Beekeeping: Top Bar Hives

[TwoDo]

Just thought I would post a note about some preps I am starting - specifically beekeeping. I intend to take beekeeping up as a hobby. Never kept bees before but found some information on a site called BioBees which promotes something called Natural Beekeeping which fits in kinda well with my inclinations. Apparently with Natural Beekeeping the main aim is not to maximize honey production but to work with the bees and take no more than they can afford to give.

Natural Beekeeping uses a different design called a Top Bar Hive which is claimed to be easier to maintain and more closely resemble the sort of place bees would naturally choose if given a choice (rather than those square box things) and also they are reputedly reasonably easy to make at home. The site has plans and a forum and help etc. Judging from the website and forum posts you can disassemble some pallets and build your Top Bar Hive practically for free - there are threads discussing this at length. They estimate you can get started in Beekeeping with a TBH for less than £100 as opposed to a layout of around £1000 for the conventional method.

Sooo.... besides an interesting hobby it should be able to provide both honey and wax for SHTF as well as a valuable skill.

Just thought I'd mention this because if you are interested, the time to get moving on this is now (if you wish to have bees this summer that is). I am beginning to build my TBH hive - which seems quite do-able, have signed up for a conventional beekeeping course (lots of them kick off in Jan Feb) and intend to have a go this spring/summer.

http://www.biobees.com/index.php

[preppingsu]

Please keep us updated. This is something I would like to do but the pigs take priority this year!