> what are the thoughts on selling a square of old brood comb for $15 to help hold bees in a new TB hive.

The KTBH advocates tell us that virgin-comb was one of the selling features of the KTBH.... And then proceed to sell drawn comb?      

It seems that their workarounds lead them to embrace the practices they sought to avoid in the first place.


> I started 2 this spring to get hands on experience.  I am not a fan.

Likewise here.     Built my own - Much larger than the standard offerings.   It was a rewarding thought-exercise to see if to what degree I could redesign the hive to minimize it's shortcomings.        

I will confess that I did enjoy the novelty of the experience.   A fun toy for a small-scale keeper, but couldn't imagine it having any practical application.


> It is a lie that the bees do not connect the top bars to the sides of the hives;
they most cartainly do. It is incumbent on the beekeeper to detach the
connections to keep the "frames" movable.  But after enough detachment and
"hardening off" of the edges of the combs, the bees desist their attempts
to connect the combs to the walls.  

Not my experience here.    Started with 4 bars of drawn comb, and was able to get 25 more drawn nice and straight, with no side attachment.    I wonder if side-attachment is the result of not providing empty bars quickly enough?    

> As I read about "TOP BAR HIVES", I wonder what is the gain?

As far as I can tell, the primary drivers for adopting THBs are emotional and ideological.    TBHs simultaneously appeal to one's desire for both novelty and a sense of authenticity.        When I ask a new TBH keeper why they've chosen the design, and they invariably respond "It's more natural", without further explanation or understanding.      It's what they've been told by the person selling them hives.

It seems that the "most successful" KTBH keepers are those selling either KTBHs or training.

There is a certain charm to owning and working this hive.  As a small scale urban, this is enough for me.  Past that, I could not recommend it on any practical basis.


A couple of years ago, I explored the matter in the following document:

"An analysis of the Kenyan Top Bar Hive in Calgary Alberta"

http://members.shaw.ca/metropropolis/An%20analysis%20of%20the%20Kenyan%20Top%20Bar%20Hive%20in%20Calgary%20Alberta.pdf

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