Top-Bar Beekeeping: Organic Practices for Honeybee HealthTop-Bar Beekeeping is an offering designed to encourage beekeepers around the world to keep bees naturally by providing beekeeping basics, hive management and the utilization of top-bar hives. In recent years, beekeepers have had to face tremendous challenges, from pests, such as varroa and tracheal mites, to the mysterious but even more devastating phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Yet in backyards and on rooftops all over the world, bees are being raised successfully, even without antibiotics, miticides, or other chemical inputs. More and more organically-minded beekeepers are now using top-bar hives, in which the shape of the interior resembles a hollow log. Long lasting and completely biodegradable, a top-bar hive made of untreated wood allows bees to build comb naturally rather than simply filling prefabricated foundation frames in a typical box hive with added supers. Top-bar hives yield slightly less honey but produce more beeswax than a typical Langstroth box hive. Regular hive inspection and the removal of old combs helps to keep bees healthier and naturally disease-free. Top-Bar Beekeeping provides complete information on hive management and other aspects of using these innovative hives. All home and hobbyist beekeepers who have the time and interest in keeping bees intensively should consider the natural, low-stress methods outlined in this book. It will also appeal to home orchardists, gardeners, and permaculture practitioners who look to bees for pollination as well as honey or beeswax. |
From inside the book
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... To Feed or Not to Feed 5. The Seasons Spring Swarming Making Divides The TwoQueen System Summer Bearded Hives MixedOrigin Divides Fall and Winter Combining Hives Bears Hive Insulation 6. Honey, Beeswax, and Other Products Harvesting Honey.
... Harvesting Honey Processing Honey Comb Honey Varietal Honeys Marketing Raw Honey Beeswax Propolis Royal Jelly 7. Evaluating Your Queen Requeening Requeening Aggressive Hives Robbing Intercaste Queens DroneLayingQueens Laying Workers 8 ...
... harvest is overfor the season, supers are stored for the winter in thehope of preserving thecombs for the following season. The storage ofsupers is a problem becausewaxmothsand mice will eat and destroythe combs. In commercialoperations ...
... harvest and preserve the combs, they have their drawbacks as well. Beekeepers whouse an extractor tend toputoff honeyharvest untilthere is alargebatch ofhoneyto extract. The labor required to useandclean themachine simply isn'tjustified ...
... harvest andwax utilization. Thankfully, this isslowly changing, aided bythe Internet andagrowing bodyof resourcesfortopbar hive beekeepers (see the Resources section attheend ofthis book). TopBar. Hive. Design. Bees always go to the top of ...
Contents
Hive Management | |
The Seasons Spring | |
Honey Beeswax and Other Products | |
Evaluating Your Queen | |
ProblemSolving | |
Raising Queens | |
Planting for Bees Trees | |
Conclusion | |
Other editions - View all
Top-bar Beekeeping: Organic Practices for Honeybee Health Les Crowder,Heather Harrell Limited preview - 2012 |