Christy celebrating among top bar hives in northern Italy.
Credit: Paolo Fontana.
No sooner was The Thinking Beekeeper published than the need for a sequel began to make itself apparent. As public awareness of honeybees and beekeeping increased, the focus began to shift from how to get started with top bar hives to how to manage successful top bar hives through their second year and beyond. Advanced Top Bar Beekeeping will guide Thinking Beekeepers through managing an overwintered top bar hive, and preparing for successful splits and swarm management in established hives.
Through her company, Gold Star Honeybees (goldstarhoneybees.com, 207-449-1121), Christy is working to set a viable “gold star” standard for top bar hive equipment interchangeability. Interchangeability is critical for the sustainability of top bar hives — and creating a network of beekeepers using interchangeable equipment will soon allow top bar beekeepers to pay it forward by sharing splits with other beekeepers to naturally launch new hives.
To support top bar hive beekeepers who are interested in connecting with other like-minded folks using top bar hives and supporting the bees’ natural systems, Gold Star Honeybees now sponsors Facebook groups designed to help top bar hive beekeepers locate each other. Join the global group at facebook.com/groups/TopBarHiveBeekeepers, and we can then connect you to a more local group for each US state and for several countries as well.
Christy celebrating among top bar hives in northern Italy.
Credit: Paolo Fontana.