My new PDTBH (Plastic Drum Top Bar Hive)

[nietssemaj]

I don't know about the comb being attached. But a wine/beer barrel stays together due to the bands. I don't think it would be easy to 'cut' one in half. There is another thread about a 'strip' built TBH. Wasn't from a barrel but is that shape and made of wood.

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,36092.0.html

[buzzbee]

nietssemaj
Did you realize your pics in this thread are no longer linked to the forum?

[nietssemaj]

Yeah, I moved them on photobucket and broke all the links. I'd edit them but I can't seem to edit anything other than the last message I posted.

[nietssemaj]

Installed PBTBH #2 yesterday afternoon and split my 2 colonies into their own hives. Was pleasantly surprised to see they've torn down all the queen cells they were building. Saw the marked queens in both hives so I guess the colonies have decided to keep them.

Still have SHB everywhere but I didn't see any in the comb and the bees were really chasing them down when they tried to run.

[nietssemaj]

Both hives are dead. The beetles took over. I combined, compressed, over-crowded, the bee's just couldn't manage.

Once the beetles started getting the upper hand it was inevitable. The size of the combs meant I couldn't freeze them. (Would take a very large chest freezer to fit them.

[Maryland Beekeeper]

Sorry to hear it. I lost a few to the SHB this season as well. Like you finally had to build new hives with traps and transfer colonies, that and changing to pvc pipe entrances w/ sticky tape seems to have turned the tide. I've got a video I'll get up @ some point of the bottom of a Perone (2'x2') with 3-4" of SHB larva piled in it squirming around. I was expecting the, "Hatch", from a recent cutout but it was worse than I've ever seen. Absolutely disgusting !
Cheers,
Drew

[Robo]

I put a swarm back in mine this year.   They seem to be in good shape for winter, time will tell.

Rob...