APICULTURE

Hives

Choice of hives

Beekeeping does not need to take up valuable land. Depending on type, hives may be placed in trees, on scraps of wasteland or flat rooftops. This makes beekeeping feasible for smallholders and landless people. A good site should have a water source nearby, plenty of flowering plants and trees in the area and shelter from wind and strong sunlight. A hive is any container provided for honeybees to nest in. There are three main types: traditional hives, movable-frame hives and top-bar hives.

Traditional hives

These are made from local materials such as hollowed-out logs, bark formed into a cylinder, clay pots, woven grass or cane - whatever is suitable and available. The sole purpose of the hive is to encourage bees to nest in a place accessible to the beekeeper. The bees build their nest inside the hive, just as they would build it in a natural cavity. The beekeeper plunders the nest to obtain crops of honey and beewax. Bees may or may not be killed during this process, depending on the skill of the beekeeper. If the colony is destroyed, the hive will remain empty for a while. If there are plenty of honeybee colonies in the area, a swarm may eventually settle in the empty hive and start building a new nest.

Traditional hives

Top-bar hives

Top-bar hives have the same advantages of manageability and efficiency in harvesting honey as movable-frame hives, without the disadvantage of high manufacturing costs. To make the hives manageable, bees are encouraged to construct their combs from the undersides of a series of bars. These bars allow individual combs to be lifted from the hive by the beekeeper. As with traditional local hives, the container for the hive may be constructed from whatever materials are locally available.

All equipment can be made locally. The only items that need to be constructed with precision are the top bars, which must provide the same spacing for combs in the hive that the bees would use in the natural nest. This spacing will depend upon the species and race of honeybee. As a very general guide, the width of top bars needed for Apis mellifera of European origin is 35 mm, Apis mellifera in Africa - 32 mm and Apis cerana in Asia – 30 mm. The best way to determine the optimum width is to measure the spacing between combs in a wild nest of the same bees. The volume of the brood box should be roughly equal to the volume of the cavity occupied by wild nesting honeybees. An advantage of top-bar hives is that it is inexpensive way of housing large numbers of colonies for pollination purposes.

Top bar hive

Movable-frame hives

These hives are used in most industrialized countries and some developing countries, especially in Central and South America and Asia. Rectangular wood or plastic frames are used to support the combs. These frames have two major advantages.

• They allow for inspection and manipulation of colonies, such as moving frames of bees or honey-filled frames (stores) from a strong colony to strengthen a weaker one.
• They allow for efficient harvesting of honey, because the honeycombs in their frames can be emptied and returned to the hive, which allows increased honey production because the bees do not have to build fresh combs.

Frame hives consist of a series of boxes, usually of wood, stacked on top of one another. Frames are arranged in the boxes like suspension files in a filing cabinet. The bottom box is usually used for the brood nest, which is where the queen lays her eggs and young bees develop. A queen excluder - a metal grid with holes that allow worker bees to pass through but not the larger queen - is placed between the box with the brood and the box above it. This ensures that only honey is stored in the boxes above the queen excluder. A hive stand, floor and roof are required, along with various other specialized items of equipment.

Movable frame hive

Frame hives must be constructed with precision. Boxes must fit together precisely and the spacing between frames must be the same as in a natural nest. Frame hives require seasoned timber that is accurately cut and planed and materials such as wire, nails and foundation. They are therefore relatively labour-intensive to make and maintain. There must be access to replacement parts, particularly foundations and frames. The spaces between combs, nest volume and other features of standard frame hives have been developed for use with European honeybees in Europe, North and Central America and Australasia and are not necessarily suitable for other races and species of honeybees. When buying equipment it is important to have an understanding of the honeybees to be housed and the specifications of the equipment offered.

Last updated: 21-3-2007