Hives and Crafts

All Bee Hives All the Time

If a container has honey bees in it, it is a beehive. Thus it has become common for many types of beehive to have been invented, re-engineered and designed. Some hive types are very old and traditional while an increasing number are new. Some are especially fruitful for the honey bee colony and some favour the beekeeper. And a few are very well suited to the needs of both partners in the honey enterprise.
The list below describes and compares the most commonly used hives and beekeeping accessories. It is presented in historical order based on first use.

Natural Bee Nest

Honey bees adapted to life inside tree cavities during their migration from tropical zones to temperate zones 10 to 20 million years ago. Well protected in their wooden fortress they have thrived. Most artificial beehives have one or more features of the tree in its design.
Stump and log hives are extensions of the natural bee nest.

Clay Pipe

Ancient beekeeping technique thousands of years old practiced mainly in the Egypt and the middle east.

Skep

A cone shaped 'basket' of woven grass, rope, or reeds provided a 'portable' natural beehive. Commonly used across northern Europe for thousands of years. Bee colonies would build natural comb inside the skep cavitiy. Swarming can not be controled in skeps and consistently do so. To extract wax and honey the bees are evicted by smoke and/or water. Now considered illegal in many regions due to the inability to inspect for disease.

Box Hive

Usually made of wood the box hive has also been in use since ancient times. From the Roman Empire thrugh China and Japan bees were kept in boxes of various sizes. This type of hive allows the bees to build free comb. The Warre hive is a modification of the box hive using top-bars for comb attachment. Roman Law stated that bees in a tree were wild and who so ever boxed them became their master.

Standard Langstroth

Invented in 1857 by Reverend Langstroth it is the most common beehive in current use. A wooden box design it incorporates fully removable and replaceable frames to hang the bees' wax comb. His discovery of the "bee space" made this possible.

Horizontal Hive

Constructed to hold Langstroth frames arranged in a side by side horizontal orientation rather than the vertical stack of a standard Langstroth hive. Suits beekeepers better than the colony. Honey bees prefer vertical nests and movement while the horizontal hive provides the beekeeper with less lifting work.

Top Bar Hive

Very similar to the horizontal hive the top bar hive does not use rectangular frames. Instead it utilizes simple boards across the top from which the bees draw natural comb down. Because of free comb these hives take longer to establish.

Plastic Boxes

Apimaye type of polypropolene beehive. Has many features such as variable vents and entrances, tie-down latches and insulation.

Keeper Hive

A new innovation in beehive design. Allows easy access to brood nest throughout the season. An excellent hive for beginners to learn beekeeping technique and mangement.