Top Bar Hive Build.....

[FarmerD]

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

Wow. That is impressive!

 

[FarmerD]

thanks. we're working up to selling bees next year

 

[FarmerD]

I've read mr bush's books and I follow a lot of his work.

 

[Beekissed]

I met him on a beekeeping forum once and fashioned my barrel TBH after one he had made and featured on his site. If I made another, I might even go with that style once again.

It's exciting, isn't it? Going into beekeeping and striking out in a direction that many do not go. I like that in all my farming/homesteading endeavors...I like doing things that make sense, not because others may be doing them or feel like it's the best way.

I attended a beekeeping conference at a local university once and there wasn't a thing there I found of any interest...just the same old stuff regarding the same tired beekeeping in Langstroth hives, medicating the bees, feeding the bees HFCS, etc. Not one lecturer or literature there said anything about keeping bees in a more sustainable fashion. I left early and never attended another one.

I'm a little interested in this Rose Method https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMcBiCcuC8w simply because the man makes sense but I'm also thinking of how to incorporate the strips of premade comb at the tops of my bars to encourage more strength to the base of my honeycomb in that way. Just speculating on that but not sure.

 

[Beekissed]

Have you seen this? Just saw this for the first time and haven't got a chance to study it to see what the long term ramifications~if any~would be...
http://www.honeyflow.com/

http://www.honeyflow.com/faqs/p/22

 

[FarmerD]

It's exciting, isn't it? Going into beekeeping and striking out in a direction that many do not go. I like that in all my farming/homesteading endeavors...I like doing things that make sense, not because others may be doing them or feel like it's the best way.

it is both equally exciting and terrifying. the wife and i are trying to shift into this homestead/self sufficiency/ farming as both a lifestyle and a profession. due to our lack of traditional farming background, we are definitely coming at this from "outside the box". one of the main tenants of our farm plan is that it all has to work together, thus strengthening the whole. a positive self reinforcing loop if you were. not all the components of the farm will be for profit, some will be for the benefit of the farm itself...... we wish only to skim the most profitable cream off the top to make a modest living from the labor we, personally, are able to provide.

I attended a beekeeping conference at a local university once and there wasn't a thing there I found of any interest...just the same old stuff regarding the same tired beekeeping in Langstroth hives, medicating the bees, feeding the bees HFCS, etc. Not one lecturer or literature there said anything about keeping bees in a more sustainable fashion. I left early and never attended another one.

i feel the same on this topic, but my wife thinks we should attend and make our presence and intentions know since we will be selling bees in the community. i see the merit of both perspectives. i have a patience problem with the type of "newbee" that shows up for these type of events. it seems this same personality type is the main component of alternative farming/permaculture events also. once the meeting or presentation devolves into the "i have a hive and why did such and such happen?", dark unmentionable thoughts creep into my mind. it blows my mind how many people out there just want you to give them a check list of things to do, or better yet, just tell them exactly what to do rather than researching, learning, and experimenting for themselves. being out on my own, with a hive noone uses forced us to learn. we learned more about bees and bee behavior in our first year than my mother in law has learned in 12 years of keeping langs. it continuously blows her mind that we know and understand whats happening and what needs to happen, but she is so intrenched in the "someone told me so and so once" mindset that she unwilling to even try new techniques. for example, she is firmly against finding the queen and moving her and bees to a new hive to make a split. she believes that if you take out the queen, the original hive will die. in her mind, she knows the queen leaves with the swarms that are cast when she does nothing and that the remaining hive is queenless, but if you try and tell her how to create and artificial swarm so she doesnt have to climb a tree to get them back, she immediately reverts to the "the hive will die without a queen". this is not a stupid woman. she graduated college, became a psychologist, and is a diligent reader...... but i digress. i could go on and on about the current state of beekeeping and beekeepers and how it got us exactly where we didnt want to be, but i would just be ranting.

I'm a little interested in this Rose Method https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMcBiCcuC8w simply because the man makes sense but I'm also thinking of how to incorporate the strips of premade comb at the tops of my bars to encourage more strength to the base of my honeycomb in that way. Just speculating on that but not sure.

plenty of people around here use all medium supers in their hives..... alot of them do some foundationless frames too, i didnt know this was a "method". i guess someone had to put a name on it. we use a triangle shaped cleat on our topbars and the strength seem just fine. i believe your buddy micheal bush is against the strip of foundation..... says the bond is not as strong as what the bees would build themselves. i'd have to dig through the sight again to find that though. i have no experience with that style.

Have you seen this? Just saw this for the first time and haven't got a chance to study it to see what the long term ramifications~if any~would be...
http://www.honeyflow.com/

http://www.honeyflow.com/faqs/p/22

its been all over my facebook feed, and im against it. people that keep bees need to inspect their hives and be more "hands on". im not one who thinks we should just shake a package into a hive and never come back. if you learn whats happening in the hive, and have a general idea what should happen, then you are a benefit to the bees, not a hindrance. if you dont know what the condition of the hive is on the inside, how do you know that taking a frame of honey wont be detrimental to the bees? if you secretly steal honey from behind the capped cells, then when are the bees going to realize this? ...... halfway through winter when theyve clustered around that particular frame and begin to uncap the empty comb? not to mention the robbing you would set off when you start using your hive as an extractor. to each his own, but you wont ever see this type of contraption in my apiary.

 

[Beekissed]

Wow! Sure does! You have a major big plan going on there. Can't wait to see all the pics and hear you tell about all the different things you are doing at your place as you get each one accomplished.

I love the precision and beauty you have created with your TBH bodies.

 

[FarmerD]

Thanks. I should be getting more pics of the hive build soon. Gotta pic up the material for legs today, but can't do any more assembly until I go pic up the roof metal. On a side note, the bees are quite active today

 

[Beekissed]

I just love honeybees. I could watch and listen to them work all day long...so industrious, so productive and self-sustaining. Seeing those bees out of your hive in the middle of winter warms my heart....spring will be here soon!