A Season in the Life of Top Bar Beekeeping

Reader Contribution by Lindsay Williamson
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Top bar hives (TBH’s) are quickly gaining popularity among beekeepers and people interested in keeping bees. They are an especially appealing option to people who want to keep bees but may not be willing or able to invest in more standard beehives and the equipment that goes with them. You can build a TBH for little or nothing using materials you have lying around and there is a lot of room for improvising. There are numerous plans for building top bar hives online so I won’t get into that here but I will highlight some of my personal experiences in an effort to shed a little light on the day to day.

Setup and Installation

Once you have your top bar hive in place you’ll need some bees to go in it. There are several options and opinions on this matter but the number one factor dominating your decision will probably be what’s most available and least expensive. If you are an experienced beekeeper then the options that will probably make most sense for you would be to catch a swarm of bees to start your TBH or make a split or artificial swarm from one of your existing hives. If neither of these avenues is an option for you then you are looking at purchasing bees either in the form of a nuc (nucleus hive) or a package of bees.  

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