How to Set Up a Top Bar Hive for a Swarm or Package
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- Опубликовано: 29 мар 2020
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Phil, Great video. I have read and enjoyed your books very much. I have not kept bees since 1988 or so, was too busy raising kids and such. My brother had a small commercial apiary for several years, I followed his path from a couple states away. I decided to work with bees again last fall which led me to discover you and others on similar paths regarding their relationship to bees and I think the world we are part of.
Long story short based on your hive design with influence from others and recognizing the "bee culture" here in the states. I have just completed my first three hives all the same and set them in my garden. The are configured very much like the one in the video, burnt inside and out with the three hole entranced symmetrically opposite. All with eco-floors which can be changed out to screened or solid with minor effort.
A commercial beekeeper here in Missouri is offering Top Bar Nucs and I'll be picking one up tomorrow morning. My goal is two fold at this point, 1) never buy bees again and 2) never use chemicals to treat or feed.
Thanks for all your hard work, investigation and sharing.
Great informative video, Thanks
Hi Phil. Just a word of warning from a tree surgeon about sawdust from a chainsaw. It will still contain all the nasty chain oil and is not good for bedding animals, etc. Not sure how it might affect the bees. There is a biodegradable chain oil available for use near waterways but it is horrendously expensive. Hope this helps. Great video, by the way! 👍
Sir. You have answered all of my questions. This video is amazing.
I'm an absolute beginner and after subscribing and watching your channel, i am going to make. Top Bar Hive and get into beekeeping!
I cannot say thank you enough!
Great video and information. Thanks a bunch for sharing. I’ve been keeping bees for several years in langstroth hives and I plan to convert to top bar hives over the next few seasons.
Spot on 👍👍. Hello from the Kentucky mountains USA
Using two follower boards is brilliant, really. How I apply propolis to my hive interiors is by first dissolving propolis into alcohol then swab the dilution onto the wood. The alcohol evaporates leaving the propolis behind well soaked into the wood.
I know this video is a year old but THIS is the video I have been looking for! I am anxious to build my own hives and have watched with baited breath as you give measurements and ideas for raised entrances and splitting hives…but the horizontal top bar hive has truly caught my imagination! Thank you for sharing your hard earned experience and knowledge. Great video…The explanations and reasoning is superb! by the way …if you ever look back this far…you can make the bottom tray out of cedar boards and the oils will keep it from rotting even with the eco floor in contact and moistened. An three six inch fence boards would cost about 4 pound 6. PS-I just noticed in other comments that you have some books on beekeeping…I will be your next customer! I’m a total bibliophile and love the feel and smell of the printed page in my hands!
Watch out for true cedar - it is an insect repellent...
@@BarefootBeekeeper >the fence boards are ‘swamp cedar’ (more closely related to a juniper) and odorless, not the ‘Tennessee Red’ cedar that has such a strong smell. But has minor rot resistance…a little better than pine. Not many good affordable options locally, all true hardwoods grow across the country.
Thanks phill. Today I’m helping a new beekeeper set up her first top bar hive...
Howdy, never beekeeped but I hand built my first hive, a top bar I built with yard scrap. Soon there will be bees. I just watched your video where you mentioned leaving a hive alone for years. I love the concept of letting animals be wild as well as useful. Got to say, your videos make me less nervous. Not much less nervous, but still, they help.
Amazing content thank you so much
Thanks! Great content.
Thank you so much!! Very good information ! Thank you for your inquisitive mind!! I especially appreciate the information about the distancing of the entrance to the end
Thanks for your guidance and sharing your experience. I have one Horizontal Hive to start with and always looking for better ways to maintain a hive.
Enjoy these videos they have been very helpful over my beekeeping journey
Loved it!
Love wasps :) Going to trial the ecofloor in one of my layens hives this year.
Great ideas Phil.... love them all... many thanks.
Fantastic! Thanks so much!!
Interesting. This is something I have never seen. I was born in the hive and I'm 70 years old.
I looked in one of those trees last month and found a big owl in there lol.
Week to 2 weeks for a swarm, fingers crossed in the NW be surprised if anything this side of May.
I bought 30g blocks of wax from eBay and it smells of honey. Good stuff.
Great Phil, I have just started beekeeping in a top bar hive. I have been using national hives until now. I have set up the top bars, by attaching unwired wax strips and suspending them over the space. I have a mesh floor in my ready made hive, and entrances at both ends instead of at the side as you promote. I have corks to stop the entrances and three follower boards, two with holes and one without. To set up the hive for a swarm, should I a) put an eco floor in? b) make holes in the sides c) how do I feed the bees? I have fondant and syrup which I use to feed bees in the national hives. d) in the kit I have inherited there is a shallow plastic top feeder, which would prevent drowning but I am not sure how to install it if I need to use and can't find reference to it anywhere at the moment. Sorry for all the questions. Hoping to install bees in the next few weeks swarming has started in Sussex!
Thanks so much for the video. I use tbh for a few years thanks to your books and still learn a lot. Phil is it possible to show how you cut the top bars? I use just a top bar with a cut in the middle and aom wax on it. Works OK but sometimes I have broken combs
I may make that video one day, but meanwhile, pinning a guide to the middle of the bar is just as good.
Phil, Great stuff! Why do you scorch the inside of the hive?
I just was wondering that.
And just for fun, I'll try to upload photos of the three hives with some details. You will see that i have two styles of top bars the first I made out of 1x stock(3/4 inch) with a 1/4"x 1/2 " spline glued into a dado 1/3/8 wide (35mm). The other one is the same as your current top bar which i will use from here on out much less fuss these are 1 1/2" wide (38mm). The nuc I will install tomorrow will have 13/8" Top Bars.
