Top Bar Hive: Vol. 1

Finally!  I'm moving ahead with my plan for beekeeping.  I've already purchased one langstroth hive (which is painted and ready to go), but this cold wet spring has kept me from getting my bees.  Hopefully, I will have the nuc this week some time.

In the meantime, I built my very own top bar hive.  I read just about every plan on the internet, and realized that I'm just not as Type A as I thought I was.  There are so many fancy top bar hives out there.  I only wanted simple (and cheap).  Also, I'm only somewhat handy.  Plus, I'm impatient.  That combination doesn't lend well to intricately constructed hives, or anything else.  Luckily Mr. Peanutbutter has loads of handy-manly-man-tools which sped the process and made things super easy.

My hive is a little smaller than what I found online.  Making my first hive this way was easier for me.  I can always add to it later if I need to in order to increase space. (I have a plan for adding a 'super' to the end of the hive.

The hive measures 3 feet long x 8 feet wide.  There are 26 top bars - 15 brood and 11 honey.

Materials:

2 6ft sheets of 1 x 8 for sides, bottom board and ends
1 6ft sheet of 1 x 12 for top bars ( cut into sections of 1 1/4 inch for brood, 1 1/2 inch for honey)
nail gun and 2 inch nails courtesy of Mr. Peanutbutter
drill & drill bit for bee holes

I just nailed it all together like a giant shoe box.  Mr. Peanutbutter is going to make me a top as well.