>
> 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.