Thank you Mel! I love top bar hives. I would like to do a video comparing top bar hives and Langstroth hives with a little better video quality now that I have a better camera. I hope you watch that one too!
Thanks for this video. It is well done and gave me some understanding. I am a real newbie and I do need to ask where I can find plans to make a Kenyan style such as this with just a few power tools? I have a circular saw, and drills. That's about it. Thanks for any leads.
Here is a link to a video where I built a top bar hive swarm trap. It is the same dimensions as my full size hive except my full size top bar sides are 33 inches long. The angles and the rest of the cuts are identical. ruclips.net/video/5SwLWKV3gac/видео.html Michael Bush's website is another good source. My original plan was from his website.
This is a link to one of my first videos it is long. This is building swarm traps but the only difference is the length of the side but I discuss that in this video.
So you do not find the queen and move her with the split? I have seen other videos where they find the queen and move her with the split. I am in my 3ed year and I am not comfortable with splitting. I have 7 langstrof and 1 long langstrof hive. I have built my first true top bar hive designed by les crowder for this spring. I just got a new knee and getting to old for langstrof lifting boxes. Thanks
So the saying goes "Ask 10 beekeepers a question and you will get 11 answers." I do leave the queen behind. In my experience, splits may fail and I would rather leave the original hive as intact as possible so it will survive. This way that hive keeps working. Sometimes when I have moved the queen to a split a lot of the bees still orient back to the original and the split fails and takes the queen down with it. I have also heard people moving the old queen to a split if they want the original to requeen to get a younger one. If you do this, be on top of making sure the original makes a queen and she is a good worker. This is all my opinion and experience. Good luck with the top bar J. I think you will like it!
So if you have too many bees and you split the hive, now you'll have 2 hives. Then you will have too many and split them, and have 4 hives. What do you do if you have bee overcrowding and you don't want to split and split and eventually have infinite bees? What if you just want one hive?
Thanks your the comment and sorry if I am repeating things you already know. Eventually if you don't split, the hive will swarm. The old queen and half(ish) of the bees in the hive will leave and find a different home. This is natural. That is one option if you only want one hive. A better option might be to reach out to other beekeepers in the area and see if they want to buy a queenless nuc from you. They can bring their empty hive and you take a few frames and bees out of yours and put it in theirs. Make sure they have some eggs, so the bees can make a new queen. Top bars are a little trickier. Because there are no standard sizes from bee keeper to bee keeper, swapping out bars might be difficult (your bars might not fit in theirs). To make this work, you could give someone a queenless package. Tell them to bring their hive with a caged queen secured in it. Then you dump about 3 to 4 pounds of bees from your hive (make sure your queen is not one of them) in their hive with the new caged queen. Have them keep their hive sealed for a couple days to get the bees to recognize the new queen though. I hope this helped!
It was a spring split. Without a queen, I am usually nervous to do fall splits. I have had bad experiences and poor queens. It may be the result of a low drone population.
😂. I couldn't agree more Paul! This video encouraged me to upgrade my camera. Luckily, my brother helped me out. I also bought a new laptop for editing. I think it was all for your viewing pleasure 😄. Hope you are doing well and have a good one! (By the way, this comment had me laughing for a while. I appreciate that.)
![Darren Waller - Who Knew (Her Perspective) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GytDjB8u6bM/mqdefault.jpg)
Agree with Angie below. Love to see how to work a top bar hive. I'll be going into my Les Crowder designed hive very soon. Thank you!
Thank you Paula! Les Crowder is a top bar genius! I really enjoy listening to him.
Thanks for the great education. Cheers
Thank you Mel! I love top bar hives. I would like to do a video comparing top bar hives and Langstroth hives with a little better video quality now that I have a better camera. I hope you watch that one too!
they look happy
We try to keep them happy!
A good one!.am a ktbh fanatic so this video suits me🎉
Thank you! I enjoy them myself. The best overall hive I think.
@@ralphwhite759infact i will try that this month..
My bees are super wild though.😊
Good camera work, it helps.
