Thank you so much! I try to be careful with them. My wife was saying yesterday, I don't talk to the bees in the videos. She said I used to talk to them alot as I worked them. I still do some. It sounds a little strange but it helps me stay calm which helps them stay calm. Working slowly and trying not to smash any (many) is my approach.
Thank you! It is really nice for you to say that. I am glad to help where I can. I love making the videos and interacting with other beekeepers or potential beekeepers (these are the two groups I have narrowed all people into).
That is great to hear! Starting is the scariest part. Being realistic that there will be issues helps push through when you deal with them. Finding a local community of beekeepers, if possible, is the best way to succeed. Thank you for the comment and keep us posted on how things work out.
Ralph, thank you for the shout out on your channel. Sorry I’m so late to respond but my super horizontal swarmed on me yesterday day. This was very unexpected and I had no equipment ready, because I set 7 swarm traps. My wife and I watched all your video and it was very good. My wife keep asking me questions about the top bars and I keep shhhhing her and told her to listen to you... 😂 .. Yes I got punched.
Thank you Rickey! I think we just got over our main swarm season here. It seemed to calm down the past couple of weeks. Mine always happen when I don't expect them. I know you could make some really beautiful top bar hives too. Maybe in the future?
Our local groups only do vertical hives, but we have an opportunity to use some top bars at a low price and needed to know if it was worth it! We prefer to keep it all natural, and love that this looks like a good option for us. Thanks for all the info!
When I first started my bee club in 2016, top bars were snubbed. Luckily me and another couple who started coming at the same time just happened to be interested in top bars. We spread the love of them and were given the opportunity to do a presentation at one of the meetings. Tops bars at that point were accepted in the club. We also added top bars into the hive presentation at the beginning beekeeping classes we would help out with. I say this to say don't give up! Top bars have their place. They aren't a good option for everyone but many people can benefit from using them .
Very helpful. Thank you for explaining what we’re looking at when looking at the comb (nurse bees, drones, etc.). I have bees building comb on the follow board when we started with 8 boards, added 3 more boards because think they have run out of room? So much to learn.
It's part of the journey for sure. The best time in beekeeping to me is when I can look at them working and be amazed at how they do things. I used to love helping out with beginner courses, because I could live a little of that over again through others. Thank you for the comment!
Good video - just a couple of things to add 1) Yes, most of the comb is collected using crush & strain. But if you are selling the honey, selling "comb honey" is much more profitable than bottled honey. So rather than cut the comb into a bucket, if you can bring it back to the house on the bar, you can use your knife to cut it into the size of the plastic trays you sell comb honey in. Honey sold this way sells for about twice the price (per ounce) as bottled honey. ... and yes, you can do cut-comb honey from Langstroth hives too (just don't put foundation in the frames of the honey super). 2) I wish you would have mentioned the downside to doing crush & strain - you destroy the comb. Bees have to eat ~7 lbs of honey in order to make 1 lbs of bees wax. In a Langstroth hive, you can de-cap the honey, spin the honey out of the comb, and give the comb back to the bee's to re-use. Doing this can GREATLY increase the amount of honey you can collect. 3) you have some bad information when talking about cell size and mites. Mites reproduce inside capped cells - since drone larva are capped for 3 days longer than workers, more mites are produced in drone cells than worker. It is the length of time the cell is capped that is the bigger factor. Cell size is not nearly as important. 4) the 21 minute mark would have been a good opportunity to talk about one of the advantages that Langstroth hives have over TopBars - when the hive runs out of room, you simply add another box to the Lang hive. You can't do that with a TopBar. That means you can allow your hives to get MUCH bigger (bigger generally means healthier).
I love the name of your channel! Assuming it comes from a reverence of the Chief Cornerstone. Good stuff. Also thank you for the feedback 1. Last year I had a friend who wanted some comb to put in his quart jars. He did charge an extra couple dollars for it. The people I sell it to have never been interested in the comb. I have tried. I see it marked up in farmers markets and also thought it would be neat to do the cutting with the square cutter into the plastic square containers but I'm not sure if anyone would buy it and it is a lot of work to do that. I know some people have made it work. I am also a little lazy with some things..... 2. I agree to this point for honey production. Top bars are used primarily by backyard people or "artisans" who use the wax for other products. There is definitely a trade off between more honey or more wax. Honey being the more valuable product unless you are modifying the wax in some way (fancy candles and such). 3. I would have to look at the sources again I got this from. One is Solomon Parkers Treatment Free podcast. He and other treatment free people actually advocate buying small cell foundation for hives in order to coach the bees to build the smaller cells for worker bees. I have also heard the cell sizes in top bars/foundationless frames, on average, tend to be smaller. I'm sure you are spot on for the gestation on the mites coinciding with drones.
4. I call my top bar version the Economy version. I build them cheap with the sides from one 8 ft board. They are probably smaller than they should be. With that said they just take more management and at times that means splitting or harvesting honey. Langstroths would be easy to just add boxes for sure. Thank you so much for the comment!
Thank you for sharing your videos and knowledge. I have a Topbar hive and actually answered a couple of my questions before I had a chance to ask them. I will definitely keep watching your videos. Thank you Evonne
I like the Cathedral Hive design because it gives 3 sides of support to the comb. The downside appears to be manual processing altho there has to be a way to stabilize the other end to take the centrifugal force of a spinner. I'm.partial to the long hive designs to save my back. Great explanation, enjoyed the video!
thank you for making time and sharing us such amazing momments, i would appreciate it if you could write down the inner dimensions of your top bar beehhives.
I am happy to share the little bit of experience I have with everyone. I will make a short video in the next couple days with it. I'm not sure of them off hand.
Hi Ralph! First year top bar beekeeper and basic idiot about all of this. We installed our bees last Saturday & checked them yesterday (Wednesday). They were making great progress but I made lots of mistakes and lost comb. LOVE THIS VIDEO and need to know how to make some rescue bars. I couldn’t tell how to do that. I tossed the comb that fell bc I had nowhere to reattach it.
Hi Janet! I am a top bar beekeeper and an idiot too! Sometimes I tell myself mistakes aren't bad they are learning opportunities. We have all been there. I made this video a couple weeks ago to show how I made the rescue bars. I hope it helps. Keep me updated on how things are going. th-cam.com/video/Bk96vzclOEk/w-d-xo.html
6:10 There's why you are getting comb breakage. Never turn a bar sideways. The motion should be one side down, the other side up so the comb always stays vertical. There isn't enough natural support to allow for a horizontal comb, so it will break..
