Top Bar Hive Build.....

[Beekissed]

That's what I was thinking too...getting it out in just the right time before comb is built too much around it but not pulling it too soon and risking damaging new comb. Should be a fun experiment and I hope you tell us about it and take some pics of it if you can...I find this all fascinating as all get out.

That comb hanger idea charms me because one of the reasons some folks don't like the TBHs is because the bees have to use so much time and energy constructing new comb on the bars but if one could find a way of uncapping that comb, removing the honey and rehanging the comb, that would be a neat thing.

 

[FarmerD]

That comb hanger idea charms me because one of the reasons some folks don't like the TBHs is because the bees have to use so much time and energy constructing new comb on the bars but if one could find a way of uncapping that comb, removing the honey and rehanging the comb, that would be a neat thing.

thats a tall order and IMHO negates some of the benefits of the TBH. Bees should be building new comb every year. only small amounts of honey should be harvested. if extracted honey and reusing comb is your goal, maybe a horizontal lang would be a better option.

 

[Beekissed]

Nah....I agree with the new comb being built as well, as chemical build up is a problem in some commercial Langs that reuse the comb over and over.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I know nothing about keeping bees, so if this is a stupid question, please forgive me.
Why would you need to remove the comb hanger?

 

[FarmerD]

well, for one, i dont want to build any more of those things than i have to....... they look deceptively easy to make, but ill tell you they are quite tricky to manufacture. 2nd, im nearly positive the bees would build all willy wonka around those things in an attempt to bury them in the comb.

 

[FarmerD]

ok now for more pics.......

take a milled top bar blank......

add some glue and a cleat......

staple away......

add completed topbars to the hive body, throw the legs, spreaders, and divider boards inside, and staple the bar stops on. this is how im transporting the hives out to the farm. they take up a lot less room in the truck this way.

six hives ready to take the truck ride out to the farm/apiary for final assembly and setup.

 

[Beekissed]

I want to thank you for all the wonderfully clear and good pics of this whole process...I know it takes extra time to take them and upload such things. A person can talk about such things on these forums and a person kinda has an idea of what they are describing but a set of pictures that show all the steps and parts, then the completed project, is just such a gift.

I'm a very visual learner, so these are just wonderful to me!

 

[FarmerD]

Final assembly pics.....

All hives have entrances drilled on both sides and 2 dividers so we can use the either as full 4' ers or 2 2' hives

 

[FarmerD]

Moving some deadout equipment.....

I'm changing the way we have our bees organized, so Im gathering all unoccupied equipment together for a new apiary. More pics to come...,.

 

[Beekissed]

You might have mentioned this before and I forgot, but will you be moving these hives frequently to fields and crops where they can be used as pollinators and have food or will they pretty much stay in one place most of the time? I know you had mentioned transporting them and doing so with the legs off and such....are the legs easy to break down for that purpose or do you have to remove a lot of screws and such? If so, would having a fold up/down leg setup work...sort of like the folding metal sawhorses they have now?