Bees - some hive design concepts - your opinions will be greatly appreciated

[wesleyn]

Hi there,

For those that haven't seen my previous post my name is Neil, I am Product Design student at Brighton University.

It is very true that I know very little about beekeeping, nothin before 2 weeks ago in fact. However, the local beekeepers I have spoke to, and the fact that most replies on the forums I have posted have sai they are not afraid of bees leads me to think that a home beehive is no a completely ludicrous idea.

It doesn't matter too much for the project in any case. The majo aspect of the project is the emotions a person might recieve from th product I design. A fear of bees is not too uncommon, therefore m design will attempt to give people a positive emotion to counterac this negative one, it could be fun, playful, or friendly, or maybe hav a calming, soothing influence.

I have done a number of concept sketches, if you are interested follo the link to photobucket to view them, I would be very interested t hear what you think, particularly which design you would most like t have in your own garden - and why if you have the time and inclination From this I can make a choice of which to develope further. Please tr to view each design independent of its colour, as that can be altere easily, although any comment of colour will be very useful.

Photobucket link:

very much for taking the time to read this and reply

-- wesleyn

[John Bachman]

Many people keep bee hives on their residential property, located in an area where people and the bees will not intermix thereby avoiding problems. Anyone who fears the bees will not have any interest in having them nearby but those who do not are sometimes inclined to keep bees as they are fascinating creatures.

I am not clear on the purpose of your designs. Improvement over the time proven rectangular box with frames hanging inside perhaps? If so, keep in mind the bees propensity to glue everything to everything. An enclosure with sloping sides, narrower at the top than the bottom will make the contents inaccessible by the beekeeper.

Also, the bees will quickly glue together any component that you would like to slide across another. Their glue is quite strong and they put it everywhere. You should keep this in mind.

Good luck.

John

[Scott Hildenbrand]

I'll agree with all the statements above. It's understandable to try and make a designer hive for the yuppies at large, but keep function over form in the top of your mind.. This is what makes a good designer, not just making it pretty.

Any of the sliding designs are out. The only designs that would work are the ones that lift off of the container below.

The only one that I really liked was the "Zoo" design as its form lends well to the function. In fact, that is a fairly good design that can be expanded on.. Needs handles..

The others which are narrow at the top of the sections will not work as removal of anything inside would be too difficult.

There is another method of keeping bees that has been shown to work well but is more difficult from my understanding which is top bar hives.

of the more interesting sites I'd found on the matter... Even has a few observation hives which show the bees and comb structure.

At any rate, good luck.. And keep function over form.. If it goes the other way what ever you design will be worthless.

[beecrofter]

Check out Brushy Mountain Bee Farm's "Cottage Hive" . I doubt you can improve on Lorenzo Langstroth.