Honey Cow
I'm working on three bee hives right now waiting for the bees to arrive. I'm turning 150 years of proven history and techniques on their head and joining an increasing but tiny band of radical bee keepers using top-bar hives. Most folks either love them or hate them. I figure they aren't as good as their ardent supporters say, nor are they as worthless as their detractors claim.
Most beekeepers are interested in maximizing honey production, but my priorities are different. First, I think it's important to explain why I'm keeping bees. The bees in the US are sick. As a population, diseases, parasites and unknown disorders are wiping them out. Seems like an odd time to be getting in, but I want to make sure I do my part to help. I want to make a little honey, for myself and friends and to enter into the Fryeburg Fair. I'd like to sell a little honey and beeswax products, more for satisfaction of contributing to the agricultural economy than wild profits. Amanda as well wants to have something from our land (and chickens will be hard, and a goat, not for me).
My criteria in hive type is that it had to be cheap, and even an idiot like me could build it. That was my starting point when my brother, Corey, pointed me in the direction of the Kenyan Top Bar Hive.
Other benefits of this system include minimal tools and equipment required, you get a little honey at a time over the whole season, rather than a bunch at the end (little chores instead of a massive project), less interruption of the bees, and (reportedly) more natural resistance to disease and mites than traditional equipment. It's also less lifting as you pick up one bar full of comb at a time instead of a whole box of it, and easier on your back as each bar is at the same height, which can be whatever you want to make it.
You get less honey, but more wax as you have to harvest the honey by destroying the wax, instead of re-using it. Some speculate that the reuse of old wax is part of the problem. We plan to use the beeswax to make candles, soap, lotions and balms, saddle soap and leather conditioner. I'm planning to use no chemicals inside the hive to control diseases, but to allow natural cell size, and hopefully vibrant bee population to deal with the problems. I hope some folks will pay a premium for natural, local, raw honey and handmade beeswax products.
Most beekeepers are interested in maximizing honey production, but my priorities are different. First, I think it's important to explain why I'm keeping bees. The bees in the US are sick. As a population, diseases, parasites and unknown disorders are wiping them out. Seems like an odd time to be getting in, but I want to make sure I do my part to help. I want to make a little honey, for myself and friends and to enter into the Fryeburg Fair. I'd like to sell a little honey and beeswax products, more for satisfaction of contributing to the agricultural economy than wild profits. Amanda as well wants to have something from our land (and chickens will be hard, and a goat, not for me).
My criteria in hive type is that it had to be cheap, and even an idiot like me could build it. That was my starting point when my brother, Corey, pointed me in the direction of the Kenyan Top Bar Hive.
Other benefits of this system include minimal tools and equipment required, you get a little honey at a time over the whole season, rather than a bunch at the end (little chores instead of a massive project), less interruption of the bees, and (reportedly) more natural resistance to disease and mites than traditional equipment. It's also less lifting as you pick up one bar full of comb at a time instead of a whole box of it, and easier on your back as each bar is at the same height, which can be whatever you want to make it.
You get less honey, but more wax as you have to harvest the honey by destroying the wax, instead of re-using it. Some speculate that the reuse of old wax is part of the problem. We plan to use the beeswax to make candles, soap, lotions and balms, saddle soap and leather conditioner. I'm planning to use no chemicals inside the hive to control diseases, but to allow natural cell size, and hopefully vibrant bee population to deal with the problems. I hope some folks will pay a premium for natural, local, raw honey and handmade beeswax products.
Todd -
I think its great that you're becoming a beekeeper. Just remember - you are on the edge of Maine's bear range, and a midnight raid by ol' bruin is possible. One visit and you'll lose your profits. My advice is to look for a well-used electric fence set up - and cirle that hive with 2 strands (3 are better) 10" apart with the lowest wire 10" off the ground. Set up with the wire at least 6 feet from the hive - too close and the bear might reach through and tumble your hive. If you get reports of a bear in the area, take a few pieces of bacon and wrap them around the electric wire. If that mean old bear wraps his tongue around the bacon and wire, he will turn himself inside out vacating the neighborhood. Good luck!
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