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gunfighters Guest
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Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 6:09 pm Post subject: |
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very nice phill
I have planing on building topbar nucs (diffrent X section) this winter and bumped in to this thread looking around to see what outhers have done |
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Viggen Scout Bee
Joined: 04 Jan 2010 Posts: 435 Location: USA, Arizona
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Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 6:59 am Post subject: |
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Today I picked up the 1x12 boards to make a couple of TB Bait Hives. And some 1x6 for the bottom.
How long do they need to be to make the internal volume 36 Liters?
If this should actually work(anybody had success with these mini's?) I figure I can then make the ~ 36"-48" version with the screen bottom, and maybe a bottom board as well.
Because of the summer heat in the area there will be shade provided and at least the top will be white painted and possibly insulated as well. Does anyone in hot areas do anything for insulating the sides and top of a hive. Obviously it wouldn't be practical to provide an insulating R Factor with a lot of hives but with only a couple it shouldn't take too much effort.
And that "baby bar", great idea.
I didn't really understand the first picture with a super on the tbh. Is that something doable, or common? I have a minimal understanding of things.
Build bait hive
Trap swarm
Re-queen (because it's AB territory)
Build full size TBH
Transfer swarm to ful size TBH
Sounds simple.....LOL..... I hear the devil is in the details... _________________ Enjoy the day. |
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ivashka House Bee
Joined: 27 Feb 2010 Posts: 12 Location: USA, Colorado, Thornton
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Viggen Scout Bee
Joined: 04 Jan 2010 Posts: 435 Location: USA, Arizona
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Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 11:52 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you ivashka.
I built the 48" version first, although no so pretty. Now we weld something for the hive to sit on - we have the steel so we weld. _________________ Enjoy the day. |
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bigbearomaha Foraging Bee
Joined: 16 Sep 2009 Posts: 149 Location: Omaha, NE USA
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 2:55 am Post subject: |
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just curious
how does this address the concern of soft wax attachment of new comb to top bars and the risk of comb collapse while transporting said 'pollination' tbh? older, more stable comb should be less of an issue, but as one of the 'advantages' of tbh is that the bees are building 'fresh' comb after crush and strain honey bar removals, etc...
the only thing I can think to address that issue would be to make custom tbh frames.
Big Bear _________________ Rebel Bee Club
Free Bee Network promoting more bees, more beekeepers, making both better along the way |
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AnthonyD Silver Bee
Joined: 14 Aug 2011 Posts: 707 Location: County Kerry Ireland
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 5:12 pm Post subject: |
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Hope its ok to reply to this so long after the last post, but Id be very interested in learning whether or not you (biobee/phil) have employed this design as a bait hive and, if so, have you had any success with it? |
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jaywoo Scout Bee

Joined: 10 Dec 2008 Posts: 261 Location: Australia, N.E Victoria - Latitude 36 degs
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Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 11:31 am Post subject: |
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AnthonyD wrote: | Hope its ok to reply to this so long after the last post, but Id be very interested in learning whether or not you (biobee/phil) have employed this design as a bait hive and, if so, have you had any success with it? |
Bump
Ditto. I'm hoping to build something like this with our coming Spring not too far away. I'd like to catch a local mongrel swarm and house them in this.
This could be the way to calculate the volume too; http://www.onlineconversion.com/object_volume_trapezoid.htm Now to pump some figures into it and see what comes out  _________________ This is where the bees I talk about live.
http://g.co/maps/xkx46
Their Flickr Set
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaywoo/sets/72157624967362961/ |
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jaywoo Scout Bee

Joined: 10 Dec 2008 Posts: 261 Location: Australia, N.E Victoria - Latitude 36 degs
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Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 12:27 pm Post subject: |
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If this calculator is right and my data entry is too... Then a 18" long version is 32 litres. A 26" long hive body is 46 litres. I'm thinking of going 26" (660mm) and adding one follower board to initially close it down to 40 litres. If the bees space their comb at 38mm, this will give them 17 bars... Sounds a lot for a nuc hive. _________________ This is where the bees I talk about live.
http://g.co/maps/xkx46
Their Flickr Set
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaywoo/sets/72157624967362961/ |
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madasafish Silver Bee
Joined: 29 Apr 2009 Posts: 882 Location: Stoke On Trent
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Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 1:14 pm Post subject: |
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I have three 20" versions.. - that's the internal width. 13 bars of 38mm width which is what I use. Works very well. I expect to take all three into winter basically full of bees and stores. The two I overwintered last year did well. |
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biobee Site Admin

Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 1059 Location: UK, England, S. Devon
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Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2012 7:30 am Post subject: |
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I use 9" boxes for nucs and 18" boxes for portable/bait hives. The latter are big enough to overwinter a colony and probably about right for 'conservation hives', although less easy to open and check due to restricted space.
The volume is height x length x average width, so for a 9" nuc it would be 11x9x10=990 cu in =16.2 liters and double that for the 18" version, so your calculator works!
Last edited by biobee on Fri Jun 10, 2016 6:56 am; edited 1 time in total |
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jaywoo Scout Bee

Joined: 10 Dec 2008 Posts: 261 Location: Australia, N.E Victoria - Latitude 36 degs
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BridgetB Scout Bee
Joined: 12 Jul 2010 Posts: 358 Location: UK Cornwall, Falmouth
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 6:03 am Post subject: Super |
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Hi Phil,
I have built a mini TBH similar to yours and used it to transport a swarm and as a bait hive (as yet unsuccessful) but I don't understand the role of the super. My mini hive has top bars so a super wouldn't work anyway?
Thanks Bridget |
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beehio70hive Guest
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2016 1:34 am Post subject: |
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i have similar. Nice |
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Thebigflyin Guard Bee
Joined: 29 Jun 2015 Posts: 64 Location: Essex
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Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2016 3:43 pm Post subject: |
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very Clever Phil
well done!! |
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beegraham Nurse Bee
Joined: 29 May 2016 Posts: 41 Location: Kenton, Devon, UK
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 7:04 am Post subject: New Top Bar Hive |
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Thats a great design so simple yet so effective. |
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Bicester Bees New Bee
Joined: 06 Aug 2018 Posts: 9 Location: Bicester, Oxon, UK
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Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 4:21 pm Post subject: |
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Great A frame, going to have to make one or two. |
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AliceTurner New Bee
Joined: 19 Nov 2018 Posts: 1 Location: California, US
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Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 6:25 pm Post subject: |
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The natural products that you have described in your post seems to be good and effective. |
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