Todd and I pulled a dead cedar tree out of the ditch behind my parents house, had it milled into one inch planks, and decided to make some bee hives out of the wood. We chose a "top bar" design because they generally result in healthier colonies and do not include a "queen excluder hole." Notice the half-hexagon, 120 degree angles of the hive...the bees will build their combs along this edge. Top bar hives are generally calmer during inspection because you do not have to move stacked boxes to inspect the brood or honey. The apiarist can simply lift individual bars to inspect the hive, all the while the bees just two combs over hardly notice any difference. Hope to get some bees into their new home at some point this spring!
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