow the guides?