I went shopping for a hive as there are plenty of bees around looking for shelter every now and then.
After spotting a woodworker displaying his wares, among them rabbit hatches, dog kennels, small chicken coops, and hives. I decided to give his product a try.
My previous purchase was not up to standard and this one was meant to be a step up in terms of quality. This is a Kenya Top Bar hive. It is designed to be easier to use both for the farmer and the bees.
The bees are able to build their honeycombs along the top bars resulting in neat rows. The farmer can check the amount of honey accumulated over the weeks per top bar, without upsetting other bees in other sections of the hive. The bees remain generally calm as a result.
There is a mesh that separates the brooding section from the rest of the hive. The bee population is kept active with the honey remaining in this section plus the uncapped combs in the harvest section.
There is a small issue with the hive I got from this fella. the top bars don't have grooves or strips to guide the bees as they make their combs. Some modifications will have to be done to the hive to bring it up to standard.
I noted he had a problem with other customers returning his Langstroth hives for some modifications. The thing with some of our artisans is they take up any challenge of creating products without fully understanding how they should be built.
I could not figure out if this man had the proper drawings before creating the hive or not. He just chose not to follow through on all the instructions despite the presence of an abundance of drawings available, on and offline.
http://en.howtopedia.org/wiki/Beekeeping_Principles
The fact remains that he has what many of us lack: grit.