100% true. It is good practice not to. The heavy the comb the more likely it is to break. I had to go back and watch that time stamp. Under normal circumstances, I would never turn a bar sideways that had weight to it. If that was a bar full of honey it would have been a sticky mess😂
I’ve been flat out for the last mate. We’ve been house hunting for the last couple months. We find out this week if we get a house close to town. I was laid up for a couple weeks again with my back. I’ve been trying
@@downunderfulla6001 Bradley I know how the back can put a man down. We will be praying for you andI hope you get your new house also!! Family is way more important then videos.
I’m learning all about bee keeping so I can start doing it next year… I think it may be too late this year. Very informative you’ve got a new sub (almost at 250! Think im 229 😛)
Thank you Tony! I appreciate the comment and the sub! Waiting until next year gives you a good amount of time to study. Beekeeping can be a large investment, so research is a good thing.
Thank you! At my old place I had a 1/4 of an acre. The bees were not a concern to the neighbor's except one swarming situation. I kept bees there for 5 years. Here in Florida, beekeeping is regulated by the state Department of Agriculture. The laws are really good for encouraging backyard beekeepers. We can have up to 3 hives per quarter acre. Hives need to have a barrier around them or be in a fenced in area. I always encourage anyone interested in getting bees to ask beekeepers in the area. They are a great source of information and usually love talking about bees!
@@ralphwhite759 cool i think in alabama its the same, i really only want one hive and it looks like a topbar style is the easiest to make and maintain.
I agree! I have a long video on how I built some top bar nucs. I think I mentioned in the video the full size top bars are 33 inches long but the dimensions on the sides and angles are the same. Michael Bush has some plans on his website also. That is originally where I got my first design from, but my angles are a little bit different. I have an instagram account: want_a_bee_farm. Feel free to reach out with questions.
Thank you Paul! I was hoping you would like the quality of the newer ones. I still have a lot of refining to do. If I got a compliment from you, I am moving in the right direction 😂. Just kidding. I really appreciate your comments and find them pretty funny. Thank you!
Thank you for this wonderful and educational video! Where can I buy a comb rescue bar? A large piece of comb broke off this week during inspection and I'd love to have one of these rescue bars on hand next inspection.
Hi Michelle! Here is a link to a short video where I built one. They are super easy to build. A broken comb makes for a rough day beekeeping. Thanks you for the comment! th-cam.com/video/Bk96vzclOEk/w-d-xo.html
@@ralphwhite759 Thank you so much for your quick and kind reply! I realized that when I went back to inspect the hive that the bees had connected the comb to the sides of the hive, so I cut the bars that were connected off the sides, starting from the bottom, with a serrated knife. That seemed to do the trick, but I'm definitely going to check out your comb rescue bar tutorial!
First time watching you I've been doing top bar hivefor a few years and I really like to do some splits on my top bar, have you ever thought of using a screen excluder in a top bar hive between the Brew nest and the extra bars I haven't yet I'm going to try I have a very deep top bar hive so it would be giving me room to make a divider board with a queen excluder I have not yet seen anyone do this but I have a feeling now that I've mentioned it it's going to happen from crabby
what ever it takes to get people into bees. I am going to have to make some, I have people that want to buy nucs for top bar. I put the frames in my boxes to draw them and get brood. its been cool. sometimes the random holes in the brood pattern are left on purpose, bees can go head first in from both sides and vibrate. this warms the frame from the middle
Nucs are hard to make because it would have to be a similar size. I have thought about doing packages with my top bar hives because they produce so many bees. I have learned to love the wax they make. Interesting about the holes. I never thought about it being a way to keep things warmer. Great point!
@@ralphwhite759 I have a video of the new comb drawn out on the top bar that is screwed to my frames. When they are well established I will take them off and put them in a nuc box. Then when he gets home he unscrews the top bar from my frame and put it in his box. Then he is actually getting a nuke on top bar Frames
Hi Attila. I do not have winter condensation here because I do not cover the bottoms of the hive. Year round I leave the screen bottom open. I am in North Florida, so the temperatures only get to the mid twenties a couple days a year at the lowest. One year, I used plastic on the bottom and did have condensation drip down on that. I tore it away and never had the issue again. I wish I could help more. It is just a topic I have never dealt with. My uneducated opinion: I can see the bees filling in the ventilation space with propolis if it is between the bars. They seal the small crack in the bars with propolis all the time. Do research on this but I wonder if a hole at the top of the hive above the entrance would relieve the condensation. Assuming you have a hole at the bottom of the hive for the bees to come and go making another one at the top might help. Anything local beekeepers do in your area with Langstroth hives, you can modify to work for your top bar....maybe.
I am going to start in this hobby next spring and I am really attracted to this method instead of the traditional. I think it looks more natural and easy to care for. Specially in the beginning. My only worry with this is the honey collection method. Is that method more wasteful? or harder?
I have another video on how I harvest honey. I don't think it is more wasteful. Some may say it is less efficient, because the wax and honey is harvested. Langstroth frames make it so you can cut the capping off the wax, spin out the honey, and put back in the empty honey combs into the bee hive. With a top bar, all of the comb with honey is crushed together and given time to strain. You get more wax with top bars after the collection but the bees will have to build all the comb again to replace it. I hope that helps.
I would think cutting the comb off would be more healthy because of the new comb and are able to do what they are meant to buy building comb so it gives the queen a reason to make more bees
I do like to cut the comb off for honey harvesting. Giving the bees area for new comb building and clean comb for the queen to lay in is important. Great point!
Hi - Thank you for the video - I like the gentleness in the way you act with the bees. Do you have the measurements for your top bar hive and a drawing/construction drawing? We would like to switch over to top bar and want to build some this spring. Where are you located? Regards from Denmark :)
Hi Karlina! I am located near Jacksonville, FL. Thank you for the compliment. I have learned that giving the bees respect is much less painful than working them without care. For your question about the measurements here is a link to an early video where I built a smaller version for use as a swarm trap. The only difference between the swarm trap is the length and number of top bars. If I remember correctly, I mentioned that in this video. I hope it helps and always feel free to ask anything. Thank you for the comment! th-cam.com/video/5SwLWKV3gac/w-d-xo.html
@@ralphwhite759 Hi again. Thank you for answering. Ok, I get it - watched the video, great inspiration and measurements. Also thanks for taking questions if they arise. I think we will have to insulate the hives we build here in Scandinavia, and we cannot buy so massive tree as you use, so lets see how we adjust our design. I am excited. The bees were out yesterday, one of the first warmer days (lol, I think not warm for someone in Florida). Again, thanks. How do you feed the bees in a top bar hive? Or do you just leave enough honey for them to get through? Or is the winter in Florida so short that you never feed? 👍
what plans did you use to build your TBH ?Your combs look much larger and deeper than mine. I used 2x10 , 30 degree angle bottom bds. The Les Crowder plans.
