Honeycombs hanging from the top bar beehive
Mr Beekeeper removes the top bars and reveals the milky white combs filled with honey
Out comes one of the combs
Golden honey – what a beautiful sight
Pile of combs removed from the top bar
Justin puts the combs into a cheese cloth
Ties up the cheese cloth filled with a few pounds of comb and suspends on a dowel in one of one my large canning pot
Leftovers – a sweet treat
Simple (solar) honey extractor.
Yum
Wait a few hours… and…
Stay tuned for the final product! A jar of golden, honey.
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geoffrey wendel says:
May 18, 2008 at 2:53 pm===Very nice hive. I based my original off of the backyard beehive folks, and I will definitely be keeping to observation window in any I build in the future. That is one of the most useful things ot have in this sort of hive, especially in terms of not having to open up the hive every time to check how things are going.
===Another excellent forum for top-bar folks has opened up….take a look at http://www.biobees.com , by the by.
plantainpatch says:
May 18, 2008 at 3:14 pmOh Anais,
I am excited for you and envious. 😉 I just told my dh this afternoon I really would like to get bees then I see this post. Enjoy!!
Robbyn says:
May 18, 2008 at 5:19 pmExcellent! Because of you guys, we now are interested in the top bar hives, and that’ll be one of our first projects once we are moved! SO excited to see you posting the pics here so folks like us can see that yes, we too can attempt this …especially without all the expensive bee equipment that seems to be necessary with the standard hives types
Jan says:
May 19, 2008 at 5:15 amThat looks yummy. I was jsut aobut to post on my blog honey we harvested.
sue says:
May 19, 2008 at 8:57 amThis is truly interesting. I’ve casually been looking into beekeeping and from what I’ve read it looks totally overwhelming (financially and work-wise). But your top bar hive and your solar honey extractor looks tons simpler then what I’ve seen mentioned. Seriously, how much work is this?
Deidre' says:
May 19, 2008 at 2:01 pmMy husband and I have been talking about keeping bees. And this top bar hive set up looks like the perfect thing. I am in awe of that golden honey!!
James says:
May 19, 2008 at 3:04 pmI built 2 top bar hives last winter. I got Small Cell bees from an organic grower in Georgia at the first of this month. Keeping them so far is simple, as the bees do most of the work!
I would suggest going to http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Organicbeekeepers/ for lots of information about keeping bees organically. After all, Humans kept bees organically until the chemical companies suggested we use pesticides on them. Organic bees breed stronger and stronger every year, and the ones I have are so very gentle that I don’t even wear a veil or gloves to work them. And no stings! Work slowly and methodically, and the Honey bees really don’t bother you much.
Also, do a search on YouTube for top bar hives, and there is a beekeeper on there that demonstrates how to work the hive.
I’m sure Mr. Dervaes could make hundreds of posts about bees, but the internet already has plenty on the subject. Also, check out your local Beekeeper association. Any local extension office can put you in touch with beekeepers. Be careful, because some commercial beekeepers were trained to use chemicals and non-organic methods. They are also invested in expensive equipment and even more expensive extractors. Which you don’t need, as shown by our fine Urban Homesteaders!
Janice K says:
May 20, 2008 at 1:02 pmWhat do you do with the combs after you’re done extracting? Is it used for candles?
Anais says:
May 22, 2008 at 8:07 amThanks for the comments and links everyone.
Janice K – we’ll save and use the wax for candles or used to make our own homemade beauty products (lotions, lip balm, etc)
Terry Middleton says:
December 4, 2008 at 8:22 amIn the UK winter tends to be wet and cold.
How do you get rid of all the dead bees in the spring and other detrius during the season?