I came across this amazing beehive design at a Woodfair recently. Please find the full story of this unique design for a top-bar hive below the photograph with the designer’s contact details if you want more information:
My initial inspiration to create a curved hive was from the curved structure of honeycomb created in top-bar hives.
The design re-appropriates traditional clinker boat building techniques, and celebrates long-established craft practices in the UK; beekeeping and clinker boat building.
The beehive is created using overlapping strips of steam bent oak and chestnut. Chestnut was chosen for the roof and the base of the hive, as it is a species native to Sussex, and has good properties for use outside. The central part of the hive is made from white oak, which is traditionally used in clinker boat building.
The hive is about exploring and expanding the possibilities of existing designs to create an aesthetically satisfying and functional form, which could supplement a contemporary garden space.
Despite using unconventional techniques for making a beehive, I have ensured that the construction adheres to the basic principles in order for a top-bar hive to function effectively. A swarm shall be moved into the hive next spring, and as a continuation of the project, the bees will be documented living in it.
If you’d like to ask anything about the beehive, please contact at: kayleywillcocks(at)hotmail(dot)co(dot)uk
Bee Lore 
What a beautiful variation on the top bar hive – I have a very plain version made out of oak boards 1 inch thick… I would love to seeplans of this elegant structure
Hello,
I have found the answer and solution to help honeybees deal with the parasitic mite varroa and stop honeybees dying using a bio-dynamic natural phenomenon, without using chemicals or man-made product. It is a world exclusive! This makes all my queens/bees, regardless of specie, varroa resistant.
During my research I have found Chemical companies, in the UK, have a stranglehold on beekeeping associations and honeybee science. So if a natural answer was found, like mine, it would never or could not be accepted.
It is controversial, political and topical but very important for mankind. What I have found allows honeybees to deal with varroa naturally, so I have very few mites or none at all.
Is that impossible? Not at all, you just have to go back to beyond mankind, before we tried to domesticate honeybees and watch what they do, the logic is easy, and then common sense prevails.
I have kept honeybees for 30 years, up to 300 colonies, always looking outside the box always questioning, why? Please remember I am not a scientist, just a passionate beekeeper. All this has been done by observation, experimentation and research hence why it has taken so long.
20 years ago when the parasitic mite Varroa hit our shores we, beekeepers, were told to use chemicals by Bayer, the same company that part funds the BBKA. (British Beekeepers Association). At the beginning, for 2 years, I treated with these chemicals but each year I lost 30% of my queens, not the workers, just the queens, queen cells were made but as this was out of season, there were few or no drones for mating, so it could not be supercedure.
I complained to the BBKA and to Bayer, naturally I was told to go away as no-one else had complained, and prove it…….How could an individual do that?????
Most hobby beekeepers only keep less than 10 hives so if they lost one or two, then that was acceptable, at that time I was running over a hundred so 30% was a huge loss.
Immediately I stopped all treatment of chemicals and sugar, much to the disgust of fellow beekeepers, hoping that one day I would find a natural answer, this I have now done, after 20 years of individual heartache and research.
It is unfortunate that when I approach companies like the BBC, ITV or large organisation supporting honeybees (W I or Co-op) they refer to the BBKA, for advice, who are biased due to chemical funding, for some sort of ratification that I am bone-fide.
You must realise the BBKA, IBRA or DEFRA have their own financial agenda so are unwilling to be associated with me or my book, as a natural answer is allegedly NOT a top priority or acceptable to them, due to chemical infiltration of funding.
I hope I am making myself clear. I am a single beekeeper up against the might of the hierarchy of beekeeping and a chemical giant that has too much influence.
My book was the only way I could be heard, that is now selling around the world,
“An HOLISTIC Way in Saving the Honeybee”.
Available through Northern Bee Books http://www.groovycart.co.uk/beebooks or Amazon.
I hope you can now see how difficult it is to tell mainstream public that an answer is available but fear sells products and keeps food prices high.
When the rest of the beekeeping world catches up with my hypothesis, I may well be 6 foot under, but it will become normal practice in 20 or 30 years time.
I do not mean to be a threat to anyone; pioneers happen unexpectedly, I am just a passionate beekeeper that has found the answer to save honeybees worldwide.
If I can help you in any way in saving your bees, by reducing varroa, increase your honey crop or if you would like my help to assist in any way, do not hesitate in contacting me.
My quest will never finish. All I want to do is help the honeybee and ask you to help me spread the word.
If you would like more free information, an updated summary of my book for publication on websites, newsletters or for TV or Radio production, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thank you for your time.
Kind regards
John Harding
The Clavies
38A Hungary Hill
Stourbridge
West Midlands
England, UK
07974121472 or 01384 423557
harding@clavies.freeserve.co.uk
Copy write 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
My New Email address is: harding.clavies@gmail.com
Ps
The long top bar hive is the worst design for honeybees, remember they have a natural vertical build, NOT horizontal.
If you would like more information please do get in touch.
Kind regards
John