I am getting into tbh keeping after a long layoff from langstroth hives. A friend and I are going in together and he had his heart set on the Golden Mean hive, which I have to admit has a great sales pitch. Another plus for me going into Golden Means as my new hive style is that the students at his Tech High School are using the plans as a project, so they benifit from the experience and we get a greatly reduced cost on the hives...win win.
However I received a text today about there being a problem with the fit of the top bars. My friend said it was hard to explain and that I would have to see. The parts should match the designs exactly as the plans were entered into a cnc machine and checked by the shop instructor...so after doing a little digging on our forum here I found that this issue has come up for other and if you know woodworking its an easy fix...
BUT...that thread lead me somewhere I didnt want to go.
It seems predestined that instead of a pair of nice tbh's I expected, what I am actually going to geat a set of really sweet top bar SWARM machines, for the main reason being the length! Which is approx. 26.5" through the interior. I have watched about 100 youtube videos and several books etc, but somehow allowed myself to fall victim to flowery bee hive prose...shame on me.
The big question I guess is, as I am in Massachusetts, where it occasionally (like Nov-March) gets cold, and since the bees wont be arriving until the end of April, should I chop the back off both of these hives and make them simease twins? Then just bangout another four footer for the second group?
Here is the pdf of the plans... http://www.preparednessfair2011.org/booth09b.pdf ...sorry for the long story, but wanted to express how much effort went into making these hives (I mean oversized nucs?) a reality. Maybe I don't need to be worried about it, but better to ask know istead of two days before the packages arrive.
As always, thanks!
Matt
However I received a text today about there being a problem with the fit of the top bars. My friend said it was hard to explain and that I would have to see. The parts should match the designs exactly as the plans were entered into a cnc machine and checked by the shop instructor...so after doing a little digging on our forum here I found that this issue has come up for other and if you know woodworking its an easy fix...
BUT...that thread lead me somewhere I didnt want to go.
It seems predestined that instead of a pair of nice tbh's I expected, what I am actually going to geat a set of really sweet top bar SWARM machines, for the main reason being the length! Which is approx. 26.5" through the interior. I have watched about 100 youtube videos and several books etc, but somehow allowed myself to fall victim to flowery bee hive prose...shame on me.
The big question I guess is, as I am in Massachusetts, where it occasionally (like Nov-March) gets cold, and since the bees wont be arriving until the end of April, should I chop the back off both of these hives and make them simease twins? Then just bangout another four footer for the second group?
Here is the pdf of the plans... http://www.preparednessfair2011.org/booth09b.pdf ...sorry for the long story, but wanted to express how much effort went into making these hives (I mean oversized nucs?) a reality. Maybe I don't need to be worried about it, but better to ask know istead of two days before the packages arrive.
As always, thanks!
Matt