Kenyan Top Bar Beehive Plans Pdf

Oct 2012 looking to build your own top bar hive.

Kenyan top bar beehive plans pdf.

The style most people use today and that i will be discussing is the kenyan top bar hive which has roots that go back to ancient greece. Top bar hives are low tech old style configurations of hives. Hive design movable comb top bar top bar hives are easier and cheaper to make than frame hives yet have some advantages of movable comb technology. Design intent the top bar hive is designed with the beekeeper in mind both in terms of the construction effort and the management of the hive once installed.

The kenyan top bar hive has a box with sloped sides whereas the tanzanian top bar hive has a rectangular box. Build 31 top bars 35mm wide x 500mm long. The example pictured above the one i built was a luxury version with all new pine. These are more plans for a top bar beehive.

The plans break down each section so even those that are newest to beekeeping and carpentry work could probably figure out how to build these hives without much fuss. We make the designs and drawings freely available for use by other beekeepers or for commercial production. If you re a new beek consider reviewing this pragmatic comparison of tbh vs. And if you re ready to build here are some designs.

Bfd93 top bar hive hj 301109 1412 words 1 practical beekeeping making a top bar hive janet lowore monica barlow and mark loveday bees for development keywords. Build this hive 14. My design is taken with permission from my friend matt wilson a master beekeeper and former organic farming coordinator at berea college in berea kentucky. As well as htbh such as the kenyan and tanzanian there are also vtbh vertical such as the warre.

If you buy one 6 metre length of 35mm x 90mm untreated pine timber studs you can cut it into 500mm lengths and rip each length into 3 top bars. You will get enough top bars for one hive from one 6metre length. As mentioned before top bars were created to disturb less of the hive all at once. There are different types of hives used in beekeeping in kenya but the most important for commercial purposes are two the kenya top bar hive ktbh and the langstroth hives.

The kenyan was designed to be low tech low cost and simple to build using available materials. Electronic copies of the drawings are available in adobe portable document format pdf which can be printed on standard 8 1 2 by 11 inch paper. I recommend using a standardized tbh design for innumerable reasons including the ability to. Standardized top bar hive tbh.

Constructing a kenya top bar hive written by george. Drawings for a proposed standard top bar and for a hive design that uses it.