OBSERVATION BEE HIVE

[J T]

This'd be kinda neat in a window.

JOAT I am not paranoid. I do not "think" people are after me. I "know" damn well they're after me.

[Jock]

Great design there! Just remember to make neat fit removable side covers for it (ply/masonite or mdf) with handles and those swinging things to keep them on the perspex or glass. IME they work better in the dark and don't have to spend all their time blocking out the light & freezing their little backsides off. Jock

[Darrell Feltmate]

[Tim]

I have made a nice Observation hive out of red oak. It had a mortised lock in the lid to prevent someone from "accidentally" opening it. I also used black 1/4 inch artists board (styrofoam sandwiched between two heavy pieces of black paper found at any art supply shop), to use as "Privacy curtains" for the bees. They would slide in and out as needed on the outside of the plexiglass. Do NOT finish the inside of the hive with any stain, varnish etc., leave it bare wood. Also make sure base is wide enough to give solid support and prevent the otherwise top-heavy hive from falling over...Bzzzzzzzz, OUCH! The only problem is you really can't keep a hive like this going for long. Maybe if you really work at it someone has but they need a large hive to store plenty of honey for winter. Unless you constantly change out filled frames of capped brood, (baby bees in the comb and place in a real hive), the bees would want to swarm. Very challenging! Also as was mentioned pay close attention to "Bee space"! Bees like 3/8 inch of space between frames and frames, frames and walls. If too large a space they will build comb. If too narrow, they will plug it up! Either way it makes it harder to remove frames from hive. But it is very cool observing the bees at work! I have some pics if you would like to see the observation hive as it was just finished. Tim

[Mike in Arkansas]

One of my many former hobbies was bee keeping. Still kind of miss it but living in the city with close neighbors prone to spraying insecticide willy nilly and who panic when a swarm alights on their front door is a real drawback. Previous posters were correct, observation hives aren't big enough to sustain a colony for long so be prepared for swarms and to feed them over winter or buy new ones every year. Many years ago I saw an observation hive that was in a service station. It was made from the plexiglass gunners dome of a WWII bomber. Now that was one large observation hive. Bees are fasinating to watch though and interesting as hell. I have a story about a swarm I gave away that people don't believe. Good luck.

[J T]

Wed, Sep 20, 2006, 5:15pm (EDT-3) [e-mail] (Mike=A0in=A0Arkansas) doth sayeth: observation hives aren't big enough to sustain a colony for long so be prepared for swarms and to feed them over winter or buy new ones every year. Many years ago I saw an observation hive that was in a service station. It was made from the plexiglass gunners dome of a WWII bomber.

I don't see swarms as a problem. Not as long as the rest survived anyway. But, if that's a problem, I'd say make it sized the same as a regular hive.

I saw an ultra-neat observation hive in a museum. It was the same size as a regular hive, and set up internally the same way, but all the outer sides and top were plexiglas, with a clear tube leading to the outside. You could see the bees going in and out in the tube, view from all four sides, plus down from the top, to see every part of the hive. Very cool.

JOAT I am not paranoid. I do not "think" people are after me. I "know" damn well they're after me.