Kenyan Top Bar Hive Construction

New YouTube Video Post on Kenyan Top Bar Hive Construction

Hive Inspection

Taking a look at the busy busy bees! The bees are doing great and are pretty much the only thing still thriving throughout the terrible heat we just experienced! 

I love seeing the new wax they are forming in an impressive amount of time, as well as the fresh capped honey!!

Preparing Top Bars for Bee hive

First you need to collect all your boards. They can be anywhere from 1 3/8" to 1 3/4" depending on the bees. We purchased 8 foot 1x2 boards to cut down (which are 1 1/2"). Cut the boards to the top size of your bee box. 

Pull your cotton string tight across the center of your board and clamp each end so the string stays in place while you apply the wax line. 

 At this point you are ready to melt the wax onto your cotton string line. We have tried several methods to get a good even wax line and the best and quickest method is to use a blow torch on low. 

Clip off the end of the string, toss the board into the pile, and start the next one!

The top bars will all lay side by side on top of your bee box (wax side down).

Within a matter of days your bees will start building their own comb and storing up honey! 

Kenyan Top Bar Hives... Why we chose this style of hive

Kenyan Top Bar Bee Hive

As we started researching the top bar hive and the long term benefits, we realized that the long term benefits of the top bar hive was congruent with our view of backyard farming.

• Inexpensive: The number one motivation was cost! You can build these completely out of scrap wood. They are designed and developed for third world countries where materials are scarce. You could easily drop close to $1,000 in equipment alone for a Langstroth or Warre type hive. So the Kenyan Top Bar appealed to us in that way. All of the materials to build these 3 hives cost us a mere $20...and we have plenty of spare wood to build more as well!! 
• Little Treatment: You have a reduced dependence on chemicals to treat various mites and hive beetles. 
• Health: The bees build their own comb and cells which allows them to be healthier and resist mites. The bees know better than we do and they sure do know how to build their own comb...so why not let them! 
• Versatility in Design & Size: There is not one set design so you can design and be creative with the construction. There are hundreds of designs out there for how each person prefers their top bar hive to look. Bryan designed and built our hives out of scrap wood which he bought at an estate sale. For $20 he purchased enough old scrap wood to make at least 10 hives (which we don't need 10 hives, but for $20 he decided to buy all the wood!). You can truly personalize these boxes! Bryan designed all of our hives to the same interior dimensions so that comb is transferable in case you want to split a colony. 

There are many benefits and desirable features to the Kenyan Top Bar hive and this is just the surface! Join us on our journey as we discover and research more about this method of bee keeping. 

Our Top Bar Bee Hives

I have so much to tell you all about our bee hives!! Ive been terrible at keeping you updated as to the "buzz" in the backyard. We planned on having 2 bee hives and Bryan made these wonderful hives for them. He decided to go with the Kenyan Top Bar Hive and then designed some adorable roofs for them! 

These first 2 pictures are from a couple months ago...before the garden was taking off. We started off with 2 hives and ordered 2 colonies of bees. The first hive we put in are New World Carniolan (purchased from Knights Family Honey in Utah) and the second hive are Italian bees. 

A couple weeks into our beekeeping experience, a friend called and had trapped a swarm of bees and didn't have space for them...so we now have 3 hives! 

Bees are very impressive creatures!! I am not very fond of things that can sting me (seriously, who is?!?)and I have to admit I was really not looking forward to housing thousands of bees in my backyard!! However, I am really surprised at the temperament of bees. They have such a bad reputation for stinging...which they can and will sting! BUT, if you don't mess with them then they will not mess with you! I was afraid that I would not be able to work out in the garden because I would have bees crawling all over me all day but it is quite the opposite! The bees really just mind their own business and stay quite busy pollinating...busy, busy bees!! It is very relaxing to sit out near their hives and watch the workers swoop in and out while hearing the gentle and soothing hummmm of the bees who are working inside the hives. 

They have a very distinct flight pattern that they have set up. About 5 feet outside their hives is the "bee express on and off ramps". They move so fast and yet so organized! Quickly buzzing out of their hive and straight up in the air, across our yard and right over the garage. While at the same time there are dozens of other bees buzzing in and out as well. First thing in the morning and last thing in the evening there is quite a sight to see as the "bee express" is in full force and all the bees are starting off or finishing rounds for the day. It is surprisingly very soothing to watch! I love to be out milking the goats in the garage with the door open and look across the plush garden and watch the bees busy at work! It is one of my favorite times of day and night!