How to Inspect a Top Bar Hive in Summer

Last August I was inspecting a TBH. I found the brood nest to be healthy, the queen prolific, I show the egg pattern and then proceed to fix some comb issues.

[honeybacres]

Great video. I hope to get a swarm for my top bar hive soon as spring is very near here in Australia. Watching your videos is good for getting me familiar with what I need to do to manage it.

[IanCoreyFe]

You're an inspiration to someone who with no carpentry experience who plans on building a top bar this winter– I can make it out of any old scrap with no particularly specific dimensions.

And if I may be a pest– it's Ms. Engineer.

[OutOfaBlueSky]

Breeding is always a compromise. Bloody Mary is a survivor bee, enduring drought and varroa for years. I want that genetic line preserved, just tamper the temper.

[superbee]

Glade i went long boxes, i use standard deep frames. Do you know what a guard bees even look like? There different, They look like bulldogs, small short and stubby they are different from the queen, drone, scouts, , nurse bees and workers Most of the time its all the honey in a hive, makes em MOODY! They become protective of the hive

[SLBeeotch]

YEAH! GO BEES!! Thanks for the great Videos McCartney! Peter in Ballwin, MO

[branak]

I wonder how often you are stung when working on a hive. also got some more questions (I am not a bee keeper nor am I a fan of bees actually I hate them and they scare the hell out of does it often happen you kill a bee when you are putting down a comb or rearranging the combs? do bees react to fallen comrade? aren't you afraid of squashing the queen? No offence intended just curious, love these video's hope that one day they will help me get off my fear of bees =)

[OutOfaBlueSky]

No. I've never used a queen excluder. Why should I? It is a horizontal hive...

[ojuleko]

Well, ofcourse :)
Just wandering, I heard that stingless bees do make honey but its sweeter and there is less of it. Is that true?

[flamedrag]

wouldn't it be a good idea to split one of your other hives and get rid of "bloody mary"? that queen's offspring will never be tame, right?

[Noahsoak]

Regarding the post of "What are these bees?" I did see the larger one land on top of another. At first I thought are they mating?? But then I thought no they dont mate like that??

[OutOfaBlueSky]

All honeycomb past the brood nest is pure honey. For me, it is from bar 14 on up.

[Noahsoak]

why is the comb so dark in places? Is this where there is no honey?
Does capped comb mean the honey is ready?

[Ronco]

This is random but are you still filming with your modded kodak zi8?

[apismellifera]

That's good she is a hardy survivor. One thing I have hear and that is the darker your queen the more mite resistant the offspring are. I wish we had Japanese honeybees ( Apis Cerana sp.) because they constantly pick mite off one another and the brood more than Mellifera do.

[OutOfaBlueSky]

Stingless bees occur 500 miles south of me. But it would be pointless, as my role is to educate those who want to beekeep with apis melifera.

[gorriturbo]

bonito video amigo, me suscribo a tu canal, un saludo desde España.

[jonathanknobel]

Why don't you requeen that rude hive?

[shannonswyatt]

McCartney, what is the inside and outside width of your hives and what is the width or your bars? I'm guessing something like 17 inches inside width, 18.5 outside on the hive and 1.25 inches on the bar width. Let me know and e-mail me an address and I'll send you a dozen or so bars for you to try out. Not trying to sell any, I just enjoy your videos and would like you to try them out. I think you will be happier with this type bar.

[HeritageStacking]

My brother bought up some crown land were we live and we are thinking of doing a bee hive for honey. Is this a hobby for people with no experiance. Like I see how the boxes and the frames are made. Simple enough but the rest of it. I don't want to harm a insect any more then I have to. However I would like to move closer to self reliant system. I get all my food from our gardens and meat from our hunting lands. I would love to have a sugar substatute. Sorry for spelling.

[OutOfaBlueSky]

No kidding. But she's a survivor.