Kenyan Top Bar Hive Plans
The kenyan top bar hive australian style.
Kenyan top bar hive plans. Top bar hives are meant to be fairly stationary. Our hives are made from cypress macrocarpa. A kenya style sloped sides is so that the combs are more naturally strong and less likely to break and collapse when they are full of honey. Kenya top bar hive.
This hive type is the most popular hive in the us. As discussed in the wikipedia article referenced above top bar hives with vertical side walls are often referred to as tanzanian and top bar hives with sloped side walls are referred to as kenyan widespread experience indicates that bees have fewer tendencies to attach comb to the sloped side walls of the kenyan top bar hive. The last disadvantage is that it s harder to get help with bees in a top bar hive since most beekeepers are only familiar with the langstroth hives. The most readily available diy beehive plans are for construction of langstroth hives.
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. Although the two most well known styles of long top bar hives are named kenyan and tanzanian the kenyan hive was actually developed in canada and the so called tanzanian hive is not the same as the top bar hive that was developed in tanzania the design of top bar hives has its origins in the work done in 1965 by tredwell and paterson. Honey bee langstroth hive plans. The object of a top bar hive tbh is to be easy and cheap to construct easy to work and having natural sized cells.
Since i found the kenyan top bar hive i have been experimenting with various designs and dimensions. Free plans for a top bar hive. Diy top bar hive remove replace home projects. As discussed in the wikipedia article referenced above top bar hives with vertical side walls are often referred to as tanzanian and top bar hives with sloped side walls are referred to as kenyan widespread experience indicates that bees have fewer tendencies to attach comb to the sloped side walls of the kenyan top bar hive.
The kenyan top bar hive has a box with sloped sides whereas the tanzanian top bar hive has a rectangular box. Buy kenyan topbar beehives. I have kept bees for years in a range of different hives and for absolute simplicity of management and bee welfare i have come to the conclusion that the kenyan top bar hive is the best for me the bee organism. If your bee farming plans are to move your hives to different fields over the course of the year the top bar hive is not what you want to use.