# how much can I harvest?



## BWrangler (Aug 14, 2002)

Hi David,

That's a tough question. Do you have any experience with standard equipment? I would estimate how many tbh combs equal about the same amount frames left on in your area. 

The books say the bees need a minimum of 60 lbs of reserves, with 90lbs being better. Could you weigh each end of the hive and get an estimate for the amount of honey available by subtracting off the weight of the hive and the bees?

I am planning on leaving most, if not all of the honey on my tbhs this year. I will have a better idea for harvasting after this winter season.

I run three deeps in my standard hives. They should weight out at 190 to 210lbs for overwintering here in Wyoming. That may seem excessive considering the commercial guys overwinter in a deep and a mediium. But I get double the bees after checkboarding, double the honey and don't have to ever worry about feeding/disturbing them during the very critical early spring.

Regards
Dennis


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## bjerm2 (Jun 9, 2004)

Here in Central New York, we get close to -30F with 7 feet of snow. I leave 3 medium (3/4 dept) suppers on my bees for winter. That's about 135 lbs of honey. They seem to make the winter better and I don't have to worry about feeding them. I still do worry about them though. This spring because of the conditions we had prolonged 40 degree days the bees ate all their stores and I had to give them candy at first then as it started to warm up I started feeding them syrup. I used a 2 water to 1 sugar mix. This mix stimulates the queen to lay eggs and it also saved my bees. 40 degrees seems to be a bad temp for them since they start eating stores like mad. This is really the only advice I can give you. 
Dan


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## BerkeyDavid (Jan 29, 2004)

Good advice, maybe I will skip the Top Bar Harvest this year. The bee inspector showed up yesterday. He had never seen a Top Bar hive. At first he was very leery, made a comment about how I was testing the law on moveable frames... But then we opened them up and he completely changed, said what a treat this is. he wants me to take pictures and bring them to a bee club meeting.

Anyway he passed all my hives (including the 3 langs) with a clean bill of health on all fronts.

He suggested adding some styrofoam under the TBH cover to provide better insulation in the winter.

My TBH's are full to about 8 bars from the entrance. They filled them up from the back forward. most bars are brood on the bottom and honey on the top.

I was so glad that none of the comb collapsed during the inspection. They all came out perfect. My new triangle top bars are working good so far with straight centered comb. I am going to try to make a top bar holder so I can take pictures of each top bar with a metric ruler. Can't get the wife interested... 

Cheers!


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## BWrangler (Aug 14, 2002)

Hi David,

Congradulation on the inspection. It's amazing how easy a tbh will convert a skeptic once they work them. I'll bet after lifting all those supers and working with angry bees most inspectors would appreciate a few more well kept tbhs on their rounds.

I'll bet it wouldn't hurt to harvest a comb or two from your tbh. Like you, I have other honey and don't really need to harvest from them.

The styrofoam idea seems like a good one. I will put some under the lids on my tbh.

Regards
Dennis
P.S. Don't sweat the pictures.


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## BerkeyDavid (Jan 29, 2004)

<The styrofoam idea seems like a good one. I will put some under the lids on my tbh.

Yes I have some extra insulation board. I was thinking about taping it to the sides too. I was also thinking about cutting a piece like a division board, putting a hole in it, and placing the insulation "division board" between the entrance hole and the colony.

Main concern is the ventilation/moisture issue....


<P.S. Don't sweat the pictures. 

Well I still want to do them... I have a metric ruler. But I want to be sure the perspective is correct; i.e. that the ruler is the same distance from the lens as the surface of the comb to avoid any distortion.

I think I will drywall screw a piece of 1x2 on each side of each hive at the top, extending out horizontally, and use it as a place to hang top bars.

Then maybe put some double sided carpet tape on the back of the ruler and tape it to the edge of the top bar. 

Should be fun!

Cheers!
david


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## Scot Mc Pherson (Oct 12, 2001)

When the inspector came to visit my apiary, he also had never seen top bar hives before. He also looked at me real crazy like when I told him to put his smoker away, it'll upset the bees.

At the end of the inspection he told me I had "Some real nice hives there" with a sincere look and shake of his hand. I never heard back from the genetic report, but I guess in that case, no news is good news.

I also use triangular bottoms on my top bars, I need to get a router so I can cut the triangles into the top bar instead of out of it with a table saw. Gain a few additional cells rows that way without changing any dimensions at all.

To keep my honey stores all nice ansd tidy without having combs build 3 inches thick or sticking out irregularly, I leave half of the honey in the hives, and place empty top bars between the remaining almost completed and capped honey combs. This keeps the combs all nice and tidy, and no need to use shims and such to help with comb irregularities.

I am starting to practice what michael bush does and that is to use 1 1/4" bars for brood and 1 1/2" bars for honey stores. The bees have a natural urge to build the honey combs thicker.

------------------
Scot Mc Pherson
Foundationless Small Cell Top Bar Hives
BeeWiki: <A HREF="http://linuxfromscratch.org/~scot/beewiki/" TARGET=_blank>
http://linuxfromscratch.org/~scot/beewiki/</A>
Pics:
http://linuxfromscratch.org/~scot/pics/bees/


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## chemistbert (Mar 4, 2004)

How do you set you router up to do that? Please go into more detail Scott.


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## BerkeyDavid (Jan 29, 2004)

Scott

the router is a good idea, it is dangerous to make the 30 degree angled cuts, especially the last one. But my router bit is 45 degree. Not sure they make a 30 degree bit, but I will look. I am interested in your router set up too.

As for the different bar sizes, I made some 1 1/4 bars for brood but the bees seem to use both bar types indiscriminately. Probably because I am a beginner and put them in the wrong place.

david


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I've also started making some 3/8" wide spacers I can put in when they decided to build one of my skinny bars thick. This allows me to reestablish the spacing for the next bar. Don't know what I think of them in the long run, but so far it helps when they decide to make a really thick comb and I want to get back on track.


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## limulus (Feb 10, 2004)

When mine make a really thick comb, I move it to the back. When there is no more brood, I eat it. I then replace the bar between 2 "good" combs. If there is more than one bulbous comb I still move them to the back but place an empty top bar between them. During a dearth I have also used a knife to reshape the comb, cutting it down as if I was removing the cappings to extract the honey. I let the cut part fall to the bottom of the hive, then put the leaking comb between 2 straight ones. The mess gets cleaned up quickly.


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## DeeAnna (Nov 5, 2010)

bump. This thread from 2004 is appropriate for this time of year. Post #11 by Limulus is especially interesting.


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