Why Keep Bees and Why the Top Bar Hive?

My Grandpa Metcalf kept bees for some time when he was still living. He passed on when I was quite young, but some of the memories I have of him are of his bee hives and eating his comb honey. I would have to attribute my desire to keep bees to him for sparking my interest in the honey makers, although I never got serious about keeping bees until recently.

So, why keep bees? The reasons are wide and varied, however, the number one reason to keep bees in my opinion is for their pollination ability. Although there are other pollinators in the insect world, bees are by far the best! I love to garden and grow my own food so bees just seem like a natural addition to my property. Another reason I began keeping bees is because of the declining population, not only in bees but in bee keepers. I feel it is very important that we do our best to perpetuate the bee and bee keeper population.

When I got serious about keeping bees I began to research cost. In doing so I came across the Top Bar Hive(tbh). The more I read about the tbh the more I like the idea of keeping bees in one. The benefits were numerous; among them are:

• You build the hive from scratch. This leaves you with a less expensive product. I built my top bar hive for less than $30.00 using the "Value Wood" section at Menards.
• No special equipment required such as an extractor that runs several hundred dollars.
• Instead of frames with foundation, a tbh uses top bars that bees build their own comb on. Many believe that because bees build their own comb, and to the correct dimensions, this reduces the likely hood of verroa mite infestation which foundation or pre made comb can be susceptible to. The result is a healthier bee!
  
• A tbh is more natural. Again, because of the natural comb size, the bees don't require medication to prevent mites, etc.

Some traditional bee keepers believe the tbh will yield less honey, but those who keep in both tbh and Langstroth hives dispute this claim. Because I couldn't find anything else negative about the tbh, I decided to build one and begin keeping bees in it. Building it was a lot of fun and certainly rewarding. My only regret is that I don't have pictures of the process.