TBH bee-keepers Suffolk/Norfolk?

[JoinerBee]

Hello,
My first post to the forum, I would be interested to hear form anyone else keeping bees in a horizontal TBH in the North Suffolk/South Norfolk area.
Thanks
Mike

 

[Pooh Bear]

Hi Mike,
Some people from Norfolk/Suffolk were looking for fellow TopBar Beekeepers on the Natural Beekeeping Forumhttp://www.************/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8739

I have been looking for people here in Ireland... it takes time, but eventually they'll come out of the woodwork to you.
Good luck
Christina

 

[parkranger]

Hi Mike
got three nationals myself, but recently did a chop and crop from nat frames into a tbh for a friend near Great Yarmouth . Virgin queen in a 5 frame nuc, bit messy but they took to it well and three weeks later laying like a good'un and drawing the most beautiful comb. Need to check the mite drop soon but looks good so far.

 

[JoinerBee]

Hi parkranger,
Thanks for the reply, sounds like your friends hive is doing very well.

I put a small swarm into my TBH 4/5 weeks ago I've got 3 great looking combs full of stores but no brood or any sign of eggs or a queen! So I introduced a mated queen a few days ago and am now waiting to see if she is accepted and gets laying.

Not sure what the next plan will be if she doesn't start laying as the workers will be getting pretty worn out by now, most will be 8 weeks old minimum - I know swarming gives foragers a new lease of life but I'm not sure how long that normally lasts.

Thanks Mike

 

[parkranger]

Give her a few more days and hopefully the better weather that is forecast will bring her into lay

 

[JoinerBee]

Just inspected tonight, new Queen is well and much larger, lots of eggs and larva at various stages present, we have a queen right colony at last - phew!!

 

[ichbinpaul]

Hi JoinerBee I am on the Border of Cambridge/Suffolk/Norfolk and I have a TBH that I scratch built a couple of weeks ago,
I have just transferred a swarm into it that was housed temporarily in a builders bucket, I am suspecting that there is No living Queen at the moment I'll give it a couple more days yet and check it again, my concern at the moment is adequate insulation for cold winters!?

 

[ratcatcher]

a bit out of your area, but an essex tbh user here too

http://youtu.be/RdhUNuZ_NLA

 

[BeeJayBee]

Hi JoinerBee I am on the Border of Cambridge/Suffolk/Norfolk and I have a TBH that I scratch built a couple of weeks ago ..... my concern at the moment is adequate insulation for cold winters!?

This is what Madasafish wrote in another thread (post #8) http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=19717

I always insulated my TBH roofs.. but have done the sides this year when I saw the area calcs and the potential heat loss - and the pattern of melted frost in the winter. All my TBHS have OMFs but I leave in a bottom board all year round..

 

[JoinerBee]

Hi ichbinpaul,
We are using sheep's wool in the roof of a couple of hives and re-claimed 1" cork insulation board in another 3. Hive sides are just under 1" thick so relying on the timber to provide insulation. This will be the first winter so time will tell.
Mike

 

[JoinerBee]

Hi JoinerBee I am on the Border of Cambridge/Suffolk/Norfolk and I have a TBH that I scratch built a couple of weeks ago,
I have just transferred a swarm into it that was housed temporarily in a builders bucket, I am suspecting that there is No living Queen at the moment I'll give it a couple more days yet and check it again, my concern at the moment is adequate insulation for cold winters!?

Hows your new colony doing ichbinpaul? any sign of your queen yet?
Mike

 

[Ely]

I'm in Burgh Castle, outskirts of Yarmouth. I'm looking to build a TBH this winter

 

[Pooh Bear]

Do you have plans? My partner built one for me... I think the only crucial measurement is the width of the top bars... I had to go to my local joinery works to get the bars planed to the exact width.

 

[JoinerBee]

Thats great to hear Ely, what sort of dimensions are you going for?

 

[Ely]

I'm not great with woodwork unless I'm creating or improvising where measurements aren't too important (I made my own bookshelf out of old wood) so I'm going to try and follow biobees plans that you can get for free on their website. On saying that though, I wouldn't mind doing something similar to what Ratcatcher has done but in my case design it to fit a couple of commercial frames for emergencies. Might be a little too advanced for me though. I need to get out and meet some more groups of beekeepers too

 

[ratcatcher]

On saying that though, I wouldn't mind doing something similar to what Ratcatcher has done but in my case design it to fit a couple of commercial frames for emergencies. Might be a little too advanced for me though. I need to get out and meet some more groups of beekeepers too

any help I can give you with dimensions just ask, I'll give you my mobile number via pm if that would be easier

 

[Ely]

Thanks Ratcatcher. Do you have any trouble with brace combs with straight sides? Is there any reason why you didn't make the whole hive with a width to fit national frames?

 

[ratcatcher]

Thanks Ratcatcher. Do you have any trouble with brace combs with straight sides? Is there any reason why you didn't make the whole hive with a width to fit national frames?

its because of the overhang at each end of a national frame,and the bee space in between, as top bar hives need to be bee proof above, you'll see on my pictures, the wood has been routed out to allow the frames to fit slightly lower than a top bar, they need that blank on top to stop bees coming up, had the hive been made wider to accept frames full length, the gap between frame and hive would have been too big, and brace comb would then have been a big problem, at the moment is gets a little propolis on it, but nothing major

and on the cheaper top bar hive, Ive just added spacers and blanks to stop bees entering/exiting there

 

[Ely]

I have loads of 15mm tongue and groove knocking around. Do you reckon that is a touch too thin? I think there maybe enough to double up the thickness to 30mm

 

[ratcatcher]

I have loads of 15mm tongue and groove knocking around. Do you reckon that is a touch too thin? I think there maybe enough to double up the thickness to 30mm

Id say go for it, the one above is made from futon bed slats so around 15mm will probably insulate in winter time so not to worried on thickness