Wow, I am so jealous, that bee house looks amazing. The benefits of honey are an extremely important part of my life and I really must get around to getting my own top bar bee hive to encourage and save as many bees as I can plus enjoy theirs and mine own raw honey. I really wish you much success.

Hi Barbara -

Thank you - I think the hive is beautiful, too.  You can download the plan Matt used, for free, at biobees.com (on the left).  There is also lots of information on his site.

To answer your questions:  I think the main reason top bar hives may be preferable for non-commercial beekeepers is that they can be made at home (and thus are potentially far less expensive).  They also allow the bees more flexibility in forming comb than conventional manmade hives do. We had been thinking about keeping bees for some time, but didn’t seriously consider it until we read a Mother Earth News article (by the guy who runs the site mentioned above) about top bar hives.

Matt is building the hive using redwood.  From my understanding, the wood itself should not be toxic to the bees, but on the upside the hive will naturally last longer.  Only the outside surface has been finished with linseed oil.  The inside - where the bees will have the most contact - is unfinished.  The top of the top bars were coated with food-grade mineral oil, and we’ll paint beeswax on the underside (to give the bees a “starting point”).

We are trying to incorporate as many native plants into our general landscaping as possible; we’re lucky that in this area, it isn’t difficult to find common natives (and - as a second choice - cultivars of local natives).

I hope this helps - and thanks for your comments!