now what

[Heather]

Was given a Nuc top bar, so popped a cast swarm into it, and 4 weeks later it is filling fast, loads of brood and stores. What do I do with it now???

 

[Erichalfbee]

In my ignorance I've never heard of a top bar nuc
Are the top bars the same size as a full sized hive just fewer in number?
How quickly can you knock up a new hive?

 

[Beefriendly]

Neither had I...a quick google search suggests they look like the below image.
Unless you want to continue your top bar experience you need to put them in a proper hive, elastic bad/string the comb into empty frames etc. Otherwise you need a bugger top bar hive.

 

[maddydog]

Oz Bill might have a couple going spare but they may have some odd bits of metal over the entrance.

Are you sure it was a cast? Mating and filling a nuc in 4 weeks is some going.

No full size hives rotting away on eBay or Facebook?

 

[Anduril]

Unless you want to continue your top bar experience you need to put them in a proper hive, elastic bad/string the comb into empty frames etc. Otherwise you need a bugger top bar hive.

the bars are usually longer than the top bars in a national.

 

[Anduril]

Oz Bill might have a couple going spare but they may have some odd bits of metal over the entrance.

Are you sure it was a cast? Mating and filling a nuc in 4 weeks is some going.

No full size hives rotting away on eBay or Facebook?

His were langstroth long hives, basically a beehaus or dartington.

 

[maddydog]

His were langstroth long hives, basically a beehaus or dartington.

Not quite what I was getting at but nevermind.

 

[Heather]

Small enough to presume cast, on 2 frames originally, but now on all five, with 4 frames brood.
Was also given a full sized top bar ( I never refuse gifts ) and that also now has a nice colony in.. but slower than this Nuc..
At this apiary I have 2 WBC and 8 Nationals- just thought that getting the top bars was good to demo to new people..More to show problems I have given myself than to promote!!
May have to cut and wire/rubber band into National frames and transfer to a proper hive to winter through.
Thanks for suggestion.

 

[pargyle]

Small enough to presume cast, on 2 frames originally, but now on all five, with 4 frames brood.
Was also given a full sized top bar ( I never refuse gifts ) and that also now has a nice colony in.. but slower than this Nuc..
At this apiary I have 2 WBC and 8 Nationals- just thought that getting the top bars was good to demo to new people..More to show problems I have given myself than to promote!!
May have to cut and wire/rubber band into National frames and transfer to a proper hive to winter through.
Thanks for suggestion.

The only real downside to top bar hives in the uk is that they tend to be thin walled as the recommendation tends to be towards recycled timber. You can successfully overwinter them but it would be a good idea to clad the outside of the box with 25mm of Kingspan on the sides and 50mm
Under the roof if there is enough room or make a kingspan bonnet for it if the roof is shallow. As long as they have plenty of stores they will be fine.

 

[Beefriendly]

The only real downside to top bar hives in the uk

The ONLY.......top bar hives were designed for the tropics.....UK doesn't qualify.

 

[Erichalfbee]

The ONLY.......top bar hives were designed for the tropics.....UK doesn't qualify.

Oh I don’t know.
It’s quite nice to see bees do their own thing
No real downside. If they are insulated you have created the tropics inside.
Pet bees at the bottom of the garden

 

[viridens]

The ONLY.......top bar hives were designed for the tropics.....UK doesn't qualify.

? Please explain.
It's a hive. It's a wooden box that someone has decided to plonk bees into. Insulation and ventilation and anything else can be adapted and optimised as with any other type.

And what constitutes a 'proper' hive?

 

[Millet]

? Please explain.
It's a hive. It's a wooden box that someone has decided to plonk bees into. Insulation and ventilation and anything else can be adapted and optimised as with any other type.

And what constitutes a 'proper' hive?

Whoops.. but for the record Top bars hives are for ..lets say a bit warmer climate than here..Africa maybe..

 

[Anduril]

Not quite what I was getting at but nevermind.

I know what you were getting at, but he didn't have a tbh in the true sense of the meaning.

 

[Anduril]

? Please explain.
It's a hive. It's a wooden box that someone has decided to plonk bees into. Insulation and ventilation and anything else can be adapted and optimised as with any other type.

And what constitutes a 'proper' hive?

The brood would be somewhat elongated for overwintering.

 

[viridens]

Whoops.. but for the record Top bars hives are for ..lets say a bit warmer climate than here..Africa maybe..

The brood would be somewhat elongated for overwintering.

Argue it with folks like Phil Chandler and the lifetime work of the Abbe Warre. Me also. Look at my hive type etc.

 

[pargyle]

The ONLY.......top bar hives were designed for the tropics.....UK doesn't qualify.

Whoops.. but for the record Top bars hives are for ..lets say a bit warmer climate than here..Africa maybe..

Just for the record .. have either of you ever had a Top Bar Hive ? Or is this tripe something you just repeat as 'common knowledge'.

Top bar hives are characterised by just having top bars .. like a number of other hive that are in use that do not have frames - just top bars.

As long as you are prepared to make them out of a suitable thickness of timber, insulate them appropriately and manage them in the same way you would a 'proper' hive (although that's not a term I would use) they do just fine.

I would not recommend them for a beginner .. there are a few disadvantages insomuch as you have to deal with free comb with no support and if you want a honey harvest then it's going to be crush and strain but .. it's a nice and interesting way to keep bees.

It's not for everyone but you will never know until you have tried it and people should not condemn it without first hand knowledge.

 

[pargyle]

The brood would be somewhat elongated for overwintering.

Prior to winter you move the brood frames and the nest to one end of the hive (it normally is in the centre with frames of stores either side) and you put the food frames in front of them so they move their way through them so they don't end up at one end of the hive with the stores at the other. You can make a simple frame feeder if they get short of stores and feed them fondant.

 

[Anduril]

Argue it with folks like Phil Chandler and the lifetime work of the Abbe Warre. Me also. Look at my hive type etc.

I didn't say they don't work!

 

[mbc]

In my experience bees very much like warre's with their narrow vertical configuration but seldom thrive for more than a season in the Kenyan type horizontal hives round here