If you have read my beekeeping posts on a regular basis you will know that I advocate and use Horizontal Topbar hives (My Natural Beekeeping website can be found Here)

If however you decide have a go at keeping bees in a vertical top bar hive then please have a look at DIY Beehive by Nick Hampshire, who is a Warre Beekeeper and  Beehive Builder

He has produced a step by step guide which takes you through building your own Warre hive from his plans.

The plans and guide are in this instance not free but with his bonuses I think it is a worthwhile investment.

The Warre hive has one disadvantage (which for me was a killer!) It involves heavy lifting. To expand the hive and give the bees more space you put an empty box on the bottom of the stack. The bees natural instinct is to build downwards as they would do in a hollow tree.  The Warre method of bee keeping works with this instinct.

(With conventional bee hives you add new sections to the top of the stack forcing the bees to expand upwards which is an un-natural enforced response for them).

With a Warre hive you have to lift the whole stack to put the new box underneath. On the upside the Warre method is almost totally hands off so you more or less leave the bees to themselves.

With these instructions you will learn how to:

Choose the best materials for your beehive
Easily build your own hive parts
Quickly make either frames or top bars for your hive
Select and apply your preferred wood finish for your perfect backyard beehive
Choose a good location and install your finished beehive ready for your own honeybees!

Here’s the best part. This is an all in one package…it has all the information you need to build a garden beehive in less than one afternoon!

So if you would like to consider the Warre method of beekeeping rather than the horizontal top bar method (better for old farts with bad backs like me!) and constructing your own hive then I recommend to you the DIY Beehive as a good place to start

Click Here!

Best Regards

Clive

About Clive

Once you have read my ebook Natural Beekeeping (available here) I would strongly recommend purchasing the Barefoot Beekeeper by P J Chandler.

Barefoot Beekeeper

The Barefoot Beekeeper is a revolutionary book about ‘sustainable’, chemical-free beekeeping, showing how it can be simplified and made accessible to all, including people with disabilities, as with this method there is no heavy lifting involved.

The author strips away all unnecessary complication and confusion, demonstrating that ‘modern’ beekeeping methods are largely to blame for the poor state of health of the honeybee and that the commercialization of beekeeping marked the start of the disease and parasite problems that honeybees have been trying to deal with ever since.

The author advocates small-scale, sustainable beekeeping, with minimal disturbance to the bees and more time spent observing and learning from them. This book shows how you can make everything you need to keep bees yourself, using recycled materials and simple tools: you do not need to buy any additional equipment at all, nor do you need synthetic medications or other chemicals.

This is the companion volume to  ‘How To Build a Top Bar Hive’, which is available as a free, downloadable supplement to The Barefoot Beekeeper.

Barefoot Beekeeper  discusses sustainable beekeeping using Top Bar Beehives in depth and is over 111 pages of useful information.

It can be read through or picked up as a reference book as and when required I highly recommend that you buy this book if nothing else!

It is available in ebook format for instant download:  Click Here!

Best Regards

Clive

About Clive

My new website specifically designed for anyone who would like to know more about bees and keeping bees naturally is now fully functional.

www.topbarbeekeeping.com

The site is designed  with beginners or those just interested in finding out about natural beekeeping in mind. The home page is where you can sign up for a series of free articles about bees.

After you have signed up you will get a special discount code for my new ebook Natural Beekeeping Using Topbar Hives. The normal price is $10.00 the discount price is $8.00.

There is enough information in its 50 pages for you to make an informed decision about whether  you would like to take up bee keeping as a hobby and the different  methods you can use. Click on the link above for more details.

There is also a page that lists further reading for you. I have personally purchased these myself and I can recommend all of them as being useful to you in your journey to become an expert beekeeper.

Recommended Further Reading

Finally there is a section with resources if you would like to become an affiliate and promote my ebook. You will get a good commission for every book you sell. If that interests you then please visit this page;

Affiliates Page

Best Regards

Clive

About Clive

I have not posted here lately because I have been busy writing a short ebook about natural beekeeping for beginners using horizontal top bar hives.

The new ebook covers

• Getting Started in Beekeeping
• A Suitable Location
• The Design Of Bee Hive
• Clothing And Equipment Needed
• Acquiring Bees
• How to Handle Bees
• Beekeeping Year
• Swarm Control
• Queen Management Techniques
• Feeding Bees
• bee Stings
• Processing Your Honey
• Bee Pests & Diseases

This is a 50 page ebook that you can download to your computer packed with useful information especially if you are considering natural beekeeping and you are not sure where to start.

If you would like more information on my new ebook please visit the website www.topbarbeekeeping.com..

As well as the book you can subscribe to a series of free articles I have written about bees:

• The Exploitation Of The Honey Bee. Where I detail my personal take on modern beekeeping as the exploitation of a wild creature.
• The Different Bee Casts The Queen, Drones and Worker Bees
• Honey Bee Species including the Italian Bee – Apis Mellifera Ligustica, Carniolan Bee – Apis Mellifera Carnica. etc.
• The Hive Year detailing the changes to the bee colony over a year.
• The History of Beekeeping.
• The Decline Of The Honey Bee my personal take on the possible causes of why the bee is under pressure and their numbers declining.

At least take a look at the new site here,  subscribe to the FREE articles and let me know what you think.

As well as writing the beekeeping book I have been busy on a new novel. I have put the Science Fiction series to one side at the moment and I am concentration on a historical romance that links a person in the present day with an ancestor in Roman Pompeii.

More information on that soon.

A Happy and Prosperous New Year To Everyone

Clive

About Clive

The strong hive is still taking syrup over 2liters so far and I took nothing from them so they obviously had problems building up their own supplies. It is rather strange as there are plenty of fields, woods and gardens around them.

The weak hive is however a problem, they are not taking the syrup or very little anyway. They were flying a couple of weeks ago when we had a mild spell and were ejecting the drones (Lots of fighting around the entrance. I first thought there might be robbing taking place but on closer inspection the drones were being forcefully ejected.)

The bees are there but when I carefully looked either end by just moving the follower boards to one side. All I could see was uncapped empty comb. I wanted to investigate further but it was cold even though it was a sunny day so I thought better of it.

I am concerned they are not taking the syrup but ‘you can lead a horse to water, you cannot make it drink!’ I have to assume they know what they are doing and have enough supplies. I will keep them topped up with syrup just in case and move over to fondant later on in the year/early next.

I will be surprised if the weak hive lasts the winter but only time will tell.

Check out my new ebook  Natural Beekeeping Using Top Bar Hives

About Clive