Greetings, Beekeepers, Friends and Bees,
We had a great day at the First Spikenard Top Bar Hive Seminar. The Artic Blast cut attendance to four brave Artic Beekeepers, two from Vermont and two from New York.
Graduates
Because the snow chopped the attendance list we had a very informal and informative session. Lots of time for questions and lots of good food. These four wiped out a crock pot of chili and three dozen doughnuts.
We not only covered the benifits of the Spikenard Top Bar Hive, but the use of top bar hives in general. There are as many styles of top bar hives are there are top bar hive beekeepers.
Here is a photo of the Spikenard Top Bar Hve we manufacture at New England Farms.
Spikenard Top Bar Hive and Stand
Here a few of the topices we covered thru out the day.
Advantages of using a top bar hive:
- Only one crtical demension 3/8″ beespace
- No extractor needed
- No foundation needed
- No frames needed
- Can be built with local inexpensive materials
- No super storage
- Less heavy lifting
- Higher quality wax production
- Great comb honey production
Disadvantages of using a top bar hive:
- Lower honey production
- Difficult to swap bars
- Combs very fragile
- Transportation of combs difficult
- Not many top bar beekeeping mentors around
- Need natural swarm or package bees to get started
Keep an eye at www.newenglandfarms.com for the dates of the next top bar hive seminar.
Until then, happy beekeeping.
