B(ee) is for Budget Friendly

Numerous websites place the average cost of starting a traditional Langstroth hive at ~$200-300 dollars on equipment alone. This is not factoring in $50-100 for the bees themselves (if you do not catch a swarm). Recently, I received the 2011 catalog for Dadant Beekeeping Supplies and chuckled when I look at the hive bodies available for purchase. You could select from three different "levels"; essentially: deluxe, run of the mill, value. The only difference was the quality of the pine used.

The first question is DO THE BEES EVEN CARE?! The answer is NO. Does the beekeeper? He shouldn't. If you have wood at home use it; you can have a hive in relatively no time and at relatively no cost. Top Bar hives, like the ones I build, are the most budget friendly hives available. They are used in areas of the world that (e.g. Kenya) where people have little-to-no income. You allow the honey bee to do what God intended - and leave them well enough alone.

With each top-bar cut to 1-3/8'' wide, build the box/rectangle according to how many bars you wish. Reminder that if the hive is too small the hive may swarm, and if too large the hive will not be able to maintain its temperature during winter. My hive has ~20 bars and is 10'' (bottom width) and 16'' (top width). By the end of the first season my little ladies had built comb through the entire box.

With my dad's abundance of wood in the garage, our first hive cost $0.00.

YOU CAN DO IT!