# Selling top bar nucs?



## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

If you had nucs available and ready to install it would probably make your hives more salable. If you were willing to buy back the nuc box it would help people get started with less total investment. You should try it.


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## PatBeek (Jan 13, 2012)

.

Yes, I'm going to attempt to do splits this spring/summer also in order to satisfy all the requests
I get for bees along with the hives I sell. I happen to believe top bar nucs are more of a rarity/specialty than
Lang nucs and can perhaps bring more of a premium. 

Not only do I want to do splits to satisfy customer requests, but also to make my small outfit self-sustainable.

"The Sustainable Apiary by Mike Palmer" on YouTube


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## Snookie (Dec 13, 2013)

PatBeek said:


> .
> 
> Yes, I'm going to attempt to do splits this spring/summer also in order to satisfy all the requests
> I get for bees along with the hives I sell. I happen to believe top bar nucs are more of a rarity/specialty than
> ...


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## Beethinking (Jun 2, 2008)

I sell dozens of them here in Portland, Oregon. Dozens, only because I don't have enough hives to do more.

Best,
Matt


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## PatBeek (Jan 13, 2012)

Cacklewack said:


> I sell dozens of them here in Portland, Oregon. Dozens, only because I don't have enough hives to do more.
> 
> Best,
> Matt


Matt,

the interview Craig did with you a couple of years ago on his podcast was excellent:

http://media.blubrry.com/somdbk/p/traffic.libsyn.com/somdbeekeeper/SoMDBK-Episode22-2011-11-22.mp3

or

http://somdbeekeeper.com/page/2/

.


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## Beethinking (Jun 2, 2008)

Thanks, PatBeek!


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>My question to you folks is do you think there would be a market for top bar nucs?

Yes, I think there is. You would have to raise them in a narrow enough hive that it would fit most anyones top bar hive, with bars the hang too far over, so it's wide enough to fit as well. But I think it could be done and I think there is a market.


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## Beethinking (Jun 2, 2008)

That's the difficulty, of course. Bars/combs that fit the majority of the customer's hives. Many in the Portland metro area use hives made by us, so they obviously fit. Some of them build their hives with the Biobees.com plans, which ours also fit. It gets harder when they're using other plans, bar lengths, depths, etc.


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## PatBeek (Jan 13, 2012)

.

I consider 17" the standard length. Even if it varies a half/whole inch either way, it's not the end of the world......well, a WHOLE inch bigger with comb built on it could be an issue going into a slightly smaller hive. It just depends.

But aside from my weird barrel hives (which are 24" long bars), I use 17" in my nucs and hives.


.


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## fruitveggirl (Mar 8, 2013)

I second Michael's comment. I bought a top bar nuc last year (proving there is a market). The man who sold it to me had nucs that were approximate 17" wide at the top, about 5 or 6" inches wide at the bottom. Sorry, I don't remember the height, but I might say about 9 inches high. Smaller nucs ensure that the comb should fit into almost anyone's TBH. When I placed my order, I had to specify bar length (20" for me). When I got the nuc, the bars overlapped the top more than you'd normally see in a hive. Actually, when I got it, the bars had been cut to 23", so I ended up having to cut off the ends, but no biggie. It was an easy and painless process that took about a minute to do thanks to the advice I got here on Beesource.


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## PatBeek (Jan 13, 2012)

Any slight alteration needed to be done to a top bar nuc in order to fit (if at all) would be infinitely
more simple than manipulating a Lang nuc into a top bar hive.


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## Matt903 (Apr 8, 2013)

Thanks guys. I never thought of cutting comb to make one fit in a smaller size top bar. Kind of a brain dump on my part. Thanks for the suggestion!


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## ChuckReburn (Dec 17, 2013)

Been thinking about TBH nucs as well. My bars are 17". I find both 17" and 19" top bar hives pretty common around here. So, I intend to use nuc bars that are 19" long and notched at 1 inch in from each end so the can easily be cut down to 17" by someone who wants shorter. 

The 19" means I can easily hang them in my langs to get some comb going and I'm thinking the 19" length would also allow me to sell them in a Jester EZ nuc with an insert \_/

I figure a $15 deposit on the nuc box would more than cover my cost.

I am a little concerned about comb collapse with nucs.


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## Delta Bay (Dec 4, 2009)

Shaking packages is also an option. This way it doesn't matter which type or size hive they go in.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

If I were doing it, I wouldn't go less than 19" for sure. 24" seems like a good plan to cover every possible size for a top bar. Then the box should be at the small end of the possibilities, so maybe just 12" at the top with steep sides? One of these days maybe I'll get time to do this...


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## Colleen O. (Jun 5, 2012)

My bars are 17.5" long but I am changing them to 19.5" but the wedge part is staying the same. I made a new nuc out of 2X boards instead of 1X and had to trim the bottoms off my combs to put them in. Went really quick with a sharp knife. I think having to trim all three sides would not be much fun, more along the lines of a chop n crop from a Lang nuc, so I would try to keep the cavity on the smaller side as others have mentioned. You might try a poll to see what width and depth of the hive body most are running. Or to find out what the smallest is.


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## Snookie (Dec 13, 2013)

Colleen O. said:


> My bars are 17.5" long but I am changing them to 19.5" but the wedge part is staying the same. I made a new nuc out of 2X boards instead of 1X and had to trim the bottoms off my combs to put them in. Went really quick with a sharp knife. I think having to trim all three sides would not be much fun, more along the lines of a chop n crop from a Lang nuc, so I would try to keep the cavity on the smaller side as others have mentioned. You might try a poll to see what width and depth of the hive body most are running. Or to find out what the smallest is.


Pictures PLEASE:}?


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## palangi (Nov 17, 2013)

Three thoughts:
1) Are these for local pickup only? Wouldn't TB comb colapse if shipped?
2) If you sold bars that fit perfectly in your own hives, you'd be forcing people to buy your hives--which is both brilliant and limiting.
3) Is there a way to offer a variety of lengths? --Like have bees build on 20" and then cut to order?


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## ChuckReburn (Dec 17, 2013)

Local pickup only. The lang nucs I've seen are local pickup as well. Even so, comb collapse could be a concern during vehicle transport. I was discussing this a few times with one of the large bee breeders in our area and we've thrown around a few ideas, one of which was to drill and insert a few bamboo skewers down through the center of bars to be freshly drawn.

I think they've got the best idea with a smallish hive body and resulting comb and long bar that could be trimmed to fit.


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