Quote Originally Posted by Stromnessbees View Post
You made some very good points there.

And there is another positive aspect:
No need to store lots of equipment!

Just consider how much space all the spare supers take up while they are not in use. Then there's the extractor and the straining gear as well.
I somebody only wants a couple of hives in the corner of their small garden and is happy with comb honey chopped up and pushed into a jar, then the TBH is not a bad option.

The important thing is that TBH beginners get support from their local association though and learn how they can avoid cross comb, swarming and varroa. It doesn't help if they are disregarded as fanciful idealists, they have every right o be taken seriously.

I would even say that with a TBH you might be able to get a better understanding of the natural working of a colony than in the usual square boxes.

One item I find very useful in my TBH is a divider board with openings that fit a porter bee escape. It allows me to block off the empty space at the back during the winter, and it also makes it very simple to divide a colony or even have two nucs in one box, with a separate entrance at each end.
I think it cuts both ways in some respects, there is a reason that the TBH has become synonymous with fanciful idealists and I think some of the more evangelical enthusiasts want to have their cake and eat it. I.e. it's a bit rich to send off people with not only ideals for ignoring varroa and swarming, especially from an urban perspective, in particular and to make out that the rest of us are moustache twirling bee "exploiters" and then complain that having told associations what a bunch of out of touch so-and-so's they are that they don't then drop everything to accomodate TBH beekeepers.

I agree with most of your points though, I don't have any problem with a TBH or beekeeper that can acknowledge that at the end of the day it's a beehive, no more, no less. It has positive and negative elements just like every other hive out there. If the positives outweigh the negatives in the decision making process then for good for that user.

The only point I'd disagree with is the suitability of sticking a hive that is difficult to move once it's in place and full of bees in a small garden, I'd question the wisdom of putting any hive into a small garden.