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New Zealand Beekeeping Questions
Top Bar Hive for beeswax production?
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<blockquote data-quote="Carol" data-source="post: 5834" data-attributes="member: 259"><p>I have top bar hives, and a Langstroth hive. I did the level 3 course last year, after a previous year of beekeeping where my learning was supported by a bee club. My thoughts are that top bar hives are harder to manage as far as the colony care goes, but the physical management of frames is easier, until you have to move hives offsite (my ones have legs that are bolted on, so I will have to suspend the box, remove the legs, transport, and then reverse the procedure at the other end of the trip). The bees in the top bar hives seem calmer, less likely to get upset by my intrusion, I find. With the course we made one full depth brood box and two three-quarter depth supers. This was the model because it means the brood box is big enough to be one brood box going into Winter, and the cost of treating for varroa is less than two brood boxes stacked. The down side is that a full depth brood box can be heavy, and frames can't be switched about as much. As a hobbyist I can see that using two 3/4 depth boxes as brood boxes would work for me with lifting, and I could afford the extra treatments, and all my frames would be interchangeable, and I could spare the extra time to check two brood boxes for a queen and for AFB signs - but I can see why commercial beekeepers go for full depth. Because I don't have too much hive equipment yet I still have the option to switch to all 3/4 depth boxes, and I will assess this after this coming season. As for beeswax, yes it is easier to crush and melt a frame of wax comb from a top bar hive, and you know that the wax is only from your bees. With a Langstroth hive there is the foundation wax that has come from elsewhere. As a beekeeper you can mark your frames yourself to indicate which were in the hive at the time of varroa treatments - so you know which are useable for beeswax that goes into skincare products, and which would be better for candles and polishes. The course was incredibly useful and interesting to me, well worth doing. You can call yourself a beekeeper if you keep bees. (It is just that there are levels of experience and learning as you progress through the years of being one, and longtime beekeepers will tell you that they are still learning new things each season). The distinction I have noticed most in beekeeping circles is that of being a responsible beekeeper, or irresponsible beekeeper. An added bonus with keeping bees is that they make you happy. My daily meditation is sitting beside the hives watching them come and go, and they are the barometer for my wellbeing; if my bees are happy, I am happy.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Carol, post: 5834, member: 259"] I have top bar hives, and a Langstroth hive. I did the level 3 course last year, after a previous year of beekeeping where my learning was supported by a bee club. My thoughts are that top bar hives are harder to manage as far as the colony care goes, but the physical management of frames is easier, until you have to move hives offsite (my ones have legs that are bolted on, so I will have to suspend the box, remove the legs, transport, and then reverse the procedure at the other end of the trip). The bees in the top bar hives seem calmer, less likely to get upset by my intrusion, I find. With the course we made one full depth brood box and two three-quarter depth supers. This was the model because it means the brood box is big enough to be one brood box going into Winter, and the cost of treating for varroa is less than two brood boxes stacked. The down side is that a full depth brood box can be heavy, and frames can't be switched about as much. As a hobbyist I can see that using two 3/4 depth boxes as brood boxes would work for me with lifting, and I could afford the extra treatments, and all my frames would be interchangeable, and I could spare the extra time to check two brood boxes for a queen and for AFB signs - but I can see why commercial beekeepers go for full depth. Because I don't have too much hive equipment yet I still have the option to switch to all 3/4 depth boxes, and I will assess this after this coming season. As for beeswax, yes it is easier to crush and melt a frame of wax comb from a top bar hive, and you know that the wax is only from your bees. With a Langstroth hive there is the foundation wax that has come from elsewhere. As a beekeeper you can mark your frames yourself to indicate which were in the hive at the time of varroa treatments - so you know which are useable for beeswax that goes into skincare products, and which would be better for candles and polishes. The course was incredibly useful and interesting to me, well worth doing. You can call yourself a beekeeper if you keep bees. (It is just that there are levels of experience and learning as you progress through the years of being one, and longtime beekeepers will tell you that they are still learning new things each season). The distinction I have noticed most in beekeeping circles is that of being a responsible beekeeper, or irresponsible beekeeper. An added bonus with keeping bees is that they make you happy. My daily meditation is sitting beside the hives watching them come and go, and they are the barometer for my wellbeing; if my bees are happy, I am happy. [/QUOTE]
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