The Hives Top Bar is one of the oldest still in use hives, crediting-is that this form (trough) has, already, several thousand years.
This model, originating in Africa, more precisely in Kenya, He suffered some adjustments that allowed him to be successful in temperate climates, having seen, in recent years, a remarkable expansion in Europe and North America, thanks in part to the outreach work of Phil Chandler English naturalist, author of "The Barefoot Beekeeper".
It is an extremely easy hive to manage, being especially suitable for new beekeepers and all those who have natural beekeeping as their hobby.
The excellent opportunities it provides for the observation of the natural behavior of bees, It is suitable for any beekeeper who wishes to understand the natural behavior of bees, to better manage their clusters.
All beekeepers should have a top bar hive close to home!
operation
The Top Bar hive, instead of the molded wax furniture frames, It is equipped with top bars (top bars), the slot which rubs a wax bar partially melted by a heat source. It will be from this line of wax that the bees build their honeycomb, naturally. The natural honeycomb take the elliptical shape, not touching, by rule, the walls.
The slope of the side walls of the Top Bar wall is calculated so that the bees can build the comb without it sticking to them.. If that happen, You can detach it using your beekeeper tool, recreating space-bee, and the bees should not return to paste it.
Two movable inner walls confining allow the swarm on a smaller area, during the winter, for ex., or in the case of a young swarm. As the cluster grows, the beekeeper will away the interior walls to the edges, adding more bars, giving space for the swarm can grow, eventually occupy the entire hive.
During the winter, the space between the movable inner walls and outer walls may be filled with insulating material, such as straw or sawdust, serving as an insulation and moisture accumulator, keeping warm and dry swarm.
The Top Bar hive Timberbee has the appropriate depth so that the honeycombs can grow, but without reaching excessive size would cause the rupture of the honeycomb itself.
The Hive width dimensions Top Bar Timberbee were calculated so that we can, easily, transfer a swarm of a hive or nucleus Lusitano. for such, just we have to cut the wires of the frames where it houses the swarm to transfer, removing the timber guards, and shaping the honeycombs so as to suit the profile of the top bar beehive. After, just put the pictures inside the Top Bar, as if they were top bars.
The simplest way to transfer a swarm for a top bar hive is to shake the bees into the hive, stimulating the Queen to start the posture.
A more natural beekeeping, healthier swarms
By allowing the bees build their honeycombs, leaving them the decision on the size of the alveoli, we have a cluster that works much more natural way.
On the other hand, It is a more hive ventilated, the occurrence of diseases such as chalk creates, or ascoferiose, It is much lower in these hives.
It is known that the degree of incidence of varroa is smaller in traditional hives, and being the organization of the Top Bar hive similar to the tenement, with the hygiene behavior of one's more accurate bees, it is expected that here too the degree of incidence of varroa is smaller than a conventional beehive.
Another strategy that can implement a Top Bar enter a top bar in the center of creation zone, away from the other frames for the corners, contributing to the periodic renewal of all the wax in the hive, avoiding lethal diseases such as American foulbrood.
Honey superior
Once you have to prepare all your wax, honey production this swarm will be lower, relative to a conventional beehive, but the honey stored in the combs entirely created by bees, It becomes more delicious, may be squeezed (pollen with a higher content, making it much richer), consumed comb, It can be stopped even with the wax (which is also edible) a warm toast.
As the queen will focus position in the center of the hive, It is quite easy to extract the honey hive Top Bar, pulling out, carefully, as outer bars, where you should not find alveoli creation - only honey and pollen.
During a ridge, we leave a honeycomb each side of the swarm, for food to swarm during winter. And we return to better wrap up the swarm, readjusting the internal movable walls and placing insulating material in the spaces between walls.
The legs can be easily removed so that, for example, we can put the hive in a vehicle, to be transported to another location, may again be placed.
Other advantages of Top Bar Hive
Working with the Top Bar hive does not imply the lifting handles, so it can even be done by people with walking difficulties - in a wheelchair, for ex..
During the inspection,, no need to remove the coat clipboard of a conventional hive, so that the swarm, used to working in the shadows, not as disturbed by exposure to light as with a conventional hive.
There are no handles to store during the winter.
Honey taken from a top bar hive can be pressed in a press Honey, or in a cloth bag, avoiding the small producer investment in an extractor by centrifugation.
Honey pressed, the greater amount of pollen (bread Bees) this, It is a richer honey, instead of being penalized, It should be sold with added value.
The Top Bar hive includes Timberbee:
• Health Fund (wire mesh);
• metal lid or timber;
• 20 the top bars;
• 2 interior furniture tabs;
• Flight Board;
• 4 legs (optional);
• Bottom equipped with diagnostic drawers;
