Our lesson today was mainly practical which was great – and not so many notes to write up either which is a definite bonus. We looked at different types of hives, making frames, replacing foundation comb and smokers.
Types of Hives
The most common is the Langstroth hive
This is the most popular box worldwide. The brood box is 20″ x 16 1/4″ and the brood frame depth is 9 7/16″. The specific dimensions are very important due to ‘bee space’. The brood area is 2750 inches square and contains 61400 cells.
Also popular is the National hive, which is similar but has slightly smaller dimensions
The WBC is the ‘classic’ looking beehive. It has 2 layers and is therefore more complex to deal with and has less space for bees (PDBKA don’t recommend these).
You can also get Commercial size hives, and Smith hives.
For more info on different hives go to http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman/britparts.html (the website that the above image came from).
Whichever type of hive you choose it is recommended that if you have multiple hives they are all of the same type so that your components fit all hives.
Recently plastic hives have become available. Apparently there are no problems with these all though I personally find them hard to accept. Cleaning traditionally is done with a butane gas flame – you can’t do this to plastic. Also, in an earlier lesson, we were warned not to paint the hive with gloss paint as it would not be able to breathe so surely this would be a problem with plastic too. In general amongst the experienced beekeepers there was a preference for wooden hives as they are more natural. They also recommend you steer clear of plywood hives.
The layers of the hive
Most hives now have a mesh floor as this makes the control of Varroa easier. On top of this goes the brood box, then the ‘Queen excluder’ and then the super boxes which you will collect honey from. You then have a top which is ventilated and a waterproof roof that fits above this. Although before Oil Seed Rape came along beekeepers would put all their supers on at once, now it is best to add the extras after you have harvested the honey from OSR.
Frames
Frames are bought as flat pack components which you self assemble. We were shown how to do this and then each made our own frame complete with foundation comb.
Tools needed
You definitely need hive tools so that you can pull out the frames to inspect the bees. You also need a smoker. Smokers can use anything that burns eg corrugated cardboard, bits of wood, wood shavings, hessian (dont use sawdust as it send sparks into hive). Light the smoker using shredded paper and then add the fuel. If you need to cool the smoke put some green grass in the top. To smoke the hive, first send a little smoke in the entrance at the bottom and then wait a minute or two for it to take effect. Then open the hive. Add more smoke as needed.
For all things beekeeping, Thornes are great suppliers, though not necessarily the cheapest they have the most comprehensive catalogue.
