Top Bar Hive Build.....

[FarmerD]

currently nearly half of our genetics are feral/survivor stock. the other half is small cell. as for the aggressiveness..... while i agree that feral is somewhat aggressive, i can be mitigated by hive design. for example, the same genetics i have in langs will light you on fire if you crack the brood nest. clouds of bees everywhere and guard bees pinging off your gloves and veil continuously. when i work my mother in law's langs those bees usually get me atleast a couple of times, and she normally wants to give up looking in the brood nest after the second hive or so. swarms of those exact hives, when hived in TBH, are MUCH easier to work. while there might be a few bees flying while you work, they arent aggressive. if i were such a coward, i know i could work with no gloves..... probably no veil either. the difference is in the lang you're exposing 9-10 frames of pissed off bees at once, but in the TBH just one. that one little change makes the world of difference.

as for catching swarms, the trick is not only to use lemmongrass oil or some other attractant in a previously occupied hive with some old comb. i have brand new hives with comb and attractant and they get some interest, but not like the older used hives setup the same way!

 

[FarmerD]

heres how i work one......
when you remove the metal roof, youre looking at the tops of all the top bars. at this point, only the bees going in and out of the entrance are flying around.....

then i find the follower (its the only bar with staples or screws in it. this represents the back of the hive. i remove a few bars from behind it and slide it back leaving a gap between the follower and the active hive bars.....

at this point, i can remove the bars one at a time with all the bees on it, and none of the other combs full of bees respond to me pulling a comb out. the bees on one side of the last comb i inspected, the bees on one side of the next comb to be inspected, and the comb im inspecting are the only ones exposed at any given time. this is FAR less intrusive than cracking lang boxes apart and staring at 9-10 full frames of bees at once.

ill try and remember to snaps some pics the nexrt time im working through a hive and show how it looks when real live bees and comb are involved

 

[FarmerD]

these came to me!

 

[Smart Red]

So neat! So envious, Farmer D! Both of the hive and the swarm.

 

[Beekissed]

Already!!!!!??????? And look how nice and dark they are! Feral as can BEE. Good job!!! Nice big one too.

 

[FarmerD]

Well, I ran out of hives, and have 6 more colonies coming and some late summer splits to make. 24 more in the works....

 

[ducks4you]

Congratulations on your swarms!! You are doing us all good, although I keep missing my window to put out my little mason bee house.

 

[Beekissed]

I'd sure love an update on this thread....would also love to see those TBHs in action.

 

[NH Homesteader]

I'm glad you revived it! DH wants to build some soon, we miss having bees... Maybe next spring!

 

[FarmerD]