Do you need a queen excluder in a top bar hive?

You lift a bar, look at it, and decide if it is ready to harvest. If it has brood it is returned and left for another time. During harvesting the whole comb is cut from the bar, before being returned to the bees. There is no need for a queen excluder in such a system.

Are top-bar hives better?

The bees inside a top bar beehive overwinter better than bees inside a Langstroth hive. In order to stay warm, bees need to exert energy, in order to do that they need to eat honey. Since heat rises it will go to the top of the vertical hive while the bees are more likely to be hanging out at the bottom.

How do you treat top-bar hives?

Formic acid is excellent for mite treatment—it’s organically approved, leaves zero residues, works fast, and is the only treatment that penetrates the cappings of brood cells. Formic acid vapors are denser than air, so it is best applied above the combs.

What happens if you don’t use a queen excluder?

Not using an excluder means that you run the risk of the queen laying drone brood in the Flow frame cells. The likelihood of this happening can be minimised by placing an empty (foundationless) frame in the brood chamber and allowing the bees to build their drone comb.

How do you attract bees to a top bar hive?

How to Attract Honey Bees to an Empty Top Bar Hive

1. Place the top bar hive in a location where honey bees frequent.
2. Open the lid.
3. Place a few drops of lemongrass essential oil on the inner surface of the hive.
4. Close the lid on the empty top bar hive, and allow the hive to remain undisturbed for a couple of weeks.

Can I have the measurements of the top bar beehive?

These top-bars are supposed to be 3.3cm in width and 50cm in length, and they are supposed to be 2.5cm again in thickness. And for each Malawi Standard Hive, you can have 30 to 31 top-bars. Those are the ones that will be used for building their combs.

How do you harvest honey from a top bar hive?

Harvesting honey using a honey press

1. One by one, slice the comb off each top bar using a serrated bread knife or an electric uncapping knife.
2. When the hopper is filled, put the lid and screw mechanism in place.
3. Remove the crushed wax, clean the filter, and repeat the process until all the combs have been processed.

Should a beehive be in sun or shade?

The hive should be placed in early morning sun. This gets the bees out of their hive earlier in the day to forage. In the Northeast, hives can remain in the full sun for the entire season. However in places with warmer climates, hives should receive some afternoon shade.

What are the advantages of a top bar beehive?

Better Overwintering. Because the top bar hive is horizontal, it holds heat much better than the Langstroth hive, and this makes it easier for the bees to overwinter. During cold weather, bees have to actively work to keep the hive warm. To provide the energy to do so, they consume honey.

What is a follower board for top bar hive?

Boards or No Boards Nearly all commercially available top-bar hives come with “follower boards”—solid, wooden frames sized to permit bees to pass beneath or alongside them. Created to fit snugly next to top bars, follower boards reduce the amount of space in newly established or overwintering hives.

What are the dimensions of a top bar hive?

We propose a standard top bar with a main body that is 19-1/2 inches long by 1-1/2 inches wide by 3/4 inches thick. This bar can be temporarily used in a Langstroth hive, and its size falls within the range of bar sizes currently used by most American top bar beekeepers.