# Anyone located near Atlanta Georgia selling top bar nucs?



## BackwoodsBeeman (Mar 22, 2014)

I am interested in buying a top bar nuc or two to start my hive(s) this March. The hive I'm building is the same as Dr. Mangum's, which have 19" top bars. I'm planning on cutting the bar width at 1 1/2". I haven't found anyone in my local club who has top bar hives and I would rather not cut and trim regular frames from a Langstroth nuc to fit in my hive.


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## tech.35058 (Jul 29, 2013)

maybe you could get langstroth beekeeper to seed some bars amongst his brood nest early, then move them to your box with a mated queen, or let them make their own. You may have to make a "top bar nuc box" to make this happen.


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## dcnylund (May 28, 2015)

Hi Backwoodsbeeman,
I'm actually in Peachtree City. I'm in my first year (started last March) and don't have any extra bees at the moment. I'm also using Chandler style hives with 17" bars. But ... I have to walk the thin line of keeping strong hives while maintaining no more than two regular hives and maybe an emergency nuc. If the hives are particularly strong, I will probably need to split the hives to keep the bees from swarming. If we can figure out a good way to convert from 17" to a shallower 19" top bar hive, I might be able to help you down the road. In any case I would love to have a fellow TBH beekeeper to exchange ideas and experiences. You can PM me if you wish. Which club do you go to? Coweta?


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## typhoontx (May 1, 2013)

dcnylund said:


> Hi Backwoodsbeeman,
> I'm actually in Peachtree City. I'm in my first year (started last March) and don't have any extra bees at the moment. I'm also using Chandler style hives with 17" bars. But ... I have to walk the thin line of keeping strong hives while maintaining no more than two regular hives and maybe an emergency nuc. If the hives are particularly strong, I will probably need to split the hives to keep the bees from swarming. If we can figure out a good way to convert from 17" to a shallower 19" top bar hive, I might be able to help you down the road. In any case I would love to have a fellow TBH beekeeper to exchange ideas and experiences. You can PM me if you wish. Which club do you go to? Coweta?


You could attach the 17" bar to bottom of a 19" bar with some wood glue and/or screws or nails, the comb would have to be trimmed to fit the shallower hive.
or you could make some 1" long blocks and screw and glue them to the end of the 17" bars .


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## dcnylund (May 28, 2015)

Yes, I believe the 17" top bar hives are considered universal donor, because one can fairly easily transfer comb to both 17" and 19" TBHs. The 19" are then the universal receivers for the exact opposite reason. I've heard some people have also put 19" top bars on a 17" body to get comb built. The topbars can then be transferred to either a 19" body or be cut back and go into a 17" body. Of course this winter I'm just trying to get the new hives through to spring. So far they seem to be doing well, and down the road I would love to have an option to avoid swarms while maintaining my 2 1/2 hives.


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## BackwoodsBeeman (Mar 22, 2014)

Great ideas everyone! Dcnylund, I would love to come and see your set up. When I get off this 7 day work week on Wednesday, I can post more. Please keep your ideas coming.


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## dcnylund (May 28, 2015)

Hi BackwoodsBeeman. We might be able to get something figured out. PM with some more details of your situation/set-up when you get to your "weekend" on Wednesday.


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## BackwoodsBeeman (Mar 22, 2014)

dcnylund said:


> Hi BackwoodsBeeman. We might be able to get something figured out. PM with some more details of your situation/set-up when you get to your "weekend" on Wednesday.


I will send you a pm on Wednesday, dcnylund.


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## Matt903 (Apr 8, 2013)

I messaged you some info about some top bar nucs.


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## scottie9656 (May 11, 2015)

Hey backwoodsbeeman
I'm kind of at the same point as dcnylund. I just started last year with one top bar that got completely filled so I am building another box now hoping to do a split this spring. I also built a seven bar nuc box that I would be glad to put out and try to catch a swarm for you for free if you like. I live in Monticello but work in Fayetteville.


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## dcnylund (May 28, 2015)

Backwoodsbeeman I sent you a PM.


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## PatBeek (Jan 13, 2012)

.

I'm in central Florida and sell 6-bar top bar nucs.

My bars are 17". Operations can be made to accommodate other sizes.

See my info in signature below.


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## dcnylund (May 28, 2015)

PatBeek said:


> .
> 
> I'm in central Florida and sell 6-bar top bar nucs.
> 
> ...


Patbeek, I like the design of your top bar hives. How do you accommodate 19" top bars? It might be what Backwoodsbeeman is looking for.


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## BackwoodsBeeman (Mar 22, 2014)

Got it.


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## PatBeek (Jan 13, 2012)

dcnylund said:


> Patbeek, I like the design of your top bar hives. How do you accommodate 19" top bars? It might be what Backwoodsbeeman is looking for.


Thanks so much for the compliment. My design is basically a fancied-up Phil Chandler design.

So I used to have barrel hives that had 24" bars. I also had customers that built barrel hives. This solution isn't ideal, but I would screw the longer bars on top of the 17" bars. I don't like the idea of doing that with a bar that's only two inches longer, however. If given enough heads up, I could make a nuc with custom-made 19 inch bars using my same nuc body. I could also figure out a way to extend the bars of an existing 17" nuc.

.


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## PatBeek (Jan 13, 2012)

.

I'm also going to put my two-cents in regarding working top bar hives with bars longer than 17".

1. The comb can be unwieldy and break off a lot more easily, especially the pure honey bars. 

2. The hive is much harder to close. The bars are harder to slide, especially multiple bars. And when they propolize the rails where the bars sit, it makes it even more of a nightmare sliding them closed. Also, if you have curious bees that like to crawl up between the open bars, the longer bars are harder to smoke them out of the way and slide it shut. 

I'm not at all discouraging the longer bars. My barrel hives were a blast when I had them going. I just wanted to have a set standard of what most people were using so I could sell nucs. I also wanted a standard so I could transfer supplies between hives. Plus, the aforementioned ease of working smaller bars.

But just a few things to consider. Not hating on that format at all.

.


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## shellig (Feb 7, 2015)

I plan to use packages for my top bar hives (Decatur, GA). Any reason you specifically want nucs?


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## BackwoodsBeeman (Mar 22, 2014)

No particular reason except that a nuc would already have some brood and stores going into the Spring flow.


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## dcnylund (May 28, 2015)

Hi, my hives, 2 four foot hives and a two foot nuc, seemed to have all made it through the winter and are growing quickly. I want to keep the total number of hives at 2. I live it Peachtree City, south of Atlanta. If anyone is interested in an overwintered nuc (6 bars, 17", not including hive) let me know.


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