First Inspection of 2011. Four of my six colonies looking good and building up nicely although a little light on stores so they will need to be fed some syrup soon as they are building up quickly. The other two colonies not shown in this video will need to be combined and put into a nuc if they are to survive as one of the queens has probably died as there are no signs of any eggs or brood, the other is only laying a small patch of eggs as the colony is very small. By combining them it will give them half a chance to recover.
Comb Building - 1 Week - 11,000 pics
I was browsing through the forums at www.biobees.com when I came across a link to a time lapse movie showing a colony which had been put into a top bar bee hive. Over one week 11,000 pictures were taken and put together to form this movie. Its an amazing sight watching the colony building completely natural combs. At one point you can clearly see them forming chains which is believed to be how they gauge distance and size for construction.
I have recently heard that the BBKA are considering covering the Top Bar Hive as part of the basic bee keeping training courses. I for one was very happy to hear this news as the humble top bar hive has been used for thousands of years compared to all of the "framed" hives.
Top Bar Bee Keeping
Inside a Top Bar Hive
(June to August)
Sunday 22 August 2010 - (FDBKA Only) - You may be able to take a closer look at a Top Bar Hive when we visit Sam's apiary in August. Both hives were populated with in about 30 days of each other in spring and it will be interesting to see the difference in expansion.
2011 - A quick video taken by a friend who wants to start his own top bar hive.
A short segment of the complete inspection.
If you are interested in learning more about top bar bee keeping, learning from the mistakes I made in the construction of the hive and some general advice of how to manage the hive which differs from "Frame hives" and some of the different equipment needed feel free to contact me.
