Top Bars for Swarm Traps

After building all my swarm traps, I knew that I needed some frames to go into them.  I wanted to use frames in my swarm traps so the bees don't actually build comb on the roof of the trap, but rather on the frame.  Frames, even though they are .75 cents a piece from my local dealer, are not that cheap when you start adding them up.  .75 each x 5 per trap x 15 traps, a grand total of $56.25.  This is not what I want to spend considering I still have to buy and build 100 of them for my hives.

While cleaning out our warehouse at work I found a pallet that needed to be thrown away.  I knew I could use this for something.  I started brainstorming and realized that I could make top bars for my swarm traps, instead of frames, out of it. 

The top bars needed to be 19" long, so I measured in between the 2x4's and there was more than enough.  I did this because I didn't want the nail hole from the 2x4's going through the middle of my top bars. The planks on top were 3/4" thick, exactly the thickness of the top bar.   This would work perfectly.

I grabbed the pallet, put it in the back of the pickup, and brought it home to be put to good use later.

I went to Beesource to find some plans for top bars.  I knew they didn't have plans for the top bars for Top Bar Hives, but they did have them for the frames.  All I needed was the dimensions of the top bar section of the frame. 

So, I set out this evening, after work, working on the tablesaw outside.  It was a beautiful day and it really made me anxious to get these hive started.  I started by running the skil saw on either side of the 2x4's, then cut them to length, and started ripping them on the table saw to get the individual bars.  After several passes on the table saw, to get the bars the shape that I wanted, this is what I came out with.

I made a couple of cuts down the center of the bar, to give me 3/16" space to add a piece of corrugated plastic for the starter strip. 

Cut the starter strip, from some old political signs.  I used some more of the cigarette signs I had left over from building the swarm traps.

Insert the starter strip into the top bar.

Secure the starter strip in place with nails, to keep the strip from falling out after comb has been built on it.  I used three, one on either side and one in the middle. 

The next step I did was to nail a couple nails on either end, on the same side, of the bar.  This will act as a spacer for the following  top bar to be placed.  These nails are set and left  protruding out 1/4".  This isn't normally needed because the side bars have the 1/4" spacers built in but since mine are tops only I went ahead and put them on so beespace wouldn't be compromised.   This was not my idea, but yet another trick I got from Rob Overton's site.  He actually uses staples on his complete frames.

Clicking on this will show you better the two "spacer nails" on either end.

And here they are all in place in the swarm trap.  You can see the "spacer nails" working.

Plenty more to be working on. Actually, I only cut half of one side of the pallet.  The pallet will go a long way which is needed because I have 75 bars to build.

This, surprisingly, didn't take very long to do.  I got home at 4:00 today and was finished with all the cutting by 6:30.  It was a fun project, but not something that should be done by someone with less than average carpentry skills.  There is just a lot of tedious cuts involved on a table saw which can be dangerous when your doing something this repetitive.

I hope you enjoyed reading this.  It was fun building them and fun to tell you about the experience.

James