I started using a Michael Bush design and later transitioned to a size that maximizes a 2x12s. I take an 8ft board, cut 2 15 inch sections off. I am left with 66 inches. I cut that in half leaving 2 33 inch sections. The sides are 33 inch sections. The 15 inch sections become the front and back. I make my bars 1 and 3/8 inches wide. I'm going by memory. I think I have a short with the quick dimensions. The angles I just measure to match the already built top bars. I used to be a Framer but never made it to doing real carpentry. My cuts are rudimentary 😂 I hope that helps.
Thanks SO much for the great information I have my top bar hive built and a neighbor has a nuk for me Did you coat the wood before bringing the bees in? Do you have any suggestions for top bar construction? Again thanks
I am glad to help.I have realized the thicker sides work better for me. The boards I use are 2 inch by 12 inch by 8 ft long (in US standard measurements). I do not coat the inside with anything but paint the outside. The bees will propolize the inside how they see fit. Here is a video about how I build a top bar nuc. The only difference is the side lengths are longer in my full size hives. I hope this helps. th-cam.com/video/5SwLWKV3gac/w-d-xo.html
Hi Ralph, can you put a queen excluder bar on each side of the brood. Example if your entrance is in the middle of your hive. Place queen excluders squeezing say 5 bars. So the queen won’t lay eggs in the honey, on each ends of the hive? Just questioning, and learning.
Hi Marlo. I have heard of some people doing something like that. It might be a fun experiment. Just make sure the queen has enough bars to lay eggs in or the bees might think it is time to swarm if the brood space seems too small.
i noticed that you dont use smoke when you work with you bees, when i was taught to raid " WILD " hives we didnt use smoke either, slow and easy, no fast sudden moves, no earth toned clothing, and talk to the bees like them girls are your lover!! i never tried this approach with the africanized bees, just the wild girls,, thank you for the tips
Too funny! That is a good way to be. I am curious how you found wild hives. I have heard people "bee line" to find them. I can see Africanized bees being difficult to work without a veil. Going to the entrance and letting them know you are there helps too. When I don't do that and open the hive fast is when I get popped in the hands. I will use smoke but only for more agitated hives. Smoke makes me stink worse (sweat and smoke together is horrible), smokers can be a pain to light, the embers go out when I need it, or I pack it too much where it burns for hours.
@@ralphwhite759 first we looked for dead standing trees that are just at the edge of a field with a southern exposer, and a lot of flowers, if theres water close by that helps also,, i have found " clear cutting " woods destroys a lot of wild hives also not just mean people or bears, bears usaly get the hives that are close to the ground,, i found that you can hear the buzzing from the hives if you find trees the bees are using,, some of those hives are a good 12 to 30 feet in the tree, you can also set out a bait station for them to find if you think you are near a hive but havent been able to find it,, sorry to ramble on, its easier to show some one then to write it down,,,, great videos
@@yoopermann7942 That is some really good information! It sounds like fun. I'm sure you will catch something in your swarm traps with all that knowledge of what they naturally look for in a home.
So there are no Queen excluder at all in the hive? Will that effect the honey production, how many kg/lb do you get yearly? Also how do you collect bee pollen from the Top Bar hive? Many Questions lawl.. Best regards, Novice beekeeper from sweden.
Hi Gustav! I do not use a queen excluder. Normally, the queen will not go past where the bar where the honey starts so a queen excluder is not needed. It is hard to say the honey production. The good thing about a top bar hive is you can harvest as needed. For example, you need a few jars so you can just take a couple bars out leaving the bees with honey. I will say this is not the best method for making lots of honey. I do not collect pollen. You may be able to modify the entrance to put on a pollen trap. I have never done it though. Sorry I couldn't answer your questions in depth. I am not an expert by all means. I am also a novice beekeeper! Thank you so much for watching my video. I hope this helps.
@@ralphwhite759 Thanks for the answer :) aiight then i know. Well i think i'am going to try out the toplist hive, i can only see benefits in it instead for the classic one =)
It would be to have a bigger hive. I don't because I make it so an 8 foot 2 by 12 makes one hive. That is why the sides are 33 inches and the front and back are 15 inches. This comes out to 96 inches (8ft). If I bought longer boards I could adjust the size. This seemed the most efficient use of my money before. I may need to readjust since lumber prices are crazy.
When I built my first one I modeled it after Michael Bush's design. I have modified mine a tiny bit to be more efficient use of wood, but he is the guru. Here is his blog. He has measurements on his. www.bushfarms.com/beestopbarhives.htm I have a short with a super brief description as it's hard to fit that in a minute. th-cam.com/users/shortsjvcKYai867E?si=TstdLiINr1A0Z4vZ
Hi..i just introduced the bees in my first top bar 2 days ago..it is a new family just swormed ..can you give advice for about the first things to do? I did not put any feeder and positioned the family far back away from the entrance, i left 7 bars and than put the divider with the hole..i see bees going in and out from the main entrance but also from a small gap under the divider due to the bottom net not properly straight... when do you think is a good time to do first check?
Congratulations! Some advice I would offer for things that have worked for me. A swarm builds wax very quickly for the first couple weeks. I think a swarm had a large amount of the bees going through their wax making age of life. I have seen places in trees where the swarm was (after moving them) and the tree limb had wax on it. When you put the swarm in the box know those bees producing wax will age and go onto later in life duties. To understand this better look up the lifecycle of a honey bee. They start as nurse bees and go through a progression of job to the last job being forager. That being said you will see a lot of wax being built initially but it will slow down until the queen gets eggs laid in the new wax. That might sound like rambling, but you will see what I mean. I would also feed them. Until they get the comb built and the population to gather the nectar, food can be an issue. They most likely will start building comb at the entrance. I hope this helps. Feel free to ask more questions. If I know them I am happy to help.
I wonder why they don't extent the combs to join the side walls of the box. In langstroth hives they do extend the hives to the side of the frames, be it with or without foundation.
They do some but it isn't extensive. The style hive I use is called a "Kenyan top bar". It has slanted sides. A "Tanzanian Top Bar" is a box with top bars. The bees are more likely to attach to the sides in that I have heard. When I run my knife down the sides of the combs it cuts out the little bit that has attached to the side.
@@ralphwhite759 Thanks for sharing. I will avoid straight sides rectangular box and go for slated side hive box in that case. I love the dea of simple horizontal hive box.
I make them. I saw the idea a few years ago from someone else. My video "Laying Workers, Spider vs Bees, and Easy Queen Cells in a Top Bar Hive" has a close up around 13 minutes. It takes a plain top bar, a section of 1 inch by 1 inch wire (also called rabbit wire in my area), and a few staples. I cut a 12 inch length of wire 3 sections wide. I staple the first section on the bar (make sure the sides of the wire do not extend over the edges or fitting it between existing top bars is tough). Then I bend it into a "C" shape with each section making up a side. Getting a visual of one of the rescue bars from a video might make more sense.
