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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@intrex.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Top Bar Bee Hives | Warre hive system
  • Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:31:02 -0400


http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0904&L=sanet-mg&T=0&O=D&P=91473
SANET-MG Archives -- April 2009 (#135)
Subject: Re: Top Bar Bee Hives
From: John D'hondt <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group <[log in to
unmask]>, John D'hondt <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:18:44 +0100

Lawrence wrote :
> I'll send you Top Bar Beekeeping resources as I find them. I may set some
> up out here in the next year or so.
> There are great plans and instructions online. All of the following are
> outstanding:
>
> The Barefoot Beekeeper
> natural, chemical-free beekeeping in top bar hives
> http://www.biobees.com/

And I had a look and came to the conclusion that it is still a long way away
from the "Warré" system that I now use. The French abbot Warré rersearched
hundreds of different types of hives and came to the conclusion that sizes
are extremely important (even if this is probably depending on local climate
conditions) but anyway he found that boxes of around 20 cm internal and 20
cm high were much more economical for bees than the existing hives which
were much shallower and much wider.
He measured the amount of food needed to get a healthy swarm through the
winter. And a narrow, high box is it.
But in this system to top bars are fixed 8 to the box and are never removed.
In Spring one or two boxes are added to the bottom and at the end of summer
the two highest boxes are removed to extract honey from. The bees are not
disturbed at other times as a rule.
john



  • Re: [permaculture] Top Bar Bee Hives | Warre hive system, Lawrence F. London, Jr., 04/27/2009

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