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Building a New Kind of Beehive!

Earlier this year we began construction on a prototype for a kind of beehive known as a horizontal or "topbar" hive. While it's new for us, this is actually a classic style of hive that has long been common throughout much of Eastern Europe and Serbia. Today, it is becoming more popular throughout the world for its ease of use, especially for the non-commercial beekeeper.

Unlike the common Langstroth hive, where heavy bee boxes are stacked to form space for bees, the horizontal hive is a stationary long box. Here, the bees are encouraged to build their comb across more than up, much like they might do in a horizontal log. The top bars are laid down across the space for the bees to build on. There is a follower board so that one can control exactly how much space the bees have at any given time. Too much space and they have trouble regulating the temperature for the their brood, and aren't as able to defend themselves against other insects (like hive beetles) which have the potential to collapse their whole operation.

On one end is the entrance, which the bees build their brood nest near. As they build down the length of the box, further from the nest, they begin to build the further comb purely for honey storage. So all you have to do to harvest some is open up one end of their hive and remove the furthest bar. Aum.

Click through the slideshow to see the process.


5 Responses to “Building a New Kind of Beehive!”

  1. Easan says:

    Brilliant, Swami! Beginning with a mango tree and transforming into a home for a thriving bee colony!

    Bee-See!

  2. Pethuraja says:

    “AUM”!.

  3. Lynda mcclanahan says:

    What a fascinating story. Thanks for sharing this with us.

  4. Amma Anne Deer says:

    Aum! Thank you for showing the building of the new hive! I have a plan to build one of these for my winter project and put it down in my fruit & flower garden, next to the honey bee’s favorite flower, so a swarm would eventually find it and move in. I love the honey bees. Blessings : )

  5. Adi Srikantha says:

    No more heavy boxes, ground breaking refinement, BRAVO !🌺🐝

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