Here is my post about why I’ve decided to use foundationless and top bar hives for my treatment-free style of beehive management. http://www.pleasedbees.com/wp/2011/02/04/why-top-bar-hives/
I moved a 5 frame conventional (Langstroth) nucleus hive into a top bar hive so they would have space to grow. The bottom corners of each frame are cut off to make the rectangular frame fit into the trapezoid shape of the top bar hive. Since I’m running only top bar hives now, it makes sense for me to have a consistent setup.
I have a strong opinion the best food for bees is honey or pollen they have collected themselves, and so I am reluctant to feed my bees cane sugar.
The last 2 weeks have been cold & rainy, and I’ve been worried about the new package I installed in the top bar hive on April 10th.
Here is what I found in today’s inspection: Tango hive: (new top bar hive) Humid inside! I need to drill some ventilation holes in the bottom, and maybe another entrance hole. There is comb drawn on 7 bars, 5 of which are completely drawn. Some capped honey is on the end, but otherwise it’s relatively […]
The queens came in individual cages, and ran $20 each if you just wanted to re-queen your hive. The whole family was along with me when we got them, and we all got to see how they were delivered. The queen that I bought was in a tiny wooden box like this, only it was […]