Money-is-a bit-short-and-wife-has-me-on-short-leash top-bar build

[PatBeek]

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I'm in between projects with my work, so money is a tad tight for the time being.

I was itchin' to put together a top-bar bait hive so I can catch me some bees for my top-bar hive I had already built a few months ago.

So I rounded up some fence pieces that were in my attic from previous house owner and hit the culled-wood section at Home Depot. I also had to saw a few pieces from a pallet I have in my garage.

This has to be the ugliest slammed-together piece-of-junk ever displayed on these forums, but I have the utmost confidence it's going to work fantastically.

Keep in mind that I own a hack saw and a manual wood saw. I own zero shop tools and no proper place to mount wood to work on it.

If anyone wants to build a top-bar hive, do yourself a favor and don't take any advice from me:



Wondering what the patchwork of misc wood is on the side? That's to hold the two pieces of wood together/reinforce (top and bottom) that was once fencing.

[PatBeek]

[Rader Sidetrack]

This has to be the ugliest slammed-together piece-of-junk ever displayed on the forums, but I have the utmost confidence it's going to work fantastically.

The bees certainly don't care what it looks like! But I have to say that your earlier post on the cardboard (not even waxed cardboard) trap is even junkier than this one.

The bees may care what it smells like, however. See if you can come up with some lemongrass oil to make the box smell like "home".

[PatBeek]

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Here's my nice top-bar hive that my neighbor and I built a few months ago with his nice shop. It's the "Golden Mean" from Corwin Bell's plans:

[PatBeek]

The bees certainly don't care what it looks like! But I have to say that your earlier post on the cardboard (not even waxed cardboard) trap is even junkier than this one.

The bees may care what it smells like, however. See if you can come up with some lemongrass oil to make the box smell like "home".

Agree 100%, and thanks.

I already have some lemongrass oil and old comb awaiting.

By the way, it's a tad large and/or cumbersome (seemingly) to be mounted up in a tree for a bait hive in a wooded area near my home. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can mount this monstrosity without having to hire labor to help get it up and down?

Pullies? A Crane?

As I mentioned before, it was originally intended to be a bait hive for a tree, but I may have made it too big. And it's almost too small to be a permanent top bar hive.

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[GeeBee]

are you sure it's a leash? Looks more like she has you on a choke chain! lol That has got to be the coolest hive I've ever seen. Any port in a storm, eh? Hope it works out for you!

[PatBeek]

are you sure it's a leash? Looks more like she has you on a choke chain! lol That has got to be the coolest hive I've ever seen. Any port in a storm, eh? Hope it works out for you!

Surely you're talking about the blue hive of mine being the coolest hive you've ever seen, right?

It couldn't possibly be you were referring to the train-wreck.

Thanks either way.

By the way, I got to thinking last night about a pulley system for my train-wreck hive to be hoisted up in a tree. Then perhaps two more tied-off ropes at the bottom to stabilize any blowing/swinging action. It would be much easier to mount pullies in a tree than that hive. Oh yeah, I forgot - I'll have to get permission from my leash-holder in order to obtain the pullies/ropes.

[Mbeck]

I like it!

[dixiebooks]

Why not just set it up on an upended trash can or barrel? Traps don't necessarily have to be 40 feet up in the air. -james

[Steven Ogborn]

A short leash or no funds and fancy tools are what spawned top bar hive beekeeping.
Good job.

[Merlinspop]

Call around to some exterminators and get on they're list for swarms.

[PatBeek]

Call around to some exterminators and get on they're list for swarms.

I'll try that again.

It seems I tried that about a year ago to see what my options would be to get into all of this, but it seemed there was confusion and silence on the other end of the line when I inquired about it. I don't exactly live in the most progressive county regarding bees. They were probably thinking, "you don't want to kill those bugs?"

[PatBeek]

A short leash or no funds and fancy tools are what spawned top bar hive beekeeping.
Good job.

Thanks, sir.

[PatBeek]

Why not just set it up on an upended trash can or barrel? Traps don't necessarily have to be 40 feet up in the air. -james

I did just that for now.

Right now it sits atop a blue 55 gal drum right next to my screened-in porch.

I may just leave it there and be done with it.

HOWEVER, I may want to use that barrel soon for this:

http://www.velacreations.com/honeycow.html


http://www.flickr.com/photos/velacre...7622528453587/

[jonlorusso]

Any idea how well this would work in the north? I happen to have an unused barrel just like this, but I'm not sure how well it would insulate against the cold.

[PatBeek]

Any idea how well this would work in the north? I happen to have an unused barrel just like this, but I'm not sure how well it would insulate against the cold.

I've seen Corwin Bell wrap his hives in Colorado with insulation placed in plastic bags:

Winterizing Your Top Bar Hive for the Colder Months


http://www.backyardhive.com/Articles...ing_Your_Hive/

[jonlorusso]

Thanks for the link Pat.

I found this bit really interesting:

"We recommend feeding the bees honey instead of sugar syrup or sugar water, as sugar is not a natural food for the bees. If your hive is in its first year you can use store bought honey, but ideally you would want to use honey you have collected from that hive."

I guess he finds the benefits of feeding honey (even store bought honey) outweigh the potential risks of disease, etc.?


Also on that page, he mentions the reference point of Boulder, CO. Living in NJ, I always assumed Boulder was -cold-, but never really cared enough to know exactly how cold. I found this tool from weather.com:

http://www.weather.com/outlook/trave...lanner/compare


Apparently, it's 2 degrees colder on average where I live than in Boulder, CO. Perhaps I will think about insulating this winter.

[odfrank]

>I guess he finds the benefits of feeding honey (even store bought honey) outweigh the potential risks of disease, etc.?

When I first lost all my bees to mites in 1995 I fed six new packages my honey - they all got American foulbrood and had to be destroyed. Last year I fed solar honey and hives got European Foulbrood. To help them recover I medicated with Terramycin patties and fed Prosweet and most have recovered nicely. Many organic teachings can make you feel warm and fuzzy but are not based on true life experience.

[jonlorusso]

> Many organic teachings can make you feel warm and fuzzy but are not based on true life experience.


My intention was not to endorse Corwin Bell's advice, but simply to point out that I had quite literally never heard anyone recommend this before, "organic" or not.

[odfrank]

> I had quite literally never heard anyone recommend this before, "organic" or not.

Dee Lusby strongly forbids feeding anything but honey. She is the founder of the small cell movement and leader of the Yahoo Organic Beekeeping message group.