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Subject:
From:
Aaron Morris <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 3 Sep 2013 10:57:42 -0400
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EAS this year featured heavily TBHs.  I started 2 this spring to get hands
on experience.  I am not a fan.  I have spent an inordinate amount of time
on those 2 hives, way more than I spend on my Langstroth hives.  And with
all the time I spend on my 150 hives it's hard to justify the time I spend
on the 2.  Having said that, I am glad I spent the time attending the
sessions at EAS.  The presentations pointed out pitfalls and foibles I
could have avoided, and now that I've spent the time getting the bees
established in the TBH abodes I am finding the goings much easier.  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.  So it is a falicy when the author
writes, " Top bar hives cannot be inspected with any ease".  They are slow
go at first, but with persistence the frames are every bit as movable as
are the frames in a Langstroth hive.

There is also a large amount of adjusting and persuading required to get
the bees to draw straight combs.  Beads of wax and the pointy top bars that
come with the kits give a modicum of directive, but as we all know, bees
have plans of their own.  I have spent a lot of time correcting the bees'
errors.  They have not been appreciative!

As far as crush to harvest, well, I stocked both hives with late packages
and will not have combs to crush this year.  I am more concerned with
getting the hives to overwinter in upstate New York (something I


On Tue, Sep 3, 2013 at 9:33 AM, Lionel Evans <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Greetings all,
>
> As I read about "TOP BAR HIVES", I wonder what is the gain?
>
> I can understand the thought behind  "creating totally new untreated comb".
>
> Why would one not just go farther back in technology and use a "GUM"?
>
>
> Top bar hives cannot be inspected with any ease. Therefore, just use the
> gum
>
> for one season, "ROB, DESTROY, START OVER NEXT SEASON"?
>
> People are wanting to do all natural, and that, folks, is all natural.
>
> I for one had rather have most of modern conveniences and benefits.
>
> The South is not as far behind as some would like to think.........
>
> Lionel
>
> North Alabama
>
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