Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => Do-It-Yourself Plans and Prints => Topic started by: CpnObvious on May 16, 2014, 07:40:31 pm
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I thought I'd post a pic of my hive stands. Well, the setups are identical, this is only one of them. The stand holds two hives. The overhangs and center are the right width to hold the frames. Not having to remember a frame holder / 1 less thing to carry. There's enough room, barely, for a super to sit in the middle. The frame holding the rocks has landscape fabric stapled to the bottom. I know much of this is overkill, but it gave me something to do in all this extra time waiting for my little friends to arrive. The stones are just to help with water runoff when the ground is damp in the spring so the legs don't sit in water or sink into the ground.
[img width= height= alt=150000/image-149453.jpg" border="0]http://postimg.com/thumbs/150000/image-149453.jpg[/img] (http://postimg.com/image/150000/image-149453.jpg)
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Very well done. If you want to build a hive stand, why not do it the way you want? Don't see any overkill myself. Good job and thanks for the photo.
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Very nice stand. Jim
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Looks like your bees will be off to a good start. Tom
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Looks great, just hope you put a concrete block under the wood stands to keep it from becoming unlevel when the hives get full of honey.
Ken
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Nice stands. Are the legs sunk into the ground or standing on top of the ground? Having the area to hang frames is a good feature, you will appreciate that!!!!
Ed
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Look great Cpn!
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Right Dandy Job! You charge by the hour? ;D
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@ken, the crushed stone is only about 3 1/4" deep, but I compacted them fairly well. Even though I sealed the bottoms of the legs, I didn't want them to be able to sit directly on moisture, so they are directly on the rocks, not on blocks so moisture can escape. Everything seems pretty sturdy the way they are.
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Looks good......only two hives!?!? that will never last :D :D
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Nice job! I like it. Was struggling with a design just this morning. I'll try your design....What are your dimensions? :)
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I made two back in the winter out of three inch sch 40 pipe, 21 foot long and concreted in the ground 3.5 foot in three places...........solid as a rock. Only got one of them in the ground and a couple of the hives moved onto it (full of nucs and swarm catches now), the other one is still laying on the ground. Will be this winter before I can plant it and move the hives.
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Looks good......only two hives!?!? that will never last :D :D
<chuckle>
CpnObvious, if you ever need some help with "bee math" feel free to drop me a message...I'm *sure* I can help you!!! ;D
Ed
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@LBurou:
I made two, so the bill of materials is as follows:
3 - 2x4x12'
1 - 4x4x12'
~ 3/4# 8d galvanized nails
~ 1/2# 2 1/2" ceramic coated deck screws (mire are square drive)
Exterior paint (I bought pressure-treated lumber so I wanted to keep the PT nastiness from the bees
Steps:
1) cut 2-2x4x12s in half
2) cut 1-2x4x12 into 8 pcs @ 17" each
3) cut 4x4x14 into 8 pcs @ 18" each. I had read that 18" was the "magic height" to help keep skunks out
4) cut 1.5"x3.5" rabbet out of 1 end of each 4x4 piece
5) I then put two decent coats of paint onto every piece, making sure to to include the end grains and the rabbets
6) on each 2x4x72" mark a square line at 5.75" & 21.25" in from each end (these lines are o/c for the 2x4s)
7) nail in 17" 2x4s o/c of the lines made in previous step
8) check entire "ladder" frame for square, then toe-nail a screw in each end of 17" 2x4 into 6' 2x4. I recommend screws be toe-nailed in from inside the 17"x20" boxes created. This will use the hive above to keep water out.
9 ) place the 4x4 into the outermost corners within the 17x20" boxes (the 6' 2x4s should carry the weight, not the 17") created and secure in place using three screw in the 6' 2x4 and then one in through the side of the 17" 2x4, ensuring that each leg is square to the frame.
I'm sure the picture makes it fairly self-explanatory, but I figured I write step-by-steps, anyway. I hope they didn't bore you!
************ EDIT *************
I meant to include that I'm going to place 4 heavy eye-hooks/screws onto each stand to connect automotive tie-downs to, instead of using bricks on top of the hives. 2 eyelets per hive.
************ EDIT DONE ********
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Ed & G3... My goal this year is to start with 2 hives, expand to 4 next year, maybe find and catch a couple swarms, and, and, and... I dunno... Math was never a strong subject for me... Maybe I will need help! :laugh:
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I dunno... Math was never a strong subject for me... Maybe I will need help! :laugh:
Me, too.
I wonder if the guy that invented top bar hives had trouble with geometry? :)
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Thanks for the list!
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G3,
This far north I don't think the PVC would last... Gets pretty brittle in the winters here and shatters. But I'd like to see how it looks, if you have time.
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HAHA not pvc, steel pipe.
I am a fire sprinkler contractor and this was a bunch of scrap pipe I tore out of a building.
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G3,
That makes a bit more sense! When I think of sch 35/40/90 I think of PVC.
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************ EDIT *************
I meant to include that I'm going to place 4 heavy eye-hooks/screws onto each stand to connect automotive tie-downs to, instead of using bricks on top of the hives. 2 eyelets per hive.
************ EDIT DONE ********
I would be concerned about the hives when they are in full production and high with supers and the hole stand being blown over with the stand not anchored to the ground.
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I would be concerned about the hives when they are in full production and high with supers and the hole stand being blown over with the stand not anchored to the ground.
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Hmmm.... Well, before that time comes maybe I'll pout a little concrete in the ground at either end with an eyelet in it as well as an eyelet screwed into the bottom of the horizontals and run a cable from end "1A" down through the eyelet in the crete, then back up to horizonal end "1B", and then duplicate on the other side... If it looks like I'll need, I'll do that... unless someone can offer a better suggestion?