I hope these are accessible.
how should one manage the holes? which holes are kept open and which closed and why? thank you.
I tried an eco floor in my HTBH and the bees just emptied it out and built comb down into the space. Same happened in a warre too. I like the idea but I’m not convinced the bees do.
Sounds like you used rather light-weight material. That happened to me once, when I used fine wood shavings.
I'd like to feed fondant to be hive through holes drilled in one of the top bars. Would that be OK or should I still include sugar syrup when I first introduce a package of bees to a brand new hive?
I love your videos, so much easy-to-understand information. We do not have birch trees here. Is there an alternative?
I don't think any other trees have sap with a similar composition, although maples may be worth trying.
What is the use of the eco floor? Also: how many top bars should there be for 1 bee colony to function AND the option to make a split in the hive? And: let's say that the bars that the bees use to build comb are a certain amount....how many bars BESIDES those are needed for a follow board (1? 2?) and a queen excluder board or even more bars?
I'm new to all this and just learning but I watched a TBH video yesterday where they left a small gap in their bars and the bees built comb on the underside of the lid. If your followers have holes in them like that won't the bees also build comb on the underside of your lid? And won't they build comb on the two spacers at the left end of your hive? Thanks.
It is important that bars are contiguous. I only add the feeder when needed, usually early September, but when not in use it would be covered by insulation in any case.
THANK YOU SIR. I'VE BEEN USING LOG HIVES, & WANT TO CHANGE TO YOUR KIND. DO YOU HAVE A VIDEO FOR HIVE CONSTRUCTION?
I have a topbar hive that I built myself, it has an open mesh bottom with a swing door I can shut if needs be. My question is - what amounts to adequate ventilation? Could In theory I close or seal the bottom completely and the entrances provide enough ventilation? Just trying to get my head around it in case I make any future design changes. I mean with the gutter it's completely closed, was any extra ventilation needed or are entrances enough? How much ventilation is enough ventilation whatever design I use?
Phil, I made a top bar hive using your plans a couple years ago, Ive just transferred a swarm into the box this week (finally) They seems happy enough, lots of activity, but for some reason I only made one entrance hole (per side, although I'm only using the one side as per your instructions) I notice you've got three holes and open as needed, will my only having the one entrance hole be enough, there was a lot of traffic when I checked today.
Should you put a queen excluder over the hole in the middle blocker board to keep the queen in the brood part of the hive?
I usually plug the hole with a cork, not to stop the queen getting out (she has no desire to abandon her colony) but to stop wasps etc getting in.
Also, if you want to keep the queen out of the honey (although that is really not necessary in most cases) you can fit a piece of QX over a larger hole - I would suggest 100mm+ diameter.
How to you plan to feed this swarm?
On the older hive, that has been there 4 years, does it have an eco floor? I noticed the bottom is made different from the one with the plastic gutter.
I don't feed swarms, they feed themselves. The older hive has a mesh floor with a board mounted under it with a gap for ventilation. It seems to work...
Your eco floor is interesting. Do you not get Small Hive Beetle? They pupate in mulch, so would love the eco floor material
We don't have SHB in the UK.
Hi Phil. Can you use Xylitol (which is from Birch tree and not corn) to mix with water and then put onto the bark and bits at the bottom of the hive if you can't get hold of Birch sap? I've also noticed that you have entrance holes on your other hives in the centre of the sides and not one end or the other. Is there any particular reason for this? Great video by the way.
I am setting up my tbh for the first time but have been given bees in a langstroth hive setup. The hive is packed and I am afraid of them swarming late in the year. I am in SE Alabama so we get some chilly/cold for winter, a few hard freezes but no snow. Rain yes..I want to convert them to the tbh as they will have more room. Any suggestions on how I can accomplish this at this late date?
Probably better to wait until next spring and make use of their natural expansion.
@@BarefootBeekeeper Thank you for the response. I think you are spot on. Waiting til spring! Cheers
Can you update please I'm going to have to do this in Southeast Texas which is similar climate.
Wouldn't the gunk on the floor promote mites
I would give you 5 likes for this video, thanks Phil :)
what about ants, do you have a problem with them
Hi Phil, Does your entrance location suggestion indicate that you have changed your preference for side centre entrances? Good video!
I have used near-the-end entrances for 5+ years and I do now prefer them.
Phil Thank you for your wonderful explanation of follower boards. Entrance is center mass on the side but hopefully with manipulation of the follower boards I will be able to get them to winter successfully.
Phil, what degree are the sides set at? Fancy having a go thanks to seeing this.
Free plans on my web site biobees.com
What do you think? If you have to build DIY what about mimicking Brother Adam Dadant 12's?
Question. I've actually had a swarm arrive, and they set up shop in a compost bin, which is probably somewhat dry but it did have compost at one point. The Bin is a plastic Barrel shaped, and due to the weight of the compost it eventually created a space between the structure, where they probably got in. So here is the question, Once I have my Top Bar, how do I do the transfer from the compost bin to the new top bar?
If you need an image so you can recommend me how to transfer the swarm, please tell me so... that I can send you an email. Thanks for any help you can give!!!
It's probably best to let the barrel colony make a swarm, which you can put directly into the hive.
Bonjour
Quel est le produit liquide que vous mettez sur les ecorces d'arbres ?
Merci
Philippe
30100 Ales
France
C'est la sève d'un bouleau. C'est la meme ecorces qu'il as mette dedans. Bonne chance.
Lemongrass oil?
Yes, that's a good attractant. I forgot to mention it!