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  • From: Clansgian AT wmconnect.com
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Top Bar Hives
  • Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 10:53:37 EDT


> I am starting in bees. Any experience to share on Top Bar?

I have kept bees for 30 years and the last eight years I have kept top bar
hives.

The main thing I would share is that it takes a very great deal more bee
sense and experience to succeed with TBH's than with Langstroth hives. I
know it
looks deceptively easier, no expensive equipment, costly foundation, etc.
But it's not easier. It requires much more frequent examination of the hives
and subtle interventions.

Of all the homestead enterprises, says I, the quickest way to blow a pile of
cash is to get into beekeeping too quickly or to extensively. I'd highly
recommend setting up one and no more than two Langstroth hives the first year
and
do a lot of observing.

I only have TBH's now. I no longer sell any honey, only produce some for our
own use and a little for barter. TBH's are good for that.

If you do go for TBH's, I highly recommend the Kenyan type hives over the
square bottomed hives and to keep the hives rather small, much smaller than
most
examples in the literarure, more like 20 bars than the usual 30.

Here are my older larger hives:

www.geocities.com/nogomain/hives.jpg
www.geocities.com/nogomain/bees.JPG
www.geocities.com/nogomain/attach.JPG

There are some pictures of the newer hives but I can't find them. They are
made entirely of 12" commercial dressed shelving boards (from Lowes). The
new
hives are much, much easier to manage and the survival rate is much higher.




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