Others are the log hives made from hollowed out tree trunks basket hives made from woven sticks which are smeared.
Pdf kenyan top bar hive plans.
Bfd93 top bar hive hj 301109 1412 words 1 practical beekeeping making a top bar hive janet lowore monica barlow and mark loveday bees for development keywords.
Design for standardized top bar hives pdf notes to accompany the standardized tbh design pdf other tbh plans.
Rip a small channel down the centre of the remaining 29 top bars about 5mm deep and long enough that 3 icy pole sticks can sit in the groove.
Building a top bar hive once you have built your hive i strongly recommend a practical training course before you add bees.
38 langstroth top bar and warre hive plans 1.
The kenyan was designed to be low tech low cost and simple to build using available materials.
The colorado top bar beehive.
The top bar hive is designed with the beekeeper in mind both in terms of the construction effort and the management of the hive once installed.
There are different types of hives used in beekeeping in kenya but the most important for commercial purposes are two the kenya top bar hive ktbh and the langstroth hives.
As well as htbh such as the kenyan and tanzanian there are also vtbh vertical such as the warre.
Cut another groove about 5mm deep across the underside of top bar 15mm from one end.
Hive design movable comb top bar top bar hives are easier and cheaper to make than frame hives yet have some advantages of movable comb technology.
This groove locks the top bars into place on the side board.
Top bar hives are low tech old style configurations of hives.
At a high level it is effectively a box on legs with a cover.
Now let s begin with the first beehive plans.
Top bar hives are perfect for small scale beekeeping or hobbyist who doesn t want to lift more than 40lbs.
Warre hives are the middle ground between langstroth and top bar.
The example pictured above the one i built was a luxury version with all new pine.
If you want more detail with backgtound information and more pictures you may like to buy my book balanced beekeeping i.
Biobees has published an ebook with photos on building your own tbh.
As discussed in the wikipedia article referenced above top bar hives with vertical side walls are often referred to as tanzanian and top bar hives with sloped side walls are referred to as kenyan widespread experience indicates that bees have fewer tendencies to attach comb to the sloped side walls of the kenyan top bar hive.
Or do you prefer to buy one.