TOP BAR BEEKEEPING

The focus of the top bar hive is on simplicity. It’s a single box hive. Unlike the Langstroth hive, which has multiple different boxes that you add or remove at different times of the year, the top bar hive is completely self-contained. Everything that the bees need to go through their yearly functions is contained in that one box.

The top bar hive differs from the Langstroth both in how the bees build their combs and in how we harvest the honey. Top bar hives have a protective roof. Under that roof, along the top of the hive, are 34 removable wooden bars. (That’s what gives the hive its name). Some beekeepers use a small starter strip of beeswax on each bar, and it’s from there that the bees build their combs.  Personally, I simply let the bees build their own comb from scratch.  Below are the steps involved in the construct of a typical top bar hive.  The following information was provided by Michael Bush, who was extremely helpful to me as I began my journey into “Beekeeping – Naturally”.  Click on the link below:

https://www.bushfarms.com/beestopbarhives.htm

Also,  the following is a link to a simple method of making some pretty cool one piece triangular “comb guides”.  This is how I made mine.  They’re fun to make and they have worked really well.

 https://lyonsvillefletcher.blogspot.com/2009/03/top-bar-pictorial.html