Top Bar Hive Queen Excluder

In a top bar hive.

Top bar hive queen excluder. Jz bz queen rearing kit. The beekeeper harvests bar by bar. During harvesting the whole comb is cut from the bar before being returned to the bees. In a langstroth beehive the queen excluder works to prevent vertical movement of the queen bee.

Frames british standard frames commercial frames langstroth frames dadant frames smith frames top bar. Usually and i say usually a full bar of capped honey will act as a queen excluder in a top bar hive. If it has brood it is returned and left for another time. A top bar hive queen excluder can be made in the same procedure and using the same materials as the one used in a langstroth beehive.

Our hive bodies are 40 long 18 wide and about 19 deep allowing ample honey storage space to support the colony through winter with excess for the beekeeper to harvest. There is no need for a queen excluder in such a system. In the langstroth hive on the other hand you have to use a queen excluder to keep the queen down in the bottom two boxes because if you don t she will lay brood wherever she sees fit and you ll end up with combs that have both brood and honey which would be a problem when it comes time to harvest the honey. Back in the workshop i made another vertical queen excluder from an old zinc one re enforced and riveted all around that fitted tight against the sidewalls bottom and top.

With the new queen excluder in front of four solid combs of honey i grafted another batch of larvae into another set of queen cups and this time i got 100 acceptance. With my top bars i let the brood nest expand to about 15 bars or so then later in the season i move up a capped bar of honey behind the last brood comb. Hive colony maintenance. The difference between the two comes in the way they work.

Why top bar hives don t require queen excluder. Queen excluders are vital pieces of beekeeping equipment and do exactly as their name implies. Paint preservatives pest predators swarm trap. 40 long hive body.

Hive hardware hive insulation queen excluders spacing. Most available top bar hives are too small to allow a strong colony to thrive. Complete hive kits growing apiary kit assembled brood super kits unassembled kits garden hivery kits top bar hive. Inside the top bar hive.