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I wonder if the guy that invented top bar hives had trouble with geometry? :)
I knew the guy who invented the top bar hive..... actually he never invented them but worked with a world development organization on a project in Kenya.
After studying the African bee the challenges faced both from working with the bees, the pests and predators, and the resources the native people had at their disposal. And looking at all the different types of hives available and that have been used thru out the world, the top bar hive was selected and promoted. It was chosen for it's simple design, ease of construction, and the availability of material to build it with. This is where the guy that invented top bar hives had trouble with geometry? Not really they were constructing hives with rough sawed lumber that was random in width so the geometry changed to fit the lumber used on any particular hive.
John Corner Kenya Top Bar Hive
I had the privilege to have known John Corner, to hear him speak, watch his slide show presentations, to work and talk with him, He was the head of the Provincial Apiary Branch Department of B.C.
He also did some extension work in 3rd world country's. In the early 1980's he took on a project of introducing managed beekeeping in Kenya as up till then most honey was retrieved by honey hunting and robbing the colonies. the task wasn't as simple as taking plans for a Langstroth hive and saying build this hive.
European and North American hive sit on the ground This set up of a hives would be to easy for predator to attack. The equipment needed to make all the various pieces of the Langstroth hive was not readily available to beekeepers in the small villages, or the power to run the equipment. The beekeepers didn't have the equipment to extract the frames of honey or the finances to perches extracting equipment. The top bar hive was selected as the hive that would best allow for managed beekeeping in the area.
The top bar hive could he hung from trees keeping the predators from getting to the hives. It allowed for hive manipulation for easy access for removing honey and moving brood to make more colonies. The design of the top bar hive allowed for the construction of the hive with only needing to cross cut the boards to length, a task that could be done easily with a hand saw. The honey harvested with the wax, the wax being more valuable than the honey to the local villagers. They also took designs for veils, protective clothing, and the construction of smokers and hive tools. Once they had the tools to keep bees and become beekeepers rather than honey robbers. The new beekeepers had to be taught how to manage the colonies for honey production, for swarm prevention and to make increases in the number of colonies by splitting, and having colonies raise new queens.
John had a picture of a news clipping of 2 nuns being caught and arrested while flying in from Europe, for trying to smuggle 2 packages of bees into the country under their dress. The Kenya agriculture branch were concerned that the introduction of European bees would compromise the native African bees ability to survive in the harsh environment and with their predators.
While head of the Provincial Apiary Branch he put together a book on building Langstroth hives. It has been updated a little and published as PDF on the web but it is close to the same as was originally published.
Here is a link to it. http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/apiculture/construction.pdf
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When I was first reading about beekeeping I browsed over the Kenyan TBH designs and knew it was designed for third world beekeepers but I didn't know hardly any of what you just shared. Thanks!
Ed
ETA: Apis, you explained the reasoning behind the design very well.
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This was definitely a learning experience, thank you!
I live in the Central-MA town bordering what is considered Western-MA... Which is kind of considered 3rd-world... Do I need to switch to TBHs? I DO have indoor plumbing, that fancy e-lec-tricity stuff, and even power tools, like shovels.
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I knew the guy who invented the top bar hive..... actually he never invented them but worked with a world development organization on a project in Kenya.
That's a great story. Thanks for posting! :goodone:
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Good story Apis. Enjoyed reading that as well. Hanging a top bar hive had not occurred to me. I have seen non manageable hives, logs etc hanging.. That would be a good hive to have in bear country. Pull it up in a tree and lower it to inspect, then pull it back up again... Might get seasick bees when the wind is blowing...
Cpn.. I need to talk top you about them shovels.. I am still trying to figure out how to start mine.. I think the battery is dead..
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Apis,
Very enjoyable story. Thanks very much for the history lesson.
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Cpn.. I need to talk top you about them shovels.. I am still trying to figure out how to start mine.. I think the battery is dead..
Try banging it on the ground really hard, pointy end first.
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Cpn.. I need to talk top you about them shovels.. I am still trying to figure out how to start mine.. I think the battery is dead..
Try banging it on the ground really hard, pointy end first.
Hey that actually worked!!! But.. thats not where I wanted the hole.... >:(
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Good story Apis. Enjoyed reading that as well. Hanging a top bar hive had not occurred to me. I have seen non manageable hives, logs etc hanging.. That would be a good hive to have in bear country. Pull it up in a tree and lower it to inspect, then pull it back up again... Might get seasick bees when the wind is blowing...
Bears can climb trees so wont work to well for them.
They hang topbar hives between posts for elephant fences tt protect their crops The elephants quickly learn that the pain of the stings are not worth raiding the farmers crops.
Sent from my LG-P500h using Tapatalk 2
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Should anyone decide to duplicate these, I'd recommend one change to the original design. The bill of materials calls for 3- 2x4x12s. Two are cut in half for the long sides, one is cut for the cross-bracing.
I would change this to 2@2x4x14 and 1@2x4x12; using the 2 14-footers cut in half for the long sides. With the design as-is (and as I stated in my original post) a hive body barely fits between the two hives. This means you have to reach Over the open hive body to put it there and to pick it back up. When the bees are testy this can be a little nerve-racking. By increasing this another foot, it gives 3 more inches of space on either side to properly put down and pick up the box. Either that or grab 16' 2x4s and lob a foot off it. I think 8' sides would be too much, but 7'-7'6" would work well.