# Cathedral Hive & flow hive **URL:** \ **Category:** Modifications & Building Bee Hives\ **Created:** [September 8, 2017, 3:34am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/cathedral-hive-flow-hive/12601 "2017-09-08T03:34:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sally\_Stember](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/sally_stember/32/12246_2.png) [@Sally\_Stember](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Sally_Stember)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 3:34am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/cathedral-hive-flow-hive/12601/1 "2017-09-08T03:34:35Z")
Hello All! My apologies if I’m posting in the wrong place. I’ve been in forums before but there is something about the layout here that confuses me. I was looking at the Top Bar forum, but then I lost it. Anyway… my son built me a cathedral hive. For those not familiar with it, it looks like a top bar hive with another top bar flipped over on top of it. So it is a hexagon instead of a trapezoid. I was looking forward to getting bees, but I was relying on catching a swarm which didn’t happen this year due to a harsh winter. Last week, someone gave us bees. Yeah! The transportation didn’t go as planned and the bees are more than a little traumatized, so we have no intentions of moving them from their Langstroth hive until they swarm next spring. We no more got home with the bees when I met someone who knew about flow hives. Next spring we will be using the cathedral hive, but the following year, I would like to see about using a hybrid: a shorten cathedral hive for the brood, and the flow hive system for the honey. I would like to ask ymcg about his topbar-flow combo. I’m not sure that is how I would do it, but I do want to know how he felt about it and what he would do different with the next one. Anyone using the cathedral hive along with a flow hive? ---
**Author:** ![Dawn\_SD](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/dawn_sd/32/15954_2.png) [@Dawn\_SD](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Dawn_SD)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 4:14am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/cathedral-hive-flow-hive/12601/2 "2017-09-08T04:14:17Z")
Is @ymcg still around at Flow? This looks like a question just made for him! > [@Top Bar Hive Flow Forum](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/top-bar-hive-flow-forum/671/5): > > I have a plan underway to ‘super’ the Flow onto a Top Bar Hive, well add it to the end so I don’t have to change all my bars (and defeat the purpose of light-weight top bar beekeeping). Here goes: A normal Lang box on left, and a small TBH on right: [image] I cut a large hole in the end of the TBH: [image] and in the Lang so they line up: [image] add Flow frames [image] and a queen excluder if you like (I prefer not to) [image] view from inside, with a small hive beetle trap showing … ---
**Author:** ![Rodderick](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/rodderick/32/15174_2.png) [@Rodderick](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Rodderick)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 5:17am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/cathedral-hive-flow-hive/12601/3 "2017-09-08T05:17:25Z")
He sure is… dit-dit-tadid… come in Yari … @ymcg ---
**Author:** ![Faroe](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/faroe/32/11835_2.png) [@Faroe](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Faroe)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/cathedral-hive-flow-hive/12601/4 "2017-09-08T15:56:05Z")
Have you tried doing a search in the top right hand corner of the page with “cathedral or top bar”? ![cathedral hive](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/honeyflow/original/2X/f/f40757c804b8fa7f0647901db8e56afd336c67cc.PNG) e.g. > [@Top Bar Hive Flow Forum](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/top-bar-hive-flow-forum/671/36): > > WillB Your drawings look great, really wonderful. I too have mulling ove the way to marry the two systems together. I was worried about access of the bees as , I think they can only move around on the bottom under the flow frames and the entrance side. Is this enough? The other thing is where do you put the entrance? At the top like Michael Bush or lower down? This brings in the thought are the brood frames recessed or not ? I have added a photo of the hive I have been trying to nut out. The… ---
**Author:** ![ymcg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac91a4/32.png) [@ymcg](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/ymcg)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 7:11am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/cathedral-hive-flow-hive/12601/5 "2017-09-18T07:11:17Z")
Hi Sally, I’m not using a cathedral hive, though a friend does nearby. I’ll see if he’s interested in Flow Supering it, as its in our spring right now, perfect timing. Here’s a pic of his: ![21150207_10154887220015905_7771199192362565444_n](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/honeyflow/original/2X/f/fc6e691f3119fc823ef77f9bef8b8817c900241b.jpg) My Top Bar adaption never worked, out mostly due to the colony never building up strongly, they never even finished building comb in the top bar itself. I’d better post and update on that in the other thread. Thanks @Rodderick for tagging me 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sally\_Stember](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/sally_stember/32/12246_2.png) [@Sally\_Stember](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Sally_Stember)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 3:24pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/cathedral-hive-flow-hive/12601/6 "2017-09-19T15:24:50Z")
Thanks Yari, But that is not a Cathedral hive. That is a fascinating design. Six sided? What does it look like from the inside? ---
**Author:** ![ymcg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac91a4/32.png) [@ymcg](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/ymcg)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 11:51pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/cathedral-hive-flow-hive/12601/7 "2017-09-21T23:51:15Z")
Ah perhaps its not, not sure what Willow calls it… here’s a pic of the inside 😉 ![20597518_10154825167740905_2874727623415697206_n](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/honeyflow/original/2X/c/ce8a2187ee203b00e9bbec8f39ecb1359339589d.jpg) So some lang frames and some custom made ones for the tricky bits… ---
**Author:** ![Sally\_Stember](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/sally_stember/32/12246_2.png) [@Sally\_Stember](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Sally_Stember)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 12:38am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/cathedral-hive-flow-hive/12601/8 "2017-09-22T00:38:09Z")
Hi Yari, [BackYardHive.com](http://BackYardHive.com) - CATHEDRAL HIVE > > > > > > [BackYardHive.com](http://BackYardHive.com) - CATHEDRAL HIVE By Karen Sadenwater Top Bar Hive beekeeping supplies and hive management information. Top Bar Hive natural beekeeping classes, swarm… | | > > In case you hadn’t seen these yet. This is what I am referring to. Have a “Cate” day! Sally Stember, playwright and authorClick here to go to my website.