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The pros and cons of a Top bar Hive
Top bar hives are found in the developing countries rather than the more advanced ones, mainly because it is cheap and easy to establish, but in turn also produces quality honey for the beekeepers. The beehive construction is so simple yet effective, and can even pose as a home based business for anybody who has a knack for the bees and maintaining apiary.The advantages
No foundation needed – Top bar hive structure doesn’t need any foundations at all. The bars are all hanging from the top, and they don't even have walls and ceilings as they need to be well ventilated for hygienic purposes.
Cheap – Any box or makeshift container would pass as long as the bars can hang to it, but ultimately sanitation should be practiced.
No heavy lifting required – Harvesting and occasional checking could be a breeze as the bars to which honeycombs stick are all light and easy to handle, and they do not require special gadgets or anything to operate.
No need for extractors – A simple scraping when harvesting honey will do. No need for extra equipment such as the extractor to complete the task.
No frames needed – Top bar hives don't go with a frame, and that’s why it is light weight, as the bees naturally hang on to its bars.
No storage of supers – The removable part of the beehive in top bar hives mostly are not being stored, as top bar hive harvesting includes crushing the comb and putting in a plastic tubs for selling.
More beeswax – Crushing of honey combs to extract honey produces more beeswax than any other method.
The Disadvantages
Lower honey production – The crushing of honeycombs yields in favor of producing more beeswax than honey. And the top bar method is small in scale as compared to other methods.
The Advice – As most experienced beekeepers are geared towards the standard practice of beekeeping, top bar hive methods are being left alone, thus advice and help with these methods are rare.
Delicate combs – Because of its frameless features and as it hangs solely on the containers, the combs on top bar hives are fragile, especially in cold weather where sun plays a vital role in the hives stability. Transporting top bar hives may pose a problem when bars are filled with honey.
Less flexibility – In terms of swapping colonies, top bar hives are less flexible, because they form a non conventional pattern of combs which are hard to exchange among other colonies.