Top-Bar Beekeeping with Les Crowder and Heather Harrell

This video is more of a pitch for the off-the-grid, organic way of doing things than a how-to video. The only thing he explains in detail in this video is how to rotate the bars to give the bees more room to build maximum honey per square inch. The rest is your guess. I am about a month away from being set up with my first hives and so have been looking at the how-to's of Langstroth vs. top-bar hiving. I have read several books on the methods of beekeeping, including top bar, Langstroth, the new Flow-Hive technology, and even how to build a hollow log hive with removable combs out f an old tree. Top-Bar Beekeeping by Les Crowder and Heather Harrell. I found the book to be just excellent, very detailed and with very good photos. I felt like I could go out and build a top-bar hive and rotate the combs front to back and build divides after reading it. On the other hand, I didn't find this video very helpful. He doesn't show you how to recognize capped brood vs larvae, capped pollen from capped honey, uncapped honey from capped, propolis, bur combing from production combing. He talks about breakage of the comb from the bar, mentions that a particular comb has been repaired, but says nothing about what to do when you accidentally break one. The book, on the other hand, does. The book covered all the information in this video in much better detail. He does not explain how to build a hive. He does not actually show you an empty hive box. He does show you how to rig a cheap wax melter--if you want to use a genuinely nasty bathtub lying in the yard with an old window or door thrown across the top--but again he does not show you how to melt it, and I couldn't put that process together in my mind or go out and do it myself after watching the video. Save your money and buy the book. You will be able to build, care for, and harvest queens, honey, and beeswax, melt it and plant good forage plants after reading the book.

This is far from a covering every aspect of top bar bee keeping, but as new beekeeper it gave me the information I needed to get started with confidence. I started out with the Top-Bar Beekeeping book by the same author. After reading the book and getting my hive, I still had some questions about actually manipulating the bars and getting them back in without smashing bees that always want to climb out of the open space left between the bars. Seeing the technique explained and demonstrated was worth the cost of the video even if no other information had been included. Overall, the video was a great addition to the book. Reading about something is great, but actually seeing it done is even better. If you are going to get into top-bar beekeeping, I highly recommend getting both as the video doesn't cover many of the things the book covers and reading about how to do something is no substitute to seeing it done.

Wonderfully straightforward treatise on top-bar hives, their construction, maintenance & on beekeeping itself. Top-bar hives produce perhaps 20% less honey than Langstroth hives, but they are far less expensive to build, require less maintenance, far less storage space (there is no need for extra supers and frames) and they do not require the heavy lifting necessary to the care of conventional hives.If you are considering beekeeping, do yourself a favor, and see this DVD or read the book of the same name before committing to either type of beehive. You'll be glad you did; whatever choice you make, it will be better informed. If you have bees in Langstroth hives, but find their care harder to maintain than you'd like or can physically manage, Mr. Crowder's top-bars may be just exactly the solution you need.

Excellent book by Les Crowder for top bar beehive people/bees. He explains all aspects of top bar beehives and even includes plans for building one! I used his specifications and very am satisfied. Later, I purchased the DVD by him. He's a cool and kind person!

Each time I watch this video I learn more about top bar beekeeping. His guidance is invaluable, his delivery straight from the heart. I recommend this DVD and book of the same title to all beeks - Top Bar, Lang, Warre, Whatever method you choose, you will garner tips about all facets of beekeeping from this DVD.

If you are a visual learner, this DVD will help clarify some of the topics covered in the book. The book is excellent, and if you only choose one, I would recommend the book as a more comprehensive resource.

This is a great guide for the beginning top bar bee keeper. Better diagrams than in The Thinking Beekeeper, which is similar. Very similar philosophy to beekeeping in both. I got the video too, which was interesting, but probably not necessary, given all the great stuff on YouTube...

Good choice for learning about top-bar hives. This video cover many of the details of which someone interested in Top-Bar hives needs to be aware.

My favorite book about top bar beekeeping! I have kept bees in top bar hives for 3 years now, treatment free and this book have been my mentor through out. Another great book would be The Barefoot Beekeeper by Phil Chandler. Les Crowder knows his stuff that is for sure. One only has to note that he lives in a warm climate and some of his advice maybe not relevant for cold climates but most of the info is useful. A must have book for all wanting to keep bees in top bar hives!

Informative well worth buying

Les Crowder is extremely knowledgeable about natural beekeeping. If you want to do top bar hives, this book is a must! Easy to read!

Great.

very good dvd