The East Central Indiana Beekeepers Association held their 12th annual spring auction and pitch in-lunch on May 19th. Several members from the Central Indiana Beekeepers Association were in attendance.
Tim Caldwell from the East Central and Central Indiana Beekeepers Associations gave a demonstration and question and answer session on top bar hives. He discussed top bar hive beekeeping techniques and the differences between them and Langstroth hives. He discussed advantages and disadvantages of both and answered questions on top by hive keeping.
The demonstration included one of Tim’s top bar hives that was a dead out from the 2011/2012 winter. Attendees were able to see the differences in the way bees build brood comb and honey storage comb in a top bar hive.
By the end of the day the local bees were becoming very interested in the potential new home with several investigating Tim’s top bar hive before he loaded it to take home.