Beekeeping: how to make a top bar beehive (Kenyan top bar hive model)
This technology describes step by step how to make a top bar hive (Kenyan model). A top bar hive, or moveable comb hive, is a rectangle box covered with bars of a fixed width. Bees will build their combs from the centre of the top bar, hanging down. To attract a swarm to the hive and to “guide” the bees in the construction of the combs, a strip of bees wax can be melted on the centre of the top bar. The moveable combs allow to inspect the hive by lifting up the combs, and to replace a mature honey comb (sealed comb) with an empty bar, for the bees to continue collecting nectar.
Author: National Bee Unit at The Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera)
Organization: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO TECA
Year: 2020
Country/ies: Malawi
Geographical coverage: Africa
Type: Practices
Full text available at: https://www.fao.org/teca/en/technologies/7274
Content language: English