33 inches is the side panel (not end to end of the hive). 33 allows for the fit for the top bars to be a whole number. 24 too bars fit tight if I remember correctly. It also allows for a 96 inch board to be cut into 2 ends (15 inches each) and 2 side panels (33 inches each).
I think that would be a solution. Have you tried it? The only issue I could see is it would reduce some comb building surface area. Around the dowel they couldn't build comb out like the rest of the bar. I do think it would be a cool experiment to try. I may put it on the list this year
@@ralphwhite759 You won't significantly reduce the comb building area and you can make your hives wader because the comb has the extra support. You might have to reverse a top bar in the early stages to get them to draw a full comb but one they have one full comb they will be off. It works well. I first came up with the idea on my honey cow and it worked so well I use it on all my topbar hives which are 500mm lomg and about 400mm deep so each bar holds a lot of honey.
I'm not sure about a common length. Top bars are pretty easy to change most measurements. Michael Bush has some diagrams on his website. I think his are 4ft long. Mine are 33 inches long and 15 inches wide (at the top) to maximize an 8ft board. The only measurement you need to make sure you have is the width of the top bars. These are what provide bee space. They should be 1 and 3/8 inches wide in the brood chamber.
You do you but other than the cost difference (langstroth frames aren't cheap) I really don't see any significant advantage of top bars over long langs
The undeniable benefits are the less lifting for backyard beekeepers. You don't pry up on heavy 70 pound supers and move them to the side. Top bars are way better for people with injuries and bad backs. Cheaper is also important to a lot of people as well as the ability to customize the looks for backyard beekeepers. Some debatable topics are better mite resistance because the bees build smaller comb (which you can do with foundationless frames in a Langstroth). Another positive is being able to rotate out old comb, which you can also easily do with foundationless Langstroth frames. Foundation you have to melt off the wax from the plastic, or wires, and reapply wax. Of course, I am not trying to change anyone's mind. I love hearing different ways to do things and different perspectives. Thank you for the comment Thomas!
I just installed my first bee package today. Im sure I did about 3 things wrong. Left a space open, put the queen on the bottom and put the box in with the hole open. Here's hoping the bees are smarter than me.
@@claythomas7982 I think you should be alright. When you go back in a couple days to make sure the queen is out and you can remedy the other things. Do you have a Langstroth or top bar hive? When you say you put the box in with the hole open, do you mean the package the bees came in? Another thought. When you put the queen on the bottom is the screen facing up? If not the other bees can't feed her.
Some places do. I have had some people comment from other countries on some of the videos they plan to try it. If I remember correctly there was a person from Mexico at one point that spoke to me about it. I also know of a person in St Augustine, Florida that goes to places in the Caribbean to set people up with top bars. I think it is a great idea to set the up like this.
@@ralphwhite759 the only designs that I have found that predate the top bar are basket hives (those go all the way back to the stone age), log hives and ceramic hives.
Thanks for this. I am just brand new at bee keeping. I built a top bar hive using Les-is-more at bee mindful plans. We baited it with lemongrass oil and we are hoping a swarm needs a new home and finds ours. What are the chances do you suppose? I am very much hoping for a natural swarm. I feel like if they do they will be more likely to be string, familiar with the area, and able to survive in this area. Is that realistic or just wishful thinking?
I only know what I have heard and my limited experience. That is some areas are really populous with feral bee colonies. My area is not known for many feral colonies. Most swarms are most likely from other managed bee colonies. I have done a few cutouts; in trees. They did not seem like they were there for a long time. Of course there are other factors in that such as moths eating old combs and such. I have heard before the mites and beetles made it to the US in the 80's feral colonies were much more common. It's perfect weather in North Florida for hive beetles and during the heat of the summer they do damage on weakened colonies. I personally always try to attract swarms though. Even if the swarm comes from managed colonies in your area they at least have made it through a year there (hypothetically). They should be somewhat acclimated to your area. Also bee keeping is best done with a realistic attitude while wishful thinking😂. I really hope you catch a swarm. Another thought. Make sure people at your work, family, neighborhood, and any other local community you have know you are looking for a swarm and a bee keeper. Lots of times others are the best way to find out where a swarm is. I have gotten strange calls from family or friends about swarms they saw or someone on Facebook saw. It may open up an opportunity for you.
So calm. No smoke. Not even a spritz of water. Amazing! Bravo!
Thank you so much! I try to be careful with them. My wife was saying yesterday, I don't talk to the bees in the videos. She said I used to talk to them alot as I worked them. I still do some. It sounds a little strange but it helps me stay calm which helps them stay calm. Working slowly and trying not to smash any (many) is my approach.
I wouldn’t shorten your videos at all! I appreciate the time well spent, you are chill and thorough. Very easy to follow and learn from, thank you!
Thank you! It is really nice for you to say that. I am glad to help where I can. I love making the videos and interacting with other beekeepers or potential beekeepers (these are the two groups I have narrowed all people into).
I really appreciate the break down and explination of a Top Bar hive. Im looking to start a Hive this year and you conrifmed my desire.
That is great to hear! Starting is the scariest part. Being realistic that there will be issues helps push through when you deal with them. Finding a local community of beekeepers, if possible, is the best way to succeed. Thank you for the comment and keep us posted on how things work out.
As a new beekeeper, preparing to start my first Topbar Hive, this was so helpful! Thank you! 🐝🍯🥰
You're welcome. I like being able to give back. A lot of videos and local mentors helped me a lot in the beginning.
Ralph, thank you for the shout out on your channel. Sorry I’m so late to respond but my super horizontal swarmed on me yesterday day. This was very unexpected and I had no equipment ready, because I set 7 swarm traps. My wife and I watched all your video and it was very good. My wife keep asking me questions about the top bars and I keep shhhhing her and told her to listen to you... 😂 .. Yes I got punched.
Thank you Rickey! I think we just got over our main swarm season here. It seemed to calm down the past couple of weeks. Mine always happen when I don't expect them.
I know you could make some really beautiful top bar hives too. Maybe in the future?
Our local groups only do vertical hives, but we have an opportunity to use some top bars at a low price and needed to know if it was worth it! We prefer to keep it all natural, and love that this looks like a good option for us. Thanks for all the info!
When I first started my bee club in 2016, top bars were snubbed. Luckily me and another couple who started coming at the same time just happened to be interested in top bars. We spread the love of them and were given the opportunity to do a presentation at one of the meetings. Tops bars at that point were accepted in the club. We also added top bars into the hive presentation at the beginning beekeeping classes we would help out with. I say this to say don't give up! Top bars have their place. They aren't a good option for everyone but many people can benefit from using them .
