Beehive

[Lee Reep]

Mike,

Nice job! I've been toying with the idea of putting a beehive in the yard. My wife and I are birders, and we have numerous feeders in our yard to attract birds. That also means we have lots of squirrels. We planted a lot of perennials over the years to attract birds and many of those attract bees.

However, since our city is so crazy on what they do and don't allow, I guess I'd better check to see if I'd be violating any statutes by having a beehive. I really need to move out into the country or into the hills where an outdoor shop, a beehive, a firepit, has little chance of disturbing any neighbors.

[Art Mann]

If anyone know how a top bar hive works, and why it's supposed to be "better", please post. Art, do you know anything about "top bar hives"?

Hey Mike, I had not heard of that configuration before. The last time I kept bees was around 1982 and I have lost track of newer methods. I got curious and read up on the subject after you mentioned it. It looks like they are constructing the hive such that the bees have little opportunity to build comb other than across the top bar. I have my doubts about that. Bees can be pretty clever about doing things their own way. Kind of like the video Jason posted, it looks like an interesting concept and might even be fun as an alternative for a very small time hobby beekeeper. I just can't see it fitting into a high production methodology of commercial beekeepers. It also looks like a lot of trouble to maintain for hobbyists as well.