Saturday, 23 May 2009

Top Bar Hives and Varroa Control


The question had been prompted by this article on Warre Beekeeping .



  1. Why the specific angles on the sloped sides? The Crowder hive uses 36.5 and 53.5 degree slopes

    1. I am not a great expert on top bar hives, but having seen the way bees build wild comb there is a natural tapering towards the bottom. Top-bar hives tend to have sloping sides so that as you pull the combs out for careful inspection there is less chance of the edges catching the walls of the hive. I suspect the diferent slopes are just a matter of finding the most efficient balance between freedom of movement and loss of comb area.

  2. The angled sides on a top bar hive is to discourage burr or bridge comb from being attached to the sides. After cutting the areas they do attach it seems like they give up. As far as a crush and strain technique of extracting honey I am not sure as to how that would affect the flavor of the honey. I would think that lang honey would contain more residual treatments, ag chemicals, and other undesirables as wax foundation is recycled in a lang as opposed to removed in a topbar. That would be my thought.

  3. You definitely get a waxy flavour in the honey which may or may not be to everyone's taste! I think the idea of the top bar hive is that the bees make all the comb themselves, you dont use foundation in the same way as you would in a full frame hive.