I make my top bar hives out of clean pallets that I get for free, it couldn't be cheaper and the bees do well.
Very helpful. Thank you for explaining what we’re looking at when looking at the comb (nurse bees, drones, etc.). I have bees building comb on the follow board when we started with 8 boards, added 3 more boards because think they have run out of room? So much to learn.
It's part of the journey for sure. The best time in beekeeping to me is when I can look at them working and be amazed at how they do things. I used to love helping out with beginner courses, because I could live a little of that over again through others. Thank you for the comment!
Good video - just a couple of things to add
1) Yes, most of the comb is collected using crush & strain. But if you are selling the honey, selling "comb honey" is much more profitable than bottled honey. So rather than cut the comb into a bucket, if you can bring it back to the house on the bar, you can use your knife to cut it into the size of the plastic trays you sell comb honey in. Honey sold this way sells for about twice the price (per ounce) as bottled honey.
... and yes, you can do cut-comb honey from Langstroth hives too (just don't put foundation in the frames of the honey super).
2) I wish you would have mentioned the downside to doing crush & strain - you destroy the comb. Bees have to eat ~7 lbs of honey in order to make 1 lbs of bees wax. In a Langstroth hive, you can de-cap the honey, spin the honey out of the comb, and give the comb back to the bee's to re-use. Doing this can GREATLY increase the amount of honey you can collect.
3) you have some bad information when talking about cell size and mites. Mites reproduce inside capped cells - since drone larva are capped for 3 days longer than workers, more mites are produced in drone cells than worker. It is the length of time the cell is capped that is the bigger factor. Cell size is not nearly as important.
4) the 21 minute mark would have been a good opportunity to talk about one of the advantages that Langstroth hives have over TopBars - when the hive runs out of room, you simply add another box to the Lang hive. You can't do that with a TopBar. That means you can allow your hives to get MUCH bigger (bigger generally means healthier).
I love the name of your channel! Assuming it comes from a reverence of the Chief Cornerstone. Good stuff. Also thank you for the feedback
1. Last year I had a friend who wanted some comb to put in his quart jars. He did charge an extra couple dollars for it. The people I sell it to have never been interested in the comb. I have tried. I see it marked up in farmers markets and also thought it would be neat to do the cutting with the square cutter into the plastic square containers but I'm not sure if anyone would buy it and it is a lot of work to do that. I know some people have made it work. I am also a little lazy with some things.....
2. I agree to this point for honey production. Top bars are used primarily by backyard people or "artisans" who use the wax for other products. There is definitely a trade off between more honey or more wax. Honey being the more valuable product unless you are modifying the wax in some way (fancy candles and such).
3. I would have to look at the sources again I got this from. One is Solomon Parkers Treatment Free podcast. He and other treatment free people actually advocate buying small cell foundation for hives in order to coach the bees to build the smaller cells for worker bees. I have also heard the cell sizes in top bars/foundationless frames, on average, tend to be smaller. I'm sure you are spot on for the gestation on the mites coinciding with drones.
4. I call my top bar version the Economy version. I build them cheap with the sides from one 8 ft board. They are probably smaller than they should be. With that said they just take more management and at times that means splitting or harvesting honey. Langstroths would be easy to just add boxes for sure.
Thank you so much for the comment!
Really great it taught me a lot and it’s awesome to see how calm you bees are
Thank you! I am glad you enjoyed it.
Very helpful video. Thank you from across the pond 😊
You're welcome! I am happy it helped! Thank you for the comment.
Thank you for sharing your videos and knowledge. I have a Topbar hive and actually answered a couple of my questions before I had a chance to ask them. I will definitely keep watching your videos. Thank you Evonne
Thank you Evonne!
I like the Cathedral Hive design because it gives 3 sides of support to the comb. The downside appears to be manual processing altho there has to be a way to stabilize the other end to take the centrifugal force of a spinner. I'm.partial to the long hive designs to save my back. Great explanation, enjoyed the video!
thank you for making time and sharing us such amazing momments,
i would appreciate it if you could write down the inner dimensions of your top bar beehhives.
I am happy to share the little bit of experience I have with everyone. I will make a short video in the next couple days with it. I'm not sure of them off hand.
Hi Ralph! First year top bar beekeeper and basic idiot about all of this. We installed our bees last Saturday & checked them yesterday (Wednesday). They were making great progress but I made lots of mistakes and lost comb. LOVE THIS VIDEO and need to know how to make some rescue bars. I couldn’t tell how to do that. I tossed the comb that fell bc I had nowhere to reattach it.
Hi Janet! I am a top bar beekeeper and an idiot too! Sometimes I tell myself mistakes aren't bad they are learning opportunities. We have all been there.
I made this video a couple weeks ago to show how I made the rescue bars. I hope it helps. Keep me updated on how things are going.
th-cam.com/video/Bk96vzclOEk/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for sharing the beautiful video.
Thank you so much!
6:10 There's why you are getting comb breakage. Never turn a bar sideways. The motion should be one side down, the other side up so the comb always stays vertical. There isn't enough natural support to allow for a horizontal comb, so it will break..
100% true. It is good practice not to. The heavy the comb the more likely it is to break. I had to go back and watch that time stamp. Under normal circumstances, I would never turn a bar sideways that had weight to it. If that was a bar full of honey it would have been a sticky mess😂
Nice sharing
Yep Rickey does a top notch hive 🍺🍺
They do look amazing! He is extremely talented with woodworking.
Thanks Bradley for the kind words!! Hey when is your next video coming out?
I’ve been flat out for the last mate. We’ve been house hunting for the last couple months. We find out this week if we get a house close to town. I was laid up for a couple weeks again with my back. I’ve been trying
@@downunderfulla6001 Bradley I know how the back can put a man down. We will be praying for you andI hope you get your new house also!! Family is way more important then videos.
Thank you so much Rickey, it means a lot
You’ve done this very well - thank you! I’ve subscribed! Thanks much appreciated…
Thank you so much for your kind words!
This is so cool, I had to stop due to an injury. Next year, topbar!
Sorry to hear about the injury. Top bars are easier to work for sure. Definitely better on my back than Langstroths.
I’m learning all about bee keeping so I can start doing it next year… I think it may be too late this year. Very informative you’ve got a new sub (almost at 250! Think im 229 😛)
Thank you Tony! I appreciate the comment and the sub! Waiting until next year gives you a good amount of time to study. Beekeeping can be a large investment, so research is a good thing.
really informative. I am just starting to research starting a hive in the suburbs.
