Although my garage is filled withLangstroth - style equipment , I splurge on a new top - taproom beehive for my bees this twelvemonth . I ’d heard top - barroom review are less disruptive to the bee and less physically tax for beekeepers . For instance , to reach my bottom - most Langstroth sections , I once demand to move multiplesupersout of the way . Now ? I simply open up the hinged lid of my horizontally arrange hive and lift out one top - bar frame at a fourth dimension . OakleyOriginals / Flickr
There is ongoingdebate about which is better , Langstroth or top - bar hives , but beekeepers more and more are opting fortop - stripe beehive — of which there are many iteration .
“ There is no standard top - stripe hive , ” says Les Crowder .
A apiculturist for more than 40 years , Crowder Centennial State - wroteTop - Bar Beekeeping : Organic Practices for Honeybee Health .
“ There are a lot of versions of the [ top - bar ] box and various reasons why people hold fast to their particular excogitation , ” he add .
What Drives Top-Bar Configuration
How top - streak beekeepers configure their beehive partly depends on their beekeeping philosophical system and aim . For his part , Crowder continually listens to — and learns from — his bees and their choice .
“ Why am I telling the bee what they should or should n’t have ? ” he asks . “ I ’m giving them a place to go and I want them to live as they prefer — not as I cogitate theyshouldprefer . ”
Crowder explain how he makes his own modified top - bar beehive : “ I make a 44 - in - long corner and separate it in the middle with a permanent partition . I put an entrance at each end . That way , I can keep two colonies in the same box . ”
OakleyOriginals/Flickr
To check that bee from one colony can not join the other , Crowder make love the partition into place . Although he is able to reap dearest , this double - hive configuration impart itself substantially to the production of honeybee .
“ I limit the space to about 14 combs . When [ the bee ] meet them , they get swarmy , ” he notes . “ It ’s incumbent upon me during the time of year that they ’re making honey to inspect in brief once a week . ”
If he sees queen cells , he’llswarm part of the colony into a new beehive box . Observation windows that allow a open view of Apis mellifera colonies are a feature of many top cake hive . pic by Susan Brackney
An Unregulated Queen
Crowder avoids using what he calls “ coercive gadgets ” such as fairy excluders . ( These roadblock insert are designed to restrict the faggot ’s memory access to sure expanse inside the hive . )
“ There are clock time of the class when [ the bees ] want to advance a lot of brood , and , if you do n’t employ a pouf excluder , you ’re going to terminate up with eggs everywhere , ” Crowder admit . “ But who am I to say that that ’s not allow ? ”
Invariably , Crowder ’s bee alleviate up on brood production and he still reap muckle of honey .
Observation windows that allow a clear view of honeybee colonies are a feature of many top bar beehives. Photo by Susan Brackney
“ It ’s funny , ” he enounce . “ My biggest hives make the most drones and the most love . ”
Boards or No Boards
Nearly all commercially available top - legal community hives come with “ follower boards”—solid , wooden bod sized to allow bees to pass at a lower place or alongside them . Created to fit snugly next to top bars , follower boards reduce the amount of space in new ground or overwintering hives .
“ The mind behind that is the bees do n’t want to be in a tiny little clump occupying a bragging , empty cavern , so we want to make it more cozy for them , ” Crowder says .
But , after experimenting with follower circuit card , Crowder no longer apply them .
“ The bees were no better at overwintering if they were in a space separate by a follower card , ” he says . “ The world of how they overwinter is that they do n’t really heat the Interior Department of the boxful . They only heat their cluster . They ’re very effective at just fire up their bunch , and it does n’t really help oneself them to determine that space . ”
Top - streak hive also might or might not include landing board — sort of a “ front porch ” that gives bees a station to acres . Crowder has tried with as well as without : “ I do n’t think the bee care either mode . ”
Unexpected Benefits for Bee Health
What some beekeepers see as a drawback might be among the top - bar hive ’s openhanded strengths . To glean dearest , top - cake beekeeper take comb and all . By contrast , drawn cockscomb from Langstroth hives can be used repeatedly ; however , toxin and pathogen can build up up on reuse combing . Eventually , this can come down bees .
“ After a while , you want to get your old comb moved out , ” Crowder says . “ It reduces the amount of perniciousness if you keep [ comb ] clean . I consider that help the bees a wad . ”
