# TBH design for non-carpenters :-)



## txbeeguy (Jan 9, 2003)

Excellent! Congratulations: 
An outstanding example of the KISS principle at work - the perfect measure of TBH simplicity and functionality.
--
Let's see a photo of the underneath side of your top bars. Did you use 'starter strips' or what? We're always interested in the different techniques used to get the bees to pull straight, parallel comb.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

From the outside it looks a lot like mine. Except for the PVC pipe bottom.


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## Cinnamon (Feb 1, 2004)

Hiyas,

Re: what I did for the topbars.

I tried two things. First one is to cut up a piece of factory comb into pieces ~ 2cm x 4cm, and then just heat that up a bit and attach.

Second approach is that when someone else was making their frames, I grabbed the thin cut offs and worked them onto the wood in a line.

I don't know which one will work better (if they work at all  

I will take photos, but can I open the hive yet (today is day 2) without risking them wanting to leave?

thanks,

Cinnamon 

Ps.: Mike, I think I started from your design, but could not buy the right kind of cloth, then I saw a floor made from spaced pipes on the web and so thought I'll try a pvc pipe at the bottom. I can buy all of this stuff for about 50 gpb, so each hive costs me 25 gbp => 25(1.4)$ ~ $36.


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## BWrangler (Aug 14, 2002)

Hi Cinnamon,

Great pictures and a really neat tbh design. This is about the most flexible design I've seen. This hive could easily be re-configured, if needed. It could handle a variable width and depth!

Happy TBHing

Dennis


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## Cinnamon (Feb 1, 2004)

Day 4 and I (well. John helped, I was quite glad to see it demonstrated first) had a look...

The bees drank all their syrup (about 1 litre of 1:1 with a little vit C powder) and drew out 10 combs to (I think) about 1/2 - 3/4 of their final size.

Didn't smoke them or wore a veil/suit, and despite 5 people all standing around, they just minded their own business and go on with making comb. 

They also seem to be learning how to land and take off now -- much more elegance was to be observed at the entrance 

The pics of the combs are in the 4 Days album here: http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hexefroschbein/my_photos 

All the combs are straight, and sit right in the center too.

So, I'm real pleased with all of this 

Cinnamon, basking in beginner's luck(for now)


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## Cinnamon (Feb 1, 2004)

@txbeeguy:

see requested picci here:
http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hexefroschbein/detail?.dir=/14d1&.dnm=aee0.jpg 

if that doesn't work, its in the hive design album, photo nr. 8.

Cinnamon


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## BWrangler (Aug 14, 2002)

Hi Cinnamon,

On pic #2 in the Day 4 Album, the cell size can clearly be seen decreasing away from the top bar.

Are top bar hives fun or what?

Regards
Dennis


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## txbeeguy (Jan 9, 2003)

Looks great! The cut groove and starter strip is what I did and it seems to work fine. What I've found is the width (or is it, depth? - i.e., how far the starter strip goes below the bottom surface of the top bar) doesn't have to be very much, even a 1/4-inch will do. What's more important is the starter strips be long; to within about an inch of the end of the bar. Mine were not (more like yours) and the comb the bee draw further away from the brood nest area, the more likely the combs are to develop a curve on the ends (away from the center of the top bar). It will be interesting to me, to see if you have this same experience. 
Also, the thickness of the top bars will lead to smashed bees (and it's related alarm pheromone) if you don't develop a slightly different handling technique when placing the top bars back together. This can mostly be overcome by putting the top bars back into position with a vertical motion (as opposed to sliding them together sideways). My bars were also thick (not as thick as yours) and I quickly discovered I needed to be careful about not smashing bees bewteen bars. 
Good luck and thanks for sharing the photos!


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