Thank you! At my old place I had a 1/4 of an acre. The bees were not a concern to the neighbor's except one swarming situation. I kept bees there for 5 years. Here in Florida, beekeeping is regulated by the state Department of Agriculture. The laws are really good for encouraging backyard beekeepers. We can have up to 3 hives per quarter acre. Hives need to have a barrier around them or be in a fenced in area. I always encourage anyone interested in getting bees to ask beekeepers in the area. They are a great source of information and usually love talking about bees!
@@ralphwhite759 cool i think in alabama its the same, i really only want one hive and it looks like a topbar style is the easiest to make and maintain.
I agree! I have a long video on how I built some top bar nucs. I think I mentioned in the video the full size top bars are 33 inches long but the dimensions on the sides and angles are the same. Michael Bush has some plans on his website also. That is originally where I got my first design from, but my angles are a little bit different. I have an instagram account: want_a_bee_farm. Feel free to reach out with questions.
High Ralph hope you are well mate your filming is better than when I last commented 👍 😉 😀
Thank you Paul! I was hoping you would like the quality of the newer ones. I still have a lot of refining to do. If I got a compliment from you, I am moving in the right direction 😂. Just kidding. I really appreciate your comments and find them pretty funny. Thank you!
@@ralphwhite759 It's looking miles better than the first one i commented on Ralph keep up the good work 😊 👍
Wow, learned so much from this. Thanks for sharing.
Of course. I am glad to be able to help.
great information
Thank you!
Really nice video. Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you for this wonderful and educational video! Where can I buy a comb rescue bar? A large piece of comb broke off this week during inspection and I'd love to have one of these rescue bars on hand next inspection.
Hi Michelle! Here is a link to a short video where I built one. They are super easy to build. A broken comb makes for a rough day beekeeping. Thanks you for the comment!
th-cam.com/video/Bk96vzclOEk/w-d-xo.html
@@ralphwhite759 Thank you so much for your quick and kind reply! I realized that when I went back to inspect the hive that the bees had connected the comb to the sides of the hive, so I cut the bars that were connected off the sides, starting from the bottom, with a serrated knife. That seemed to do the trick, but I'm definitely going to check out your comb rescue bar tutorial!
First time watching you I've been doing top bar hivefor a few years and I really like to do some splits on my top bar, have you ever thought of using a screen excluder in a top bar hive between the Brew nest and the extra bars I haven't yet I'm going to try I have a very deep top bar hive so it would be giving me room to make a divider board with a queen excluder I have not yet seen anyone do this but I have a feeling now that I've mentioned it it's going to happen from crabby
They will backfill the space with necktie durning a flow
Thanks 🙏 very nice brood pattern, I’ll take a swarm cell 😃😃😃😃😃😃
Thank you! Every year I say I am going to start small scale queen production. Maybe next year?
I wish I can come and work with you so I learn more
Excellent narrative
Thank you so much!
what ever it takes to get people into bees. I am going to have to make some, I have people that want to buy nucs for top bar. I put the frames in my boxes to draw them and get brood. its been cool. sometimes the random holes in the brood pattern are left on purpose, bees can go head first in from both sides and vibrate. this warms the frame from the middle
Nucs are hard to make because it would have to be a similar size. I have thought about doing packages with my top bar hives because they produce so many bees.
I have learned to love the wax they make. Interesting about the holes. I never thought about it being a way to keep things warmer. Great point!
@@ralphwhite759 I have a video of the new comb drawn out on the top bar that is screwed to my frames. When they are well established I will take them off and put them in a nuc box. Then when he gets home he unscrews the top bar from my frame and put it in his box. Then he is actually getting a nuke on top bar Frames
I am going to check that out. It sounds genious!
@@harrisjoubertwithsleepycre1924 Harris you know your 🐝!!!
Hi. How do you prevent winter condensation? Do you not need top bar ventilation with small gap between the bars?
Hi Attila. I do not have winter condensation here because I do not cover the bottoms of the hive. Year round I leave the screen bottom open. I am in North Florida, so the temperatures only get to the mid twenties a couple days a year at the lowest. One year, I used plastic on the bottom and did have condensation drip down on that. I tore it away and never had the issue again. I wish I could help more. It is just a topic I have never dealt with.
My uneducated opinion:
I can see the bees filling in the ventilation space with propolis if it is between the bars. They seal the small crack in the bars with propolis all the time. Do research on this but I wonder if a hole at the top of the hive above the entrance would relieve the condensation. Assuming you have a hole at the bottom of the hive for the bees to come and go making another one at the top might help. Anything local beekeepers do in your area with Langstroth hives, you can modify to work for your top bar....maybe.
@@ralphwhite759 thanks a lot!
Great video. Really liked it.
Just one question.
Where can I find the plans for the rescue bars?
I just posted a short video with how I make them. I hope it helps.
th-cam.com/video/Bk96vzclOEk/w-d-xo.html
I am going to start in this hobby next spring and I am really attracted to this method instead of the traditional. I think it looks more natural and easy to care for. Specially in the beginning. My only worry with this is the honey collection method. Is that method more wasteful? or harder?
I have another video on how I harvest honey. I don't think it is more wasteful. Some may say it is less efficient, because the wax and honey is harvested. Langstroth frames make it so you can cut the capping off the wax, spin out the honey, and put back in the empty honey combs into the bee hive. With a top bar, all of the comb with honey is crushed together and given time to strain. You get more wax with top bars after the collection but the bees will have to build all the comb again to replace it. I hope that helps.
I would think cutting the comb off would be more healthy because of the new comb and are able to do what they are meant to buy building comb so it gives the queen a reason to make more bees
I do like to cut the comb off for honey harvesting. Giving the bees area for new comb building and clean comb for the queen to lay in is important. Great point!
Hi - Thank you for the video - I like the gentleness in the way you act with the bees. Do you have the measurements for your top bar hive and a drawing/construction drawing? We would like to switch over to top bar and want to build some this spring. Where are you located? Regards from Denmark :)
oh, and how does one feed bees in a top bar?
Hi Karlina! I am located near Jacksonville, FL. Thank you for the compliment. I have learned that giving the bees respect is much less painful than working them without care. For your question about the measurements here is a link to an early video where I built a smaller version for use as a swarm trap. The only difference between the swarm trap is the length and number of top bars. If I remember correctly, I mentioned that in this video. I hope it helps and always feel free to ask anything. Thank you for the comment!
th-cam.com/video/5SwLWKV3gac/w-d-xo.html
@@ralphwhite759 Hi again. Thank you for answering. Ok, I get it - watched the video, great inspiration and measurements. Also thanks for taking questions if they arise. I think we will have to insulate the hives we build here in Scandinavia, and we cannot buy so massive tree as you use, so lets see how we adjust our design. I am excited. The bees were out yesterday, one of the first warmer days (lol, I think not warm for someone in Florida). Again, thanks. How do you feed the bees in a top bar hive? Or do you just leave enough honey for them to get through? Or is the winter in Florida so short that you never feed? 👍
I liked your hive tool :)
Thank you! It's a multi-purpose tool.😂
Thank you 🙏🏼 I’m starting out with top bars and this vid is so helpful.
