In our last post, we discussed beekeeping clothing and equipment. If you do, it is very important to follow the exact measurements for the type of hive you desire. The Langstroth hive pictured below is the most common style in use today and a favorite for new beekeepers. The design was patented by Rev. Lorenzo Langstroth in the midth century and features removable frames that the bees build comb in. Langstroth hives consist of boxes that stack on top of each other.
The anatomy of a Langstroth hive. Credit: Dave Cushman. The top bar hive is the oldest hive design in the world. A horizonal top bar hive features wooden bars that are laid along the top of the long box. One-piece bars are used instead of the 4-sided wooden frames of the Langstroth design.
The honey bees build comb down from the top bars. No foundation is required, but the hive should be elevated off the ground with some sort of stand. There are several advantages to a top bar hive. In addition to not needing foundation sheets, there are no wooden frames to assemble. Perhaps the biggest draw of the top bar hive: no heavy lifting. Top Bar Hive. Top bar beekeeping does have a few challenges, however. For example, a centrifugal honey extractor can not be used to remove honey from the natural comb, so the comb and honey will both need to be removed from the bar.
This results in the honey bees having to make new comb each year. This type of hive can produce honey, but it is a favorite for beekeepers wanting hives for pollination alone. Identically sized stacked boxes have no frames or foundation sheets. Bees build honeycomb down from top bars placed within each box.
Credit: Sweetvalleyhives. They feel this arrangement better mimics bee life in the wild. These are the three most popular hive designs, but every style has pros and cons! It is up to you to decide which type of beehive best suits your goals and management style.
Closely follow plan directions if you choose to build your own bee hive of any style. Having the same dimensions as a National Hive, this type of honey bee hive is designed to encourage a large volume of honey in the supers. It is said that t here are now relatively few wild honey bee populations.
Indeed, some beekeepers are working to address this, such as Corwin Bell, who says:. This diversity is critically important to the survival of this most precious natural resource. Authors such as Dr David Heaf have long advocated api-centric beekeeping. As stated above, Heaf himself uses Warre hives. More recently, Thomas D. Seeley has gathered years of research data and experience to understand how beekeepers could become more api-centric , so that healthy, more robust colonies are reared.
I recommend his excellent book - The Lives Of Bees:. In the wild, honey bees naturally seem to like to nest in the cavities of trees, caves or buildings. In doing so, they manage to reproduce and establish new colonies to continue generations of bees. The honey bees make their own combs with a structure and cell size deemed by the bees to be appropriate for larvae and storing the honey.
They will then eat the honey they have stored in the honey combs during the winter months when forage is scarce and conditions mean they avoid venturing out of their nest.
Honey bee hives, however, were invented by man, as a way of domesticating honey bees in order to exploit them for honey, but if we wish to continue harvesting honey, it is incumbent on us to look at bee hive design, just as Chandler, Heaf, Bell and Seeley have done, with the aim of providing the best solution for the bees themselves, so that beekeeping is as api-centric as possible. These hives are designed to withhold extreme temperatures ranging from Michigan winters to Arizona summers because of their heavy double-layer insulation.
A special material is used in the top cover and side walls which provides thermal insulation. They are also meant to make beekeeping less complicated since users do not have to buy any extra equipment. Since these hives are not the classic wooden style, they do not absorb moisture which would normally lead to fungus growth. Apimaye hives are about 2. As a beekeeper, picking your hive is an important decision. There are hives catered towards colder weathers, minimal maintenance, hobbyists or commercial beekeepers, honey extraction, and more.
With the numerous varieties of hives, there is bound to be one that fits your needs! Built using WordPress and Mesmerize Theme. Lease Honey. Blog Contact Cart Cart. Blog Contact Cart. What are the Different Types of Bee Hives. What are the Different Types of Bee Hives There are a lot of different hives to choose from when starting out as a beekeeper, and they all have their own pros and cons.
Langstroth Hive Source: Bee Built The Langstroth hive consists of multiple rectangular boxes stacked on top of each other with removable frames for the bees to build comb inside. Horizontal Layens Hive Source: Horizontal Hive The Layens hive is the original horizontal hive invented in the 19th century by French beekeeper Georges de Layens, and over one million hives use Layens frames.
Unlike vertical hives, you cannot add additional supers to horizontal hives if the colony grows. Whatever hive you choose…… As a beekeeper, picking your hive is an important decision. Sign Up for The Newsletter!
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