hey,
I ought to say more -I've lingered on the list for a few years and found discussion very helpful. I generally stay too busy to enter any virtual dialogue, but can make a moment here. after I quit going to almonds, quite my commercial bee job, and sold all but 6 hives back to my boss, I've built up to 300 kenyan top bar hives and run them from FL to NY for the past three years. I started them all from small cell langs - and i have my own opinions about what I've seen on small cell. i don't count mites. the bees survive. the bar is 20", and they are 9" deep, sides slope 120 degrees. bees draw the comb on popsicle sticks, no foreign wax. they winter on anywhere from 4 to 24 bars. they generally will not make as much honey as a langstroth (though it's hard to say as we haven't had a decent year since 2005), but pounds-per-hive is not the point. I can build a box for about 5 bucks, and they require minimal maintenance, no heavy lifting. i buy nothing from the bee catalogs. you can keep 12 tbhs for the effort of 1 langstroth. they are great for queen rearing, though more often than not I let them raise their own. and I don't treat them. oh wait, I do treat them... I treat them nice. :)
it's been a terrible year in the northeast - especially the hudson valley with record-setting rainfall in june, our month for honey. i make a living (ha!) selling top bar nucs and queens, not honey, though. my customers generally don't want to treat, feed, or bother the bees. just bees for bees. this is the future.
I've been taking the weakest down to florida for early spring to avoid any artificial feeding or medication while my numbers stabilize. (yes, they travel fine the 1200 miles.) by "cheating" this way they stay alive long enough for me to change the queen out with something that's hopefully more northern hardy and resistant for next year. most of my hives winter in NY- they winter as well or better than langstroth hives. I've always had luck wintering single deeps. It's more a matter of genetics. I'm crossing russian bees with local NY ferals, and try to keep mating to a minimum while down south.
I'm presenting saturday morning at the orlando meeting. my top bar nucs are down in homestead, FL, and anyone is welcome to visit. If you email me I'll forward you the Anarchy Apiaries Almanac / Top Bar Beekeeping Guide. even after a crummy year- no honey crop, no goldenrod flow, feeding 1400 pounds of dry sugar, and still watching bees starve- I can say that life is sweet. (I'm broke - but such is beekeeping! if it's money you want, I'd say do something else. I'm living the dream.)
much thanks to everyone on this list!
swarm the state
sam
www.anarchyapiaries.org
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