I am glad it was helpful! Top bars hives are a lot of fun. I love seeing the bees build comb naturally. Thank for watching!
what plans did you use to build your TBH ?Your combs look much larger and deeper than mine. I used 2x10 , 30 degree angle bottom bds. The Les Crowder plans.
I started using a Michael Bush design and later transitioned to a size that maximizes a 2x12s. I take an 8ft board, cut 2 15 inch sections off. I am left with 66 inches. I cut that in half leaving 2 33 inch sections. The sides are 33 inch sections. The 15 inch sections become the front and back. I make my bars 1 and 3/8 inches wide. I'm going by memory. I think I have a short with the quick dimensions. The angles I just measure to match the already built top bars. I used to be a Framer but never made it to doing real carpentry. My cuts are rudimentary 😂 I hope that helps.
@@ralphwhite759 THNX...very good vid
Thanks SO much for the great information I have my top bar hive built and a neighbor has a nuk for me
Did you coat the wood before bringing the bees in?
Do you have any suggestions for top bar construction?
Again thanks
I am glad to help.I have realized the thicker sides work better for me. The boards I use are 2 inch by 12 inch by 8 ft long (in US standard measurements). I do not coat the inside with anything but paint the outside. The bees will propolize the inside how they see fit. Here is a video about how I build a top bar nuc. The only difference is the side lengths are longer in my full size hives. I hope this helps.
th-cam.com/video/5SwLWKV3gac/w-d-xo.html
Hi Ralph, can you put a queen excluder bar on each side of the brood. Example if your entrance is in the middle of your hive. Place queen excluders squeezing say 5 bars. So the queen won’t lay eggs in the honey, on each ends of the hive? Just questioning, and learning.
Hi Marlo. I have heard of some people doing something like that. It might be a fun experiment. Just make sure the queen has enough bars to lay eggs in or the bees might think it is time to swarm if the brood space seems too small.
i noticed that you dont use smoke when you work with you bees, when i was taught to raid " WILD " hives we didnt use smoke either, slow and easy, no fast sudden moves, no earth toned clothing, and talk to the bees like them girls are your lover!! i never tried this approach with the africanized bees, just the wild girls,, thank you for the tips
Too funny! That is a good way to be. I am curious how you found wild hives. I have heard people "bee line" to find them. I can see Africanized bees being difficult to work without a veil.
Going to the entrance and letting them know you are there helps too. When I don't do that and open the hive fast is when I get popped in the hands. I will use smoke but only for more agitated hives. Smoke makes me stink worse (sweat and smoke together is horrible), smokers can be a pain to light, the embers go out when I need it, or I pack it too much where it burns for hours.
@@ralphwhite759 first we looked for dead standing trees that are just at the edge of a field with a southern exposer, and a lot of flowers, if theres water close by that helps also,, i have found " clear cutting " woods destroys a lot of wild hives also not just mean people or bears, bears usaly get the hives that are close to the ground,, i found that you can hear the buzzing from the hives if you find trees the bees are using,, some of those hives are a good 12 to 30 feet in the tree, you can also set out a bait station for them to find if you think you are near a hive but havent been able to find it,, sorry to ramble on, its easier to show some one then to write it down,,,, great videos
@@yoopermann7942 That is some really good information! It sounds like fun. I'm sure you will catch something in your swarm traps with all that knowledge of what they naturally look for in a home.
@@ralphwhite759 if it ever stops raining long enough, it seems like it rains every day or two
Yes, subscribed!🎉🎉🎉
Thank you!
So there are no Queen excluder at all in the hive? Will that effect the honey production, how many kg/lb do you get yearly?
Also how do you collect bee pollen from the Top Bar hive?
Many Questions lawl..
Best regards,
Novice beekeeper from sweden.
Hi Gustav! I do not use a queen excluder. Normally, the queen will not go past where the bar where the honey starts so a queen excluder is not needed. It is hard to say the honey production. The good thing about a top bar hive is you can harvest as needed. For example, you need a few jars so you can just take a couple bars out leaving the bees with honey. I will say this is not the best method for making lots of honey.
I do not collect pollen. You may be able to modify the entrance to put on a pollen trap. I have never done it though.
Sorry I couldn't answer your questions in depth. I am not an expert by all means. I am also a novice beekeeper! Thank you so much for watching my video. I hope this helps.
@@ralphwhite759 Thanks for the answer :) aiight then i know. Well i think i'am going to try out the toplist hive, i can only see benefits in it instead for the classic one =)
Great video. Wouldn't it be better to make your top bar a foot longer?
It would be to have a bigger hive. I don't because I make it so an 8 foot 2 by 12 makes one hive. That is why the sides are 33 inches and the front and back are 15 inches. This comes out to 96 inches (8ft). If I bought longer boards I could adjust the size. This seemed the most efficient use of my money before. I may need to readjust since lumber prices are crazy.
Any recommendations for a blog to start a hive that you used?
When I built my first one I modeled it after Michael Bush's design. I have modified mine a tiny bit to be more efficient use of wood, but he is the guru. Here is his blog. He has measurements on his.
www.bushfarms.com/beestopbarhives.htm
I have a short with a super brief description as it's hard to fit that in a minute.
th-cam.com/users/shortsjvcKYai867E?si=TstdLiINr1A0Z4vZ
Tổ này để xây tự nhiên ah bạn
Hi..i just introduced the bees in my first top bar 2 days ago..it is a new family just swormed ..can you give advice for about the first things to do? I did not put any feeder and positioned the family far back away from the entrance, i left 7 bars and than put the divider with the hole..i see bees going in and out from the main entrance but also from a small gap under the divider due to the bottom net not properly straight... when do you think is a good time to do first check?
Congratulations! Some advice I would offer for things that have worked for me. A swarm builds wax very quickly for the first couple weeks. I think a swarm had a large amount of the bees going through their wax making age of life. I have seen places in trees where the swarm was (after moving them) and the tree limb had wax on it. When you put the swarm in the box know those bees producing wax will age and go onto later in life duties. To understand this better look up the lifecycle of a honey bee. They start as nurse bees and go through a progression of job to the last job being forager. That being said you will see a lot of wax being built initially but it will slow down until the queen gets eggs laid in the new wax. That might sound like rambling, but you will see what I mean. I would also feed them. Until they get the comb built and the population to gather the nectar, food can be an issue. They most likely will start building comb at the entrance. I hope this helps. Feel free to ask more questions. If I know them I am happy to help.
