The Thinking Beekeeper
The Thinking Beekeeper is the definitive do-it-yourself guide to natural beekeeping in top bar hives... read more
Check out our Top bar hives for sale. They are an easy to manage; natural environment that supports the bees' natural systems - without using any toxic chemicals or antibiotics.
Starting bees in a top bar hive
  PACKAGE BEES FOR 2013 These bees are treatment-free, raised on small-cell foundation, and perfect for starting top bar hives. They are "mutt bees" - a mix of Russian, Italian, and Carniolan genetics. They are 3# packages - with naturally mated, unmarked queens. GREETINGS! WE ARE OUT OF BEES FOR PICKUP! BEE PICKUP WEEKEND IS HERE AT LAST! The ETA on the bees is this evening, Thursday, 5/16 at 5pm. Please check your email for the very detailed instructions you were sent about timing - the gist of which says - Friday or Saturday after 9am, Sunday after 12noon. WE ARE ALSO OUT OF BEES FOR SHIPPING! PLEASE NOTE! THERE HAVE BEEN DATE CHANGES IN SHIPPING DUE TO WEATHER!! If you have already ordered bees for shipping, your ship date has moved forward (into the future) by one week. You will receive an email from me confirming this fact soon. The date changes make this a little confusing, so we appreciate your patience. Please note: If you suspect we've lost track of your order, feel free to call us, but be aware that we are working hard to keep things straight and phone calls can make it take longer!  207-449-1121 ==========================================================
WHAT YOU DO WANT IN THE WAY OF BEES? There are two good ways to start bees in top bar hives:  With a swarm. The beautiful thing about a swarm is that swarming is the natural reproduction process of honeybees. That means that the bees in a swarm are a finely tuned, well organized "colony". The bees are the right ages for the tasks they will be performing in their new home when it is found, and they are all related to each other, and they are all related to their queen. This is about as close to natural as you could ask for! A swarm's ability to build wax and fill your top bar hive with honeycomb is just amazing! HOWEVER - The difficulty with starting your hive with a swarm is that you cannot predict its arrival time - or even if a swarm will come your way at all. They are a "gift of nature."  With a package. A package of bees has advantages for the beekeeper. You can "order" a package. So you know you've got bees coming. While not the most natural method, at least you know when it's expected to arrive. A drawback of package bees is that they likely have not had the best time of it just before they come to live in your beehive. They are bees of random ages, tumbled together with bees from many other hives in an apiary - they are unrelated, disorganized, and expected to get on with an artificially raised queen that they have never met before. It's an artificial process but the bees seem to be able to adapt and overcome, and organize themselves into a colony and go forward. Our goal is to offer you the very best in package bees with emphasis on natural cell size and treatment-free management. We will be selling package bees in 2013. Joining our newsletter will get you the information as soon as it posts! So - with those options before you - you'll need to make some choices. Swarm or Package? Download your free copy of the Gold Star Hive Start-Up Handbook here (.pdf format) WHAT YOU DON'T WANT IN THE WAY OF BEES:  Meanwhile, let's talk about nucs. Just what is a nuc? A nuc is the nickname given to a "nucleus colony". It works like this - you buy a nuc, which is tiny little starter hive of bees - you take it home, and you remove five frames from your Langstroth hive, and you replace them with five frames and the accompanying bees, from the nuc. Voila - instant beehive. If you are using Langstroth equipment, this works beautifully... because it comes on Langstroth equipment! But sometimes novice beekeepers don't realize that a conventional "nuc" isn't going to fit in a top bar hive. And they may not be quite sure what questions to even ask, so the company they are purchasing from doesn't even know how to keep them from making this error - buying bees that won't work in their top bar hive. Here's a video we did that talks about the differences between package bees and nucs... Primarily, it's a question of non-compatible, non-interchangeable equipment. Top Bar Hives, with their natural wax, are not shaped anything like Langstroth hives. Yes, there are tales of brave (or crazy?) beekeepers who cut apart the frames of a conventional nuc in order to make it fit into a top bar hive - we call that a "hack and slash" or "chop and crop" job. We would like to discourage you from doing that - and one obvious reason for that is because it's very hard on the bees, who also get pretty angry about the whole process. But another reason to avoid a nuc is that it means that you are introducing the Langstroth hive's foundation wax into your clean top bar hive. And since standard-sized wax foundation is a bit the wrong size, and has also been found to contain about 170 different chemical contaminants - it's sort of like shooting yourself in the foot before you even begin. Let's at least let the bees have their own way about making clean, natural comb - they know what's best. So a nuc is just not the best choice for populating your top bar hive. Make sense? We thought it would. Thanks for listening! |