Alternative non-timber top bar hive

from cheap and locally available

materials
Nuru Adgaba (PhD)
Holeta Bee Research Center, Ethiopia
E-mail nuruadgaba@yahoo.com
 Background

™ For the last many decades attempts was made to

improve the bk. conditions
™ Particularly timber made top bar hive has been
considered as an appropriate hive for low income
groups
™ Despite long period attempts to introduce these
hives, still did not reach to the majority of rural
beekeepers
 Background contd---

™ This is, mainly due to their

¾ It requires precise specification
¾ Advanced wood machines
¾ Relative high prices and un affordability
¾ Unavailability for the majority of bkrs
 Background contd..
™ As a result in most subtropical African countries the
majority of beekeeping is still practiced in traditional
hives
™ This has certainly affected both the production and
productivities of beekeeping & quality of bee products.
™ Hence the available apicultural resources are not yet
well utilized
™ In this aspect to improve the bk conditions of the
region seeking for alternative technological options for
different income groups is very essential.
™ Background contd..

™ In this regard alternative and non-timber top bar hive and frames
made from cheap and locally available materials have been tested
for
• its ease of construction
• adoption and
• productivity of colonies at farmers level

™ The materials used are: -

¾ Arundinaria alpine (bamboo),
¾ Arundinaria donax,
¾ Oxytenathera abyssinica and
¾ Eucalyptus sticks
™ Such & similar types of materials are widely available in different
ecologies of many sub tropical African countries
 The Design the hive
The design is similar to the top bar hive with some modifications
100cm

30cm

10cm 30cm 25cm

Side walls design

Front & rear sides

40cm

22cm

Entrance
 Types of materials used

Solid sticks for hive body frames

For two side walls For Front and rear walls

22cm
40cm

1m
Ways of fixing the side walls
100cm

30cm

30cm 25cm 10cm

 Ways of fixing contd.

Different steps of hive wall frames construction

1st Each sides has to

be constructed
separately

Then the two sides are

fixed at the top and
bottom ends
m
22c

c m
40
 Construction of hive wall
1st the front and rear walls
Then the two side walls
Partition groove making for partition board & Q.E
Groove making
Plastering

Partition boards Q.E.

 Hand made top-bars preparation
Machine made timber top-bars
™Production of suitable top-bar is the most
important part of movable hive construction

™ The major production cost of a hive (labor &

time) goes for the production of top bars or
frames
Eucalyptus round top-bars
Bamboo splits top-bars

A. donax round top-bars

Some of the precautions are

* Materials should be mature
* Dry * Straight
* Uniform (3.2cm)
How the top-bars are fit to the hive

Round sticks top-bars

Bamboo splits top-bars
 Roofing materials
Sheet metals or plastics roofs can be used

Insulating materials
Under the roof
Guiding bees to construct straight combs

Fixing of combs

Straight combs
™ The hand made top-bars were tested on large
number of honeybees colonies
™ The experiment showed the absence of
significant differences b/n the machine & hand
made top bars
z In honey yield
z Comb spacing
z Bee space
z Brood cell depth
 Applicability of the hive for different purposes

¾ For nuclei hives

construction

¾ For simple colony

multiplication
About 10 queens
per/hive able rear

¾ Nuclei colonies
serve as source of
income 20-25
US/nuclei
 Relative advantages of this hive

™ Better honey yield 3x > than traditional hive

™ Better quality honey
™ Easy to construct using hand tools
™ 5-8 times cheaper than timber made hives
™ Allows to use wide range of materials
™ Environmentally friendly
™ Can be used for simple colony multiplication
™ Can be done by women and persons with
disability
The adoption of the technology

20,000 hives were

constructed
Can create job opportunities

Local carpenters can

Manufactures and sell the hive
and or top-bars
 Conclusion

¾ Such hive can serve as one technological

options for low income groups
¾ Contribute to improve the production and
productivity of beekeeping
¾ It will serve as bridge to transform from
traditional to box hive beekeeping
¾ However the promotion of this hive should not
be on the expenses of box hive