Save the vanishing honeybees! Tumbledown acted quickly on his decision to create a honeybee haven. As promised, here's the story of how he constructed a top bar beehive for his back yard in the form of simple instructions and construction plans, so you can do the same. Let's lessen the impact of colony collapse disorder by creating a sustainable network of localized and diversified apiculture.
Here's a start.
Parts list:
1 1X6 -71" standard pine ($2.59)
2 1X12 -8' standard pine ($8.49 each)
2 8"X8"X16" concrete blocks ($1.34 each)
1 19"X47" plywood cover (from leftover scrap)
8D siding split galvanized nails ($.50?)
2" deck screws ($.50?)
1 lb. cake/block of yellow beeswax ($4.61)
Total: $27.86 + tax
Tumbledown's beehive construction plan is an adaptation of the Kenya style (sloped sides) hive detailed at the Bush Farms site.
Step One: Board Cuts
Cut the 1X6 to 47 1/4" (bottom).
Cut each 1X12 into one 47 1/4" length (a side) and one 15" length (an end piece).
Cut the remaining sections into top bars for brood nest (1" X 1 1/4" X 15") and top bars for honey (1" X 1 1/2" X 15").
Step Two: Assembly of Beehive Body
Nail the sides of the hive to the bottom board.
Center the bottom edge of the 15" hive ends on the bottom board of the hive body and attach each end to the hive body at the center point with a deck screw.
Spread the sides until the top corner of each side touches the top corner of each end. Attach each corner with a deck screw, then add screws at intervals sufficient to secure the ends to the sides.
Fully assembled top bar beehive body:
Step Three: Finishing Top Bars
Tumbledown took the easy way out (again) with the creation of his top bars. Rather than deal with the complications of inserting, gluing, and nailing a "beveled comb guide," Tumbledown simply measured 1 1/2" from the end of each 15" top bar and marked these points as the outer limits for a 12" center cut with a keystone shaped 1/4" router bit.
Into these center cuts Tumbledown poured beeswax melted in a makeshift double boiler (a 4 quart pot filled 1/8-1/4 with water heated to the low boiling point, enough to float a coffee can that has been squeezed to make a pouring spout).
Below is a view of the top bars with one layer of wax poured into the center. Another layer is added after the first layer cools so that the finished bar includes a line of beeswax embedded in the top bar, but also extending well above the surface of the bar (to provide a guide for the bees as to the direction for constructing the comb).
Step Four: Placing the Beehive
This is perhaps the greatest challenge, finding a suitable place well out of the line of human traffic. The results will be monitored closely and the hive moved if the bees prove too great a challenge. Tumbledown chose the least busy corner of his back yard and fenced the area completely with a temporary fence to prevent inadvertent visits by the merely curious. (Climbing over a 4-foot fence is not inadvertent. If you do that, you deserve to get stung.) Notice in the photo how the blocks have been coated with a 3"-4" band of used motor oil all around (to discourage ants). The ground all around the hive has been planted in grasses and clovers. Peas and other climbing vines will provide a screen around two sides.
Tumbledown also provided a ready water source.
Tumbledown also purchased two vials of "swarm catch" with Nasonov from the Dadant company ($6.75 for two) that's where the beeswax also originated). These are fixed to the inside of the hive on the end that serves as the entrance. The entrance to the beehive is created by placing the first bar (the bar nearest the end) at least 3/8" from the end. This creates a gap of approximately 3/8" wide X 3/4" high at two sides on one end for the bees to use as an entrance.
Already, in early April, bees were seen buzzing near the hive. (On 70-80 degree days. But, of course, for the last few days, we've had an unusually late and hard freeze with low temps in the teens and 20s and the daytime highs barely climbing above freezing. ...so, no bees to be seen and worries aplenty about newly planted fruit trees and the like.)
Tumbledown hopes to see a swarm take up residence in his beehive this spring. He would like to see a remarkable increase in the pollination of his garden, and in a year or three to take a bit of honey from the hive. Stay tuned to the blog for occasional updates on the whole adventure--and when "success" is finally within grasp, Tumbledown will add a bee page to his "how to" list on the web site.
In the meantime, visit the historic bee page at Tumbledown Farm ("Bees in the Cyclopedia of American Agriculture, vol. III) and here's hoping for a "resurrection" of the honeybees on this Good Friday 2007.