I wonder why they don't extent the combs to join the side walls of the box. In langstroth hives they do extend the hives to the side of the frames, be it with or without foundation.
They do some but it isn't extensive. The style hive I use is called a "Kenyan top bar". It has slanted sides. A "Tanzanian Top Bar" is a box with top bars. The bees are more likely to attach to the sides in that I have heard.
When I run my knife down the sides of the combs it cuts out the little bit that has attached to the side.
@@ralphwhite759 Thanks for sharing. I will avoid straight sides rectangular box and go for slated side hive box in that case. I love the dea of simple horizontal hive box.
@@super-z8943 Top bars are really fun! Good luck and keep us posted!
Where did you get your rescue topbar? I would really love one of these for those occasions my comb breaks off..
I make them. I saw the idea a few years ago from someone else. My video "Laying Workers, Spider vs Bees, and Easy Queen Cells in a Top Bar Hive" has a close up around 13 minutes. It takes a plain top bar, a section of 1 inch by 1 inch wire (also called rabbit wire in my area), and a few staples. I cut a 12 inch length of wire 3 sections wide. I staple the first section on the bar (make sure the sides of the wire do not extend over the edges or fitting it between existing top bars is tough). Then I bend it into a "C" shape with each section making up a side. Getting a visual of one of the rescue bars from a video might make more sense.
Is the 33 inches the measurement of the Side panel or is that counting from end to end with end on
33 inches is the side panel (not end to end of the hive). 33 allows for the fit for the top bars to be a whole number. 24 too bars fit tight if I remember correctly. It also allows for a 96 inch board to be cut into 2 ends (15 inches each) and 2 side panels (33 inches each).
Ok tyvm I appreciate that
just found you thanks for the info
Thank you Jay!
If you add a dowel in the centre of your top bars 6 to 8 inched long your broken comb days will be over.
I think that would be a solution. Have you tried it? The only issue I could see is it would reduce some comb building surface area. Around the dowel they couldn't build comb out like the rest of the bar. I do think it would be a cool experiment to try. I may put it on the list this year
@@ralphwhite759 You won't significantly reduce the comb building area and you can make your hives wader because the comb has the extra support. You might have to reverse a top bar in the early stages to get them to draw a full comb but one they have one full comb they will be off. It works well. I first came up with the idea on my honey cow and it worked so well I use it on all my topbar hives which are 500mm lomg and about 400mm deep so each bar holds a lot of honey.
What is common length and wide of a topbar hive
I'm not sure about a common length. Top bars are pretty easy to change most measurements. Michael Bush has some diagrams on his website. I think his are 4ft long. Mine are 33 inches long and 15 inches wide (at the top) to maximize an 8ft board. The only measurement you need to make sure you have is the width of the top bars. These are what provide bee space. They should be 1 and 3/8 inches wide in the brood chamber.
@@ralphwhite759 Thank you
🐝👍
You do you but other than the cost difference (langstroth frames aren't cheap) I really don't see any significant advantage of top bars over long langs
The undeniable benefits are the less lifting for backyard beekeepers. You don't pry up on heavy 70 pound supers and move them to the side. Top bars are way better for people with injuries and bad backs.
Cheaper is also important to a lot of people as well as the ability to customize the looks for backyard beekeepers.
Some debatable topics are better mite resistance because the bees build smaller comb (which you can do with foundationless frames in a Langstroth).
Another positive is being able to rotate out old comb, which you can also easily do with foundationless Langstroth frames. Foundation you have to melt off the wax from the plastic, or wires, and reapply wax.
Of course, I am not trying to change anyone's mind. I love hearing different ways to do things and different perspectives. Thank you for the comment Thomas!
I understand about half of what he's saying, i.e. brood, through the wire, etc.
I am slowly working on a video with general definition to help out. I hope to have it done in a week or so. Thanks for the comment!
I just installed my first bee package today. Im sure I did about 3 things wrong. Left a space open, put the queen on the bottom and put the box in with the hole open. Here's hoping the bees are smarter than me.
@@claythomas7982 I think you should be alright. When you go back in a couple days to make sure the queen is out and you can remedy the other things. Do you have a Langstroth or top bar hive? When you say you put the box in with the hole open, do you mean the package the bees came in? Another thought. When you put the queen on the bottom is the screen facing up? If not the other bees can't feed her.
Why is this not added in many countries as a way to generate income
Some places do. I have had some people comment from other countries on some of the videos they plan to try it. If I remember correctly there was a person from Mexico at one point that spoke to me about it.
I also know of a person in St Augustine, Florida that goes to places in the Caribbean to set people up with top bars. I think it is a great idea to set the up like this.
When I was learning about topbar hives I found out they are one of the oldest hive designs.
Pretty cool. I love the simplicity of the design and how we can make them out of nearly any material.
@@ralphwhite759 the only designs that I have found that predate the top bar are basket hives (those go all the way back to the stone age), log hives and ceramic hives.
Get rid of the annoying music background please
Thank you for the feedback! Good point.
Comprehensive and not showy - thanks
Thank you!
A langstrom box when full will weigh 70 lbs. A single bar when full and ready will weigh 5 lbs.
That adds up quick Clay. That is a reason I have heard top bars are better for people with bad backs.
Thanks for this. I am just brand new at bee keeping. I built a top bar hive using Les-is-more at bee mindful plans. We baited it with lemongrass oil and we are hoping a swarm needs a new home and finds ours. What are the chances do you suppose? I am very much hoping for a natural swarm. I feel like if they do they will be more likely to be string, familiar with the area, and able to survive in this area. Is that realistic or just wishful thinking?
I only know what I have heard and my limited experience. That is some areas are really populous with feral bee colonies. My area is not known for many feral colonies. Most swarms are most likely from other managed bee colonies. I have done a few cutouts; in trees. They did not seem like they were there for a long time. Of course there are other factors in that such as moths eating old combs and such. I have heard before the mites and beetles made it to the US in the 80's feral colonies were much more common. It's perfect weather in North Florida for hive beetles and during the heat of the summer they do damage on weakened colonies.
I personally always try to attract swarms though. Even if the swarm comes from managed colonies in your area they at least have made it through a year there (hypothetically). They should be somewhat acclimated to your area. Also bee keeping is best done with a realistic attitude while wishful thinking😂. I really hope you catch a swarm.
Another thought. Make sure people at your work, family, neighborhood, and any other local community you have know you are looking for a swarm and a bee keeper. Lots of times others are the best way to find out where a swarm is. I have gotten strange calls from family or friends about swarms they saw or someone on Facebook saw. It may open up an opportunity for you.