Thanks for a great video. I have a cathedral hive, and it is so hard to find good, current top bar hive videos! Hope the new group fares great!! 🐝😊
Cathedral hives are beautiful! At one point, I wanted to have one of all the more natural hives. I really like how sun hives look also.
I know right! Really great content.
Getting close to 1,000, congrats! You got one more subscribe from me. We are loving our top bars too...
A big milestone for me! Thank you!
thank you for the tips,,
You're welcome! Hopefully it helps!
Thanks for this video. It is well done and gave me some understanding. I am a real newbie and I do need to ask where I can find plans to make a Kenyan style such as this with just a few power tools? I have a circular saw, and drills. That's about it. Thanks for any leads.
Here is a link to a video where I built a top bar hive swarm trap. It is the same dimensions as my full size hive except my full size top bar sides are 33 inches long. The angles and the rest of the cuts are identical.
ruclips.net/video/5SwLWKV3gac/видео.html
Michael Bush's website is another good source. My original plan was from his website.
Thank for the very informative video! Have you produced a video about how your top bar hives are constructed?
ruclips.net/video/5SwLWKV3gac/видео.html
This is a link to one of my first videos it is long. This is building swarm traps but the only difference is the length of the side but I discuss that in this video.
@@ralphwhite759 Thanks for the link. The video was very helpful.
@@ralphwhite759 What is the purpose of the bottom board that you installed over the wire mesh?
So you do not find the queen and move her with the split? I have seen other videos where they find the queen and move her with the split. I am in my 3ed year and I am not comfortable with splitting. I have 7 langstrof and 1 long langstrof hive. I have built my first true top bar hive designed by les crowder for this spring. I just got a new knee and getting to old for langstrof lifting boxes. Thanks
So the saying goes "Ask 10 beekeepers a question and you will get 11 answers." I do leave the queen behind. In my experience, splits may fail and I would rather leave the original hive as intact as possible so it will survive. This way that hive keeps working. Sometimes when I have moved the queen to a split a lot of the bees still orient back to the original and the split fails and takes the queen down with it.
I have also heard people moving the old queen to a split if they want the original to requeen to get a younger one. If you do this, be on top of making sure the original makes a queen and she is a good worker. This is all my opinion and experience.
Good luck with the top bar J. I think you will like it!
So if you have too many bees and you split the hive, now you'll have 2 hives. Then you will have too many and split them, and have 4 hives. What do you do if you have bee overcrowding and you don't want to split and split and eventually have infinite bees? What if you just want one hive?
Thanks your the comment and sorry if I am repeating things you already know. Eventually if you don't split, the hive will swarm. The old queen and half(ish) of the bees in the hive will leave and find a different home. This is natural. That is one option if you only want one hive.
A better option might be to reach out to other beekeepers in the area and see if they want to buy a queenless nuc from you. They can bring their empty hive and you take a few frames and bees out of yours and put it in theirs. Make sure they have some eggs, so the bees can make a new queen.
Top bars are a little trickier. Because there are no standard sizes from bee keeper to bee keeper, swapping out bars might be difficult (your bars might not fit in theirs). To make this work, you could give someone a queenless package. Tell them to bring their hive with a caged queen secured in it. Then you dump about 3 to 4 pounds of bees from your hive (make sure your queen is not one of them) in their hive with the new caged queen. Have them keep their hive sealed for a couple days to get the bees to recognize the new queen though. I hope this helped!
Contact your local beekeepers and see who might want a split. You can get some money for it. $$
What was the purpose of the mason jar added to the hive at the end of the video please?
That is a feeder jar. It is how I feed my top bar hives. One of my earlier videos titles something like "How I feed my bees" talks more about it.
Nice
Thank you!
Is this spring or fall split
It was a spring split. Without a queen, I am usually nervous to do fall splits. I have had bad experiences and poor queens. It may be the result of a low drone population.
ض2
Shite camera work etc 😴
😂. I couldn't agree more Paul! This video encouraged me to upgrade my camera. Luckily, my brother helped me out. I also bought a new laptop for editing. I think it was all for your viewing pleasure 😄. Hope you are doing well and have a good one! (By the way, this comment had me laughing for a while. I appreciate that.)
@@ralphwhite759 Good im pleased I could help lol 😆 😄