> > One of the websites, mentioned that the long or TBH configuration results in > 'less but better honey.' Did you find this to be the case ? Can folks > comment on this from their own experience ? I could not see why this config > would yield less honey. Or why it would be better, for that matter. > > In a top-bar hive, the bees live in a natural state. Although you encourage them to build their honeycombs down from the top bars, they do all the work. In a Langstroth hive, you give them a frame with wax on it, so that they need do very little in the way of building the combs - they're practically built already. Given the same number of bees in each kind of hive, the top bar hive will produce less honey because the bees have more work to do to build the combs. They cannot fill combs that don't exist, you see. However, you get more honeycomb out of a top bar hive, which means more wax. This is really good if you make candles or otherwise use wax, or if you have a market to sell that wax. As for the flavor? Well, I can only guess, but this is my guess: whenever you process things too much, they lose their flavor; when you mess with the ways the bees work by preparing their combs for them, you'll get a honey that doesn't taste as good. Perhaps the natural combs add flavor. Your other question was about frames in the top-bar hive. There are no frames in a top-bar hive, this is the POINT of the hive. No frames, just natural honeycomb, hanging from a bar (on the top of the hive, thus the term top-bar) that can be easily lifted out of the hive. To put frames into a top-bar hive destroys the concept, I think. If you want frames, use a Langstroth hive instead. Each has its purpose.