I stumbled across the websites below and was intrigued by the simplicity of design, and common sense approach to beekeeping.
The facts that substantiate the capabilities of this hive, peaked my desire to study it further. The facts I refer to are in the articles linked to below my post.
Interesting facts about standard (The langstroth and British WTB hives – using frames) – they cme into being, and shortly after, the diseases and pests that we know today started killing off bees. There was not such devastation when old style top bar hives and skeps were used.
here is an excerpt from www.biobees.com (included below)
“During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, honeybee colonies began to suffer on an unprecedented scale from a range of diseases and parasites that had previously been rare, localized or relatively mild in their effects. By 1920, the native British black bee (Apis mellifera mellifera) had been virtually wiped out by so-called ‘Isle of Wight disease’8, to which it had no natural resistance. Replacement black bees were brought in from France, Germany and Holland, along with yellow-striped bees from Italy to re-stock the empty hives, but crosses between the black and yellow races were (and still are) overly defensive and difficult to manage. While they were much less susceptible to ‘Isle of Wight’ disease, the mild-mannered Italians, along with the other immigrants, were vulnerable to both American and European Foul Brood (AFB and EFB), the two most serious bee diseases. And they were (and still are) incurable robbers of other bee colonies. 9“
Links:
http://www.biobees.com/british_beekeeping/british_beekeeping.html
This one is about the Warre hive and you can find plans for this top bar hive on the site:
Beekeeping with the Warré hive — Home.
To your Bees Health -
–Pat
Tags: beekeeping, honey bees, top bar hive, Warre hive