Natural Beekeeping

Top Bar ApiRevolution has begun! Lets make some inexpensive Top Bar Hives and let them be pesticide free on their own natural comb! Che Guebee is a rebel bee fighting for the survival of the Biodiversity we all depend on and which is seriously endangered by deforestation and mono-crop agriculture! What kind of teaching have you got if you exclude nature?

Monday, December 31, 2012

How NOT to manage a Top Bar Hive

I would like you to see this video. This beek never learned how to properly inspect a top bar hive and as you will see he is making a few cardinal mistakes;
1. he is not brushing off the bees before tossing the comb into the bocket, killing many bees and pissing off those who survived the drop
2. he is starting to pull out top bars from the middle of the colony instead from one end.
3. he is not detaching the comb braced to the walls before pulling out the top bar comb
4. top bars in a Kenya Top Bar Hive are not spaced but are tightly fit together forming a closed roof underneath the actual roof. In his case you can see the bees gluening the top bars to the roof. As he takes off the roof some of the top bars follow with the roof braking away from the comb which later collapse causing much stress to the bees and possibly can kill the queen.
I have never seen such bucher-style-top-bar-hive-manipulation before!
Please dont follow his example!

If you want to learn how to manage Top Bar Hives go to youtube and search for OutOfaBlueSky , he makes very good educational videos on top bar hive beekeeping.

2 comments:

  1. Che,

    I couldn't watch the video to the end. He's so clumsy and unthinking - sad for him and for the bees. Hopefully, he will learn and move forward.

    Regards,
    Mike

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  2. Hi Mike.

    A few of us from biobees.com forum left comments on this vid with some very good advice but he deleted them (roll eyes

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