Top Bar Hives

I like to think that the Top Bar hive is a return to a more sustainable method of beekeeping. Early beekeepers used a similar method hundreds of years ago. There is no one size fits all as in box hives but you can build a Top Bar Hive to whatever dimensions you like, sloping sides, straight sides or even curved sides. What is more there is no need for accurate woodworking using special joints etc. No need to plan for a beespace, the bees take care of that for you. You can even make them from recycled materials, old pallets and the like. Above you can see one of my sloping side Top bar hives. Notice the catenary curve of the comb. Notice also in the foreground the inverted top bars showing my homemade beeswax starter strips. I am not going to give hive dimensions or details of how to build a TBH, there are lots of websites that give these details. What I want to express here is the simplicity of a TBH and it's ease of use.

If you really cant get away from those boxes, there is a type of top bar hive called an Abbé Warré Hive

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