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Top Bar Hive History
The Top bar hive purpose is mainly easy of use, low cost, no heavy lifting, for better ventilation and control over unwanted visitors of the beehive, namely the pests and other insects such as ants and hive beetles who want to take part in the honey the bees produce, as well as other predators such as skunks and bears and of course for producing honey and other bee products. An open bottom should be favored, for they will keep varroa mite ejection thus keeping the hive more hygienic and well ventilated for the bees. A sunny location and a well ventilated Top bar hive can prevent Nosema apis, a spore forming parasite that attacks the bees’ intestines and could cause dysentery among them.Top bar hives have a long history, and dates back over a thousand years. In fact, even the Bible has mentioned something about the preparation of honey from bees to cure certain illnesses. The first hives are believed to be made of baskets with sticks that serve as bars at the top. As of today, the most modern top bar hives can be seen in Africa.
There are around two leading forms of top bar hives in the world, and they are named after their country of origin, namely Tanzanian or “Tanz” with the characteristic of vertical sides, and Kenyan or KTBH with sloping sides accordingly. Among the two the Tanzanian is the most common and popular because it is much easier to construct , but both methods of building a top bar hive have their end access available for the remain combs to be freed.
Top bar hives vary according to geographical locations, and temperature decides what types of Top bar hives you are going to use for the bees. A traditional type of Top bar hive is needed in some tropical areas where the climates is temperate; they are the elongated one with horizontal designs. And for colder climates beekeepers have developed some methods to make the bees produce more honey as well as protecting them from the harsh winter. They have built a shorter version of the top bar hives with at least one centimeter notch cut in the center of the bars. This method allows them to put another hive body over and above the existing one, which in turns stimulates the bees to produce honey around it, and this short method works well, as it can be insulated and protects the bees from the harm of cold climates.