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A top-bar hive has bars from which the honey bees attach and hang wax comb, an array of hexagonal (six sided) cells. A beekeeper can make top bars from any plain wood. The top bars are usually 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 to 1 + 3 ⁄ 8 in (32 to 35 mm) wide, depending on local conditions and the type of bee to be housed. Combs can be handled individually.
Top-bar hives are rectangular and are typically more than twice as wide as multi-story framed hives commonly found in English-speaking countries. Top-bar hives usually include one box and allow for beekeeping methods that interfere very little with the colony. While conventional advice often recommends inspecting each colony each week during ...
The management technique that yields the highest amount of wax per hive is the top-bar hive. During the harvest of the honey from top-bar hives the whole honey comb is removed and crushed to extract the honey. The commercial honey producers use Langstroth hive frames. The honey extraction process yields beeswax from the uncapping process.
The top bars form a continuous roof over the hive chamber, unlike conventional frames which offer a bee-space gap so that the bees can move up and down between hive boxes. The beekeeper does not usually provide foundation wax (or provides only a small starter piece of foundation) for the bees to build from.
Megan Paska, Brooklyn rooftop beekeeper and organizer of the Brooklyn Urban Homesteader's group, has told me that already, but still I'm holding myself back from yanking the half-gallon jar with
The charity suggested top-bar hives that approximate a wild bee nest, in lieu of more traditional frame hives. The organisation is assisting the farmer with establishing an apiary that has both types of hives. Visitors to the farm will learn about two different approaches to beekeeping.