Here are some thoughts for your consideration.
 
Five gallon buckets have been used as baited hives to catch swarms and I've
seen the bees quite fill a bucket with comb in four weeks.  The comb was of
course built on many different angles, and attached to the bucket in many
places just as one might expect.  However maybe,
 
1.  A 5 gallon bucket, with wire and wood handle, could be made into a top
bar hive by:
    a.  cutting an bee entrance hole in the bottom of the bucket, or in the
side of the bucket just above the bottom, and perpendicular to the frames,
    b.  cutting top ventilation holes under the double rim at the top of the
bucket
    c.  hot gluing, or pop riveting frame rests into the inside of the
bucket at the proper location down from the top lip,
    d.  top bars would be as long as permitted by the diameter of the
bucket,
    e.  top bar ends would be curved to fit the radius of the bucket, and
rest on the frame rest,
    f.   the lid edge could be cut at each notch to make lid removal easy,
and access to the frames,
    g.  the frame top bars could be notched on the sides to allow treatment
with Apistan,
    h.  if the frame top bars are placed low enough and the spacing between
sides of the top bars and the bucket were wide enough, perhaps menthol
packets could be used at the top of a single story bucket,
    i.  or perhaps another bucket could be cut so that its top with lid
could fit down over the top of the bottom bucket (with lid removed), to act
like a spacer rim so that the menthol packet could be placed on the top bars
of the bottom bucket and allow for air movement around the packet.
 
2.  Frame top bars could be cut to receive a starter strip of foundation,
 
3.  A lady here who spent two years in the Peace Corps in Nepal had what I'd
call an excellent idea.  The beekeepers there were using top bars in
trapezoid shaped mud hives, like the Kenyan top bar hive.  She suggested the
idea that a "T" be cut in from each end, and in the center, of the top bar.
The "T" would be cut with their top cross bars toward the end of the top bar
like:
I-----     -----I.  A strip of bamboo is cut the width of the top bar less a
bee space (the width equals the length of the long part of the "T"),  and
long enough to form a bottom bar extending from one end of the top bar down
to the bottom of the top bar hive (or five gallon bucket) and up through the
"T" in the other end of the top bar.  The bamboo strip had a square notch
cut into both edges close to each end.  The wood between the notches would
be the width of the top of the "T."  The length of the notches would be the
thickness of the top bar.  The bottom bar strip was then inserted up into
the long part of the "T" then twisted to hang into the top of the "T" in one
end of the top bar, then twisted to insert the other end into the "T" in the
other end of the top bar in the same manner.  The bottom bar would hang into
the top of the "T" in each end of the top bar and would hang down as far as
the depth of the hive, or bucket.  The bees would build comb from the
starter strip and complete the comb attaching it to the bamboo bottom bar.
She said this trick made the top bar frame much easier to handle without
breaking combs off with inappropriate handling.
 
4.  Perhaps a second bucket could be added to the top of the first by
removing most of the center of its bottom, and most of the center of a lid.
Place the open center lid on the bottom bucket.  Place the solid lid and the
second bucket, with the center of its bottom removed, into the lid of the
bottom bucket.  Of course, bee space would need to be provided between the
top bars of the first bucket so that bees could get up into the top bucket
(super bucket).
 
In wet climates, some attention might be needed to the way the top bucket
"nests" into the rim of the lid on the bottom bucket.  Capillary action may
cause rain running down the side of the top bucket to get into the bottom
bucket.
 
Of course, I don't know whether these ideas would work well.  This is just a
brain storm.  But in developing countries where bee colonies are smaller
than in the US, it might be worth trying.  Or some brave soul may wish to
"experiment" just to see how bees would respond to such an arrangement.
 
James C. Bach
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