Beekeeping in a top bar hive?

[jettgirl24]

I just learned about these beehives:

http://www.bushfarms.com/beestopbarhives.htm

Is anyone here beekeeping with this type of hive? Just wondering what your experiences are with them. I'm planning to add bees to my many projects and these hives seem much more straightforward/cost effective to build. For those of you who use them, are there any drawbacks over traditional hives?

 

[j egger]

Yes, I have have friend that does top bar hives, here are the advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages:
1: very easy to build.
2: good for a challenge
3: easy to take care

Disadvantages
1: not as much honey( only 1/3 of the hive)
2. no organized frames(you have to start with a board)
3 takes longer to for the bee's to get the hive complete

I hope that this is helpful, and by the way, I have top bar hives and regular hives and they both are cool though I like the top bar more.

 

[breezy]

I took a bee keeping class and really liked the top bar hive section of the class. I havent set up a hive yet but when I do it will be a top bar. My main goal isnt the honey so lower production is ok for me. The class I took said that wild caught bees do really well when put into a top bar....does anyone know if this is true?
Im really excited that Jettgirl24 started this thread . Thanks!

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

I have 2 I built but never got them stocked. Maybe I will have better luck this year.

 

[Imagesoart]

I have a top bar hive. It was off to a great start, lots of honey and comb. I had placed it in a location that was too sunny in the heat of the sumer. So, all of my bees absconded!

I have two sets of bees coming this April, and plan on another top bar hive. It was easy and fun to watch the combs develop. Mine has a small "window" on the side.

 

[jettgirl24]

I have a top bar hive. It was off to a great start, lots of honey and comb. I had placed it in a location that was too sunny in the heat of the sumer. So, all of my bees absconded!

This is very good to know. I've been trying to figure out where to place my hives when I build them. I read that they shouldn't be in a treed area but it sounds like they should also be somewhat shaded?

My boyfriend's daughter is allergic to bees so I've been debating whether or not it's a good idea to keep them at all but we will have 5 acres at out new house so I think I can find an out of the way but easy to access place to keep them. The site I have tentatively picked is the septic field because it opens up to the horse pasture but is separated from the house and backyard area by some alder and fir trees. It's open but the surrounding trees will offer some shade.

I still have a lot of research to do but I'm looking forward to getting this project going. I've been wanting to keep bees for quite awhile and am happy I'll finally have the space to do it. I was excited to learn about these hives because they seem interesting and are definitely a much smaller financial investment for something I'm just getting started in!​

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I read about these awhile back and was very interested. The one thing that really stayed in my memory about top bar hives was that they need to be shielded somehow from cold weather. They are better used where the weather is mild (or build a nice shield somehow for them).