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Thread: Top bar hive seduction!

  1. #61
    Senior Member Mellifera Crofter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nellie View Post
    ... I think there's taking reasonable precautions to prevent the spread of disease and then there's taking it to extremes.
    Quote Originally Posted by Jon View Post
    I nearly always use 2 cover cloths aka tea towels.
    Yes, I agree Nellie, and we know the condition of our own hives - but like Gavin, I don't like those cloths. My cloth has metal inserts in it that makes it difficult to keep clean or pop in the washing machine, so I don't use it. I think Jon's idea of using tea towels is better. One can perhaps clip temporary weights on them to keep them in place.

    Kitta

  2. #62
    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    I can see that I'm going to have to give them a decent trial this year. However fairly calm bees, handled calmly, remain quiet or even get quieter after the initial couple of frames of an inspection. If I knew that I was in for a fight with the bees I may be tempted to try to keep most covered.

  3. #63
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    Hi Gavin,
    carved beehives are more common in the Czech Republic, the coolest I have seen were a bear and a soldier, both with the bees flying in and out of their mouths.
    They were tradionally made to resemble such things to try and scare away thieves. They do look freaky when the bees are flying well. Sorry cant find the photos.

    Apples are grown in this area of germany due to the excellent climate. But in early summer there are problems with fire blight. To try and protect the trees they are sprayed with an antibiotic. As a result all honey has to be tested for this. If it is found (above 17ppm) in the honey, the state buys it and destorys it. Quite a high allowable level considering 100ppm is allowed in meat, and 200ppm is allowable in kidney or liver (due to preemptive treatments to animals- there is a better expression but I cant even remember it in German..). So if you are going to eat organs or pate, be sure they are organic!
    No wonder diseases are becoming more resistant to antibiotics, we are taking them all the time when we eat meat in low doses...

  4. #64
    Senior Member EmsE's Avatar
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    I made a couple of manipulating clothes by putting some wooden bars from a cot side through slots at either end of the cloth. With 1 drawing pin in each bar, the bars won't slide out, but are easily removed for washing.

    It took me a while to get used to them, and only tried them as they were mentioned in the basic beekeeping exam, but I wouldn't be without them now. It minimises the heat loss during the inspection, which admittedly during summer isn't a problem, but during spring or particularly when treating with oxalic acid in winter it could only be a good thing for the bees to use them. They're really quick & cheap to make so if there is a concern about disease in the apiary, you can produce a cloth for each hive and then put them all in the wash when you get home.

  5. #65
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    I don't use any manipulating cloth with my TBHs. What I do have is a strip of cardboard about the width of two and a half topbars and slightly longer than their length. In the centre running along the length is a small piece of wood glued on to use as a hold and to prevent them flopping around (Old rocket sticks are ideal.. and free) . When I have removed a topbar, I place the card over the vacated space to prevent bees exiting. When it gets soiled replace it with another. Easy to carry and costs nothing. I keep one under each hive top so no cross contamination and no carrying them around..

    The lazy man's guide to doing the minimum possible.

  6. #66
    Member susbees's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jon View Post
    I nearly always use 2 cover cloths aka tea towels.
    Bees like to be in the dark and exposing a bigger area tends to put more bees in the air.
    Each to their own. I hardly use smoke either and some like to smoke the colony heavily a few minutes before opening.
    Which is precisely why you think tbh bees aren't calmer Jon! I use non-fluffy teatowels on the commercials in challenging weather...it does make a difference, sometimes quite a big one.

  7. #67
    Banned Stromnessbees's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by susbees View Post
    htbh aren't just for bees abroad, they are ideal for wheelchair beekeepers, I have a friend with one arm who keeps hers solo, people with bad backs, and the bees are often significantly calmer than in the big boxes. No smoke down that end of the apiary almost ever.
    You made some very good points there.

    And there is another positive aspect:
    No need to store lots of equipment!

    Just consider how much space all the spare supers take up while they are not in use. Then there's the extractor and the straining gear as well.
    I somebody only wants a couple of hives in the corner of their small garden and is happy with comb honey chopped up and pushed into a jar, then the TBH is not a bad option.

    The important thing is that TBH beginners get support from their local association though and learn how they can avoid cross comb, swarming and varroa. It doesn't help if they are disregarded as fanciful idealists, they have every right o be taken seriously.

    I would even say that with a TBH you might be able to get a better understanding of the natural working of a colony than in the usual square boxes.

    One item I find very useful in my TBH is a divider board with openings that fit a porter bee escape. It allows me to block off the empty space at the back during the winter, and it also makes it very simple to divide a colony or even have two nucs in one box, with a separate entrance at each end.

  8. #68
    Senior Member Mellifera Crofter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stromnessbees View Post
    ... One item I find very useful in my TBH is a divider board with openings that fit a porter bee escape. It allows me to block off the empty space at the back during the winter, and it also makes it very simple to divide a colony or even have two nucs in one box, with a separate entrance at each end.
    S, why do the divider boards need bee escapes? Just to allow lost bees back to the nest?
    Kitta

    PS: Sorry - that was a dumb question. I've just never seen them with bee escapes. Good idea.
    K
    Last edited by Mellifera Crofter; 12-03-2012 at 02:38 PM. Reason: Adding ps.

  9. #69
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stromnessbees View Post
    You made some very good points there.

    And there is another positive aspect:
    No need to store lots of equipment!

    Just consider how much space all the spare supers take up while they are not in use. Then there's the extractor and the straining gear as well.
    I somebody only wants a couple of hives in the corner of their small garden and is happy with comb honey chopped up and pushed into a jar, then the TBH is not a bad option.

    The important thing is that TBH beginners get support from their local association though and learn how they can avoid cross comb, swarming and varroa. It doesn't help if they are disregarded as fanciful idealists, they have every right o be taken seriously.

    I would even say that with a TBH you might be able to get a better understanding of the natural working of a colony than in the usual square boxes.

    One item I find very useful in my TBH is a divider board with openings that fit a porter bee escape. It allows me to block off the empty space at the back during the winter, and it also makes it very simple to divide a colony or even have two nucs in one box, with a separate entrance at each end.
    I think it cuts both ways in some respects, there is a reason that the TBH has become synonymous with fanciful idealists and I think some of the more evangelical enthusiasts want to have their cake and eat it. I.e. it's a bit rich to send off people with not only ideals for ignoring varroa and swarming, especially from an urban perspective, in particular and to make out that the rest of us are moustache twirling bee "exploiters" and then complain that having told associations what a bunch of out of touch so-and-so's they are that they don't then drop everything to accomodate TBH beekeepers.

    I agree with most of your points though, I don't have any problem with a TBH or beekeeper that can acknowledge that at the end of the day it's a beehive, no more, no less. It has positive and negative elements just like every other hive out there. If the positives outweigh the negatives in the decision making process then for good for that user.

    The only point I'd disagree with is the suitability of sticking a hive that is difficult to move once it's in place and full of bees in a small garden, I'd question the wisdom of putting any hive into a small garden.

  10. #70

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    I have a TBH, although no inhabitants yet, still looking for some. We will be using polystyrene as insulation come the winter if we have any bees by then, although I think I will wait until next year now. After reading a lot about them and the various pros and cons about them I decided I would give it a go. So we will see what happens next year unless I manage to get some bees before then. I am wrinkly as well and this is my first venture into beekeeping after many years of wanting them but not being able to.

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