Before starting to construct my bee hives I purchased The Barefoot Beekeeper and read it from cover to cover. I then trawled the web finding out as much as I could regarding the different designs of top bar beehive.

(Since writing this blog entry I have written a book for beginners titled Natural Beekeeping please check it out at www.topbarbeekeeping.com)

I settled on the design by P J Chandler  available free from www.biobees.com One other design I considered was available from www.cornwallhoney.com. (The plans in this instance are not free but available on a CD with a construction video)

The main difference between the two designs is the entrance. The P J Chandler hive has the entrance in the middle of one of the long sides and the Cornwall Honey version has the entrance on one end.

The disadvantage with the end entrance is that to see brood requires the bars to be lifted. The central entrance design has the advantage of having two followers (false movable walls) so both ends of the bee colony can be looked at with minimal disturbance to the bees. One advantage with the end entrance as far as I could see was that the colony could be added to in one direction expanding to use the entire hive with the brood one end and the honey the other. The centre entrance version requires that the expansion be in both directions away from the brood. The honey stores can therefore be on both ends of the central brood section.

So I decided to modify the Chandler design and off set the main entrances a little giving more space to expand in one direction. By doing that I was limited to adding one entrance on the opposite side of the hive allowing only one split rather than two in the original Chandler design.  (see biobees for more information)

I did leave sufficient space to add a follower fitted with a feeder attachment. This was copied from a design also on Biobees. The feeder is an upturned jar with a metal lid that has small holes punched in it. The upturned jar is placed over a metal grill (I used some spare verroa mesh for the grill) The grill prevents the bees from gaining access to the open area behind the follower. The feeder is inside the hive avoiding any robbing from other bees and wasps while still being able to be refilled without disturbing the colony.

I purchased the wood from a local DIY store. It did turn out to be a little more expensive than I had hoped but it was still far cheaper than purchasing a ready made hive.  To make best use of the available lengths of wood I constructed my hives with an overall length of 44 inches

The hive body ready for fitting the legs

Attaching the legs

Cutting and fitting the top bars

The ply roof fitted to the frame and installed on the hive.

There seem to be a lot of variation in the design of the guides used to encourage the bees to construct their comb along the top bars. As there was only small square section moulding available at the local DIY store I decided to use it rather than what seems to be the more popular triangular design (there was no triangular moulding available) Another method is to cut a central slot then fill it with molten bees wax. Cutting the slot in each bar would be difficult without a fixed circular saw. So the square section it had to be.

After reading the pros and cons of each method I decided in addition to the square guide to dip each guide into molten wax.

I set up a baking tray over a deep tray filled with boiling water. The deep tray was then placed on one of the cooker rings to keep it hot. Wax blocks were then melted in the shallow tray.

Melting the bees wax.

Each bar was then roughened with a wire brush and dipped into the molten wax.

Dipping the bars into the melted bees wax.

The bars were then set to one side so the wax could set.

Top bars with the wax cooling.

I then painted the outside of the hive with water based Cuprinol wood preserver. In addition when it was dry I coated the roof with two coats of linseed oil to make sure it was totally waterproof.

Detail showing the feeder follower board. (The mesh moved as I stapled it but I thought the bees would not care if it were not quite stright!)

Follower Board with fitted feeder mounting

Internal detail showing the two followers (Note the slot for bee access to the feeder)

Internal detail showing the two followers

Detail showing the other side of the followers.  (The eyelets and wire are to secure the upturned feeder jar and prevent it from falling over)

Internal detail showing the two followers from the other side

The hive with the top bars fitted for the initial bee introduction

The top bars fitted for the initial quantity of bees

The finished hive with the entrances reduced using corks. It is ready for placing in the woods. Now I have to wait for the bees to become available. (End of April)

The Completed Hive

No update on Guardian Generations. I am still waiting for the first edited draft from the publisher.

About Clive

It seems I have been a bit lax lately, a month since writing my last blog! Oh well.

Since the last entry I have completed all the changes to Guardian Generations required by the publisher.  The publishing contract has been signed and the formal process has begun. The next stage is a full edit by one of their editors.  If the time scale is the same as with Guardian then Generations should be ready for July/August. I will keep you up to date as the process continues.

Some time ago I wrote a blog asking the question where have all the Honey Bees gone?

Since writing that blog I have purchased a small plot of woodland at the bottom of the garden. So I thought why not do my bit and have a go at keeping bees?

I have to admit It’s a long time since I had anything to do with keeping bees. (My father always kept a few National hives at the bottom of our garden) So I have been doing some research. After all things must have changed a lot over the last thirty years or so (Oh god is it really that long ago?)

Bee keeping methods don’t seem to have changed hardly at all. However the increase in disease, parasites (Verroa) and the effect of pesticides is a serious problem that has all helped cause the decline in the honeybee.

There would seem to be a growing minority of beekeepers that suspect part of the problem is the intensive way bees are kept. The bees are forced to use standard size frames with a wax foundation (in most cases of unknown origin) to guide them in the size and construction of their comb.  All of their honey is taken and replaced by sugar water for them to over winter.  There are various other reasons why it is thought that the way bees are kept to maximise honey production on a commercial basis is the root course for their decline.

If you are interested and want more information go to www.biobees.com (or google ‘top bar hives’)

I have decided not to use the conventional method of beekeeping but return to the old fashioned more natural way. I have purchase the timber to make what is called a top bar hive. The bees are free to build their own comb at a cell size convenient to them. It has been suggested that the smaller cell size hampers the spread of the Verroa mite. There are various other advantages for the bees using the more natural method however the down side is less honey for us!

We shall see .

I will detail the construction of the hives in my next blog.