Re. Top Bar Hives (TBH)
 
    I have been following the discussion on Top Bar Hives with interest
    because in the 1980's I was involved in a beekeeping project in Uganda
    where we produced and distributed these hives to all parts of the
    country (ie. where it was safe enough).  We called them Kenyan Topbar
    Hives or KTB's).
 
    In the discussion, interested beekeepers ought to remember that the
    production from these type of colonies are incomparable to our
    conventional Langstroth hives for several reasons.
 
    1.  The TBH's require quite a bit of wood compared to the amount of comb
    area.  This may not be of serious consequence in north America where
    some may dabble with these hives for pure interest, but in Africa this
    was proving to be a serious flaw.  Much of the continent suffers from
    serious erosion and deforestation, while at the same time durable woods
    were required for the fabrication of these TBH's.  As an alternative, we
    attempted to introduce a TBH coprised of a sturdy wooden frame on which
    the topbars would rest, while the remainder of the hive body (ie. the
    sloping sides and bottom) were made of a woven material.  I don't think
    the bees had any difficulties with this new type of 'environmentally
    friendly' housing, but the logistics to implement it proved enormous).
 
    2.  The nature of the TBH design limits the ability for a colony to
    expand. It is true that the brood comb is predominantly in the front and
    honey stores in the back, but it is surely not nicely seperated as we
    can accomplish with the Langstroth.  Although, we did use an vertical
    Q-excluder which often resulted in swarming.  With or without excluder,
    the physical limitations means the bees will swarm unless you cut them
    back frequently by early harvesting and transferring topbars to other
    TBHs.
 
    3.  Harvesting is pretty 'wasteful' by having to cut comb most of which
    contains bee brood and pollen.  In Africa that's fine because it is the
    only way for beekeepers to have their hives populated (with the 2
    colonies in my Kampala backyard, it took 5 days for one and less than 3
    weeks for the other to receive swarms).
 
    For anyone trying, I suggest that the topbars have a narrow ridge
    running along its length at the bottom which is dipped in wax.  Bees are
    strongly encouraged to build their comb the way you want them.  I have
    seen some fabulous architectural designs by bees who decided to ignore
    the topbars provided to them!
 
    Paul van Westendorp                 [log in to unmask]
    Provincial Apiarist
    British Columbia