It is not true that top bar hives can not be inspected, quite the
opposite. The bees build their comb on bars that can be taken out one by
one. You just have to be careful not to tilt the comb sideways, it will
break off and create a mess. This is in my view the biggest
disadvantage. I would not put a TBH on a truck to move it.
The bars also build the roof for the hive (and there is an outer cover).
When you open a Langstroth hive you create a chimney, all bees are
disturbed. Not so with a TBH.
Everything is on one level, there is no lifting, no storing of supers.
Can be done by a person in a wheel chair. The bees still store the honey
away from the entrance. When you harvest you take the bars with the
honey, but leave the brood nest and winter stores. You do not reuse the
harvested honey comb, so you can harvest without an extractor by
squishing the comb and draining.
You can build a TBH with just a few pieces of wood, you can build 4 for
the price of 1 lang. So you have more colonies to make up for less
honey. However, if you buy a THB they are quite expensive.

I had planned to list some disadvantaged, but Aaron's great post beat me
to it.

Jorg

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