top bar hive

The Barefoot Beekeeper

chemical-free, low-cost, low-maintenance, low-impact, top bar beekeeping for everyone

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Bottomless Beekeeping


The top bar hive in the video is a pattern known as a 'Kenyan Top Bar Hive', which means that is has sloping sides, forming a open 'V' shape but with a flat bottom. The floor is usually covered, either with mesh or wood, but this particular hive is bottomless, as part of an experiment to find the best conditions in which bees can thrive and look after their own needs, with minimal interference.

These bees are well into their second season in a bottomless hive, and appear to be quite happy and healthy.

This is not a practice I would recommend to beginners, but it does show that - at least in a mild climate - bees can get by with relatively little in the way of creature comforts. While the bottom of the hive is open, the top is effectively sealed and thus moisture-laden, stale air moves down the sides and out the bottom, drawing fresh air up through the middle. Because there is no 'chimney' effect, as there would be if there was top ventilation, this process happens slowly and does not cause disturbing draughts for the bees.



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"For the bee, honey is the ultimate reality. It represents the fulfillment of her life mission, the triumph over her enemies, the continuity of the hive, the justification for working herself to death. Honey is to bees what money in the bank is to people—a measure of prosperity and well-being. But there is nothing abstract or symbolic about honey, as there is about money, which has no intrinsic value. There is more real wealth in a pound of honey, or a load of manure for that matter, than all the currency in the world. We often destroy the world's real wealth to create an illusion of wealth, confusing symbol and substance."
Wm. Longgood, The Queen Must Die



8000 bees go sightseeing in NYC - Newsday

MyFox Dallas

8000 bees go sightseeing in NYC
Newsday
Last week, bee enthusiasts gathered on the steps of City Hall to push a bill that would legalize beekeeping in New York City.
Bees getting a new home6abc.com
Bees Take Over Posh East Side NeighborhoodNew York's PIX11 / WPIX-TV
Buzzing Bees Get New Yorkers' AttentionNPR

all 38 news articles »

Your Road Trip to the Sacramento Delta Area can include Beekeeping ... - Examiner.com

Examiner.com

Your Road Trip to the Sacramento Delta Area can include Beekeeping ...
Examiner.com
Learn about the life of the honeybee, the world-wide threat to honeybee health and what beekeepers and farmers on the urban fringe are doing to sustain the ...

and more »

Hoping to Generate a Bit More Buzz - New York Times

Straits Times

Hoping to Generate a Bit More Buzz
New York Times
The wrinkle is that beekeeping is illegal in New York City. Fines, while rare, can run to $2000. The law is precisely why the nonprofit group Just Food ...
politicians pitch return to beekeeping to New York CityNew York Daily News
NYC beekeepers swarm City Hall to protest banThe Associated Press
Beekeepers protest NYC rules banning themSeattle Post Intelligencer
Examiner.com -WFAA -WNYC
all 263 news articles »

Federal grant helps local business increase sales by $2 million - Boone Mountain Times

Federal grant helps local business increase sales by $2 million
Boone Mountain Times
In business since 1977, Brushy Mountain Bee Farm manufactures and sells a variety of beekeeping supplies, beeswax for candle and soap making and educational ...

and more »

Family's shock as they find bees nesting in their car - Edinburgh Evening News

Family's shock as they find bees nesting in their car
Edinburgh Evening News
They placed traffic cones around the car and contacted Enid Brown, who was managing the beekeeping tent at the nearby Royal Highland Show, to find out what ...

and more »

Introduction to Beekeeping class set - Cape Coral Daily Breeze

Introduction to Beekeeping class set
Cape Coral Daily Breeze
The Lee County Extension, in collaboration with the Beekeepers Association of Southwest Florida offers an introductory beekeeping class this summer. ...

and more »

Beekeeping the New 'Green' Thing to Do - Voice of America

Voice of America

Beekeeping the New 'Green' Thing to Do
Voice of America
As bee populations decline around the world, beekeeping is becoming the environmentally "in" thing to do, even in urban settings. ...
City abuzz about Copoco's Honey & Bee ProductsThe Coloradoan
"Don't Step on a Bee Day" in WashingtonExaminer.com
Survey: latest honey bee lossesDelta Farm Press
KRCG -PlanetSave.com
all 8 news articles »
            Go to Greenfibres


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