KTBH with a Twist

[Jon McFadden]

I finally saw a KTBH that got me off the fence. Construction of one has started.
http://nordykebeefarm.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=36&PN=1&TPN=1

[Jon McFadden]

Plans have been added

[GaSteve]

The window is a neat idea. Is it common to have two different widths of top bars in a TBH. Are there any advantages that outweigh the decrease in interchangeability?

[Robert Hawkins]

Steve, I'm not that good a reading the plans, I guess. where do you get Oh. Widths not lengths.

Yes it's common if you want to maximize honey. Big frames. and minimize bee size. small frames. since the small frames stay in front and the larger frames get rotated to the rear it's not so hard to keep track. and with all frames/topbars at nineteen inches, anything can go anywhere you really need to put it. Including into a lang.

Hawk

[Jon McFadden]

Couldn't have said it better myself, Hawk.
I added pictures of the completed hive:
http://nordykebeefarm.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=6&PN=1

[drobbins]

Jon,

I'm in the planning stage of something similar
I was thinking of making the follower board be a box that could server as a feeder
maybe put inverted jars of syrup in it

just an idea

Dave

[Jon McFadden]

Super idea, Dave! I was just getting to the point of figuring something for that. You have saved me the trouble!
The follower that's in there now has two runners to keep it upright.
Thanks for sharing.

[Michael Bush]

I have a KTBH with 15" bars and 10" or so depth two TTBH with 19" bars and medium depth (7 1/4" counting the space that would be the bottom board on a regular hive). I like them both. The shorter bars are easier to keep the bees on the bars with the combs. The longer bars are nice because they are interchangable with my Langstroth medium depth hives.

I will probably only build the long mediums with the 19" bars from now on, just because of the interchangability. Not only with frames, but with nuc boxes and such for doing splits, catching swarms, saving queens or queen cells etc.

But if I had no Langstroth equipment and didn't intend to get any, it wouldn't matter that much one way or the other.

[Jon McFadden]

Hi Michael,
Other than the length of the top bars, the design is based on conversations Scot McPherson and I exchanged. Making the bars 19" is a little wasteful, but is made up with the elegance of Scot's dimensions. Scot's ambition is to make a "Standard" for top bar hives.

Dave,
What I was thinking about was making the feeder with one wall being the inside wall for the bees. I figure 1 gal capacity with a clear wall in the back to check the level. The beauty of the whole thing is that it combines the advantage of the hive top feeder with the advantages of the division board feeder.
One other addition I am adding is a robber screen 100% of the time.

[drobbins]

Jon,

in my very limited experience, the problem with hive top feeders is that when it comes time to refill them there's still a bunch of bee's in em and you can't fill em without drowning lot's of em.

I was thinking of just making it a box you could put inverted jars in (with some kind of access hole)
jar get's empty, take it out and replace it

Dave

[Jon McFadden]

Dave,
You bring up a valid point. However, I use mine for stimulating in the early spring as a rule. I dislike opening the hive at that time of year. I plan on modifying the hive top feeders I have been using and convert to a single access on one end for the Langstroth hives. By having a large reservoir, I can avoid having to refill.
The feeder I visualize for the TBH will have a similar screen to the one I plan for the others. Instead of allowing a multiple layer of bees into the feeder, I plan to restrict them to a bee space on a long front. This is to prevent drownings. To be honest, for some reason I've never had a problem with this so far. The division board feeders I modify by putting an accordioned screen to give them a large surface area to climb on. I've never used floats.
Anyway, I'll try and get a preliminary drawing posted tonight.

[Jon McFadden]

Robber screen drawing added to the KTBH Observation Hive.
http://nordykebeefarm.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=6&PN=1

[Jon McFadden]

Robber screen has been installed. I took it to the local bee association meeting. I've been asked to take it to the Heber Springs group, too.
Well recieved by the attendees.
http://nordykebeefarm.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=6&PN=1