Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[nutclough]

Our little woodland Management worker's coop www.blackbark.co.uk has aquired a saw mill. We've also got access to locally grown larch. Do you think there's much of a market for TBH's or do people tend to make their own?

[Carl and Petra]

For me making them myself was the only way to go.

However if you can sell them crack on.

In the process of starting making my own the thing i found hardest was sourcing wood at a reasonable price.
I eventually found a sawmill close to home that would cut exactly what i wanted in cedar and that made all the difference. Offer that and you may get some take up.
Appreciate you may not have access to cedar, but at least offer people exactly what they want size wise. There is nothing more irritating then being told you can only have certain sized cut lengths in certain thickness etc.

Best of luck with it.

[J Smith]

I say go for it, just don't expect to sell hundreds.
For everyone that likes DIY, there are several that detest it, but the detesters might still like to keep bees.
Make well made/finished, realistically priced hives and they will sell.

You might want to look into a "flat pack" hive with some assembly required, be easier to ship that way.
If not complete hives, you might offer pre-cut top bars as this is the most difficult piece of the construction for the home handyperson to cut using simple tools.
Add Warre boxes and National boxes to your selection and you will be offering to a wider customer base.

[WileyHunter]

One comment that I run into, from those who oppose TBH's as a whole, is that there is no standardization... And I can see where they're coming from. I actually tweaked on the (several) plans that I used, to ensure that I would have a Top Bar that would fit in a Lang hive and vice-versa (if truly needed). It paid off in spades already! One guy in the club has a few hTBH's left, that he still maintains, his pref is Langs, but he also built his to the same width for same reasons. I had asked if I could put a couple bars in to let his girls draw them out (at least some), well instead he gave me a few of his and while they did need a little shave it was near nothing.
So the long of my short, is maybe consider using a "standard" sizing, even amongst the "commercial" style hives.

[trekmate]

Sending you an e-mail via your site.

Good luck!

John

[AugustC]

Some people are just not able to build their own hives. One of the great advantages of TBHs is that those who find poor mobility or advanced years stopping them from conventional beekeeping can still do it.

I really like the idea above of a "flat-pack" version though. I have found the same issue with sourcing wood of the right size and type. 25mm thick (not 25mm thick and planned to 22mm) and 150mm wide is ideal and surprisingly difficult to find.

[biobee]

I would like to make a listing on here for all hive builders, but for the time being, feel free to place as in the FOR SALE section.