View Full Version : Bee's inside?
I am wanting to establish two hives and am interested to know if anyone keeps hives indoors with access to the outside?
I'd like to keep the hives in my garage with access to the outside via PVC pipe or something similar. Is there any problem with this arrangement?
The place I'm thinking to place the hives has a wall from a small shed about three feet directly across from it. Is there any reason this would be difficult for the bees?
Thanks in advance for your responses.
Todd Zeiner
02-09-2006, 05:55 PM
I think you are talking "Observation hive"
Are you a beekeeper now?
If not, you may want to get a hold of a beekeeper to help you get started.
Observation hives will for the most part easy to take care of. Getting them started and established is the hard part.
Do a search on this site for "observation hive" and you will get a wealth of info about them.
Keep it sealed so bees stay put and kids can't let them out is good too.
No not thinking observation hive though that would be very cool.
I'm interested in knowing if it would be OK to place the two true hives (not a beekeeper yet) inside my garage year-round. The bees would be 'door' would only be to and from the outside but (if possible) the hives would be inside my garage.
drobbins
02-09-2006, 06:07 PM
I think the problem you would have is the size of the entrance
when a flow is on there are a LOT of bees entering and leaving the hive
a small opening would slow them down and seriously reduce your honey crop
it doesn't mean it wouldn't work, but I don't think a piece of PVC pipe would do the job
Dave
DChap
02-09-2006, 06:19 PM
Another thing to consider would be ventilation. There has to be enough air flow for the bees to regulate hive temp and humidity.
Blessed Bee
Doug
Although a newbee, I think I see another problem. The bees will know how to find the outside entrance from the outside. When you open the hive, a bunch of them will be in the garage. Then when you close the hive, you will have to shoo them outside. Perhaps not a problem, but a complication.
Best,
Tom
bourdeaubee
02-09-2006, 07:38 PM
very true and the smoke would be overbearing inside a garge even with the door open. I keep some hives inside in the winter, just the weak ones, so incase I need to I can warm it up and feed. dont know if it is smart but seems to work here in vermont.
SilverFox
02-09-2006, 10:09 PM
:eek: And when you go to rob them. :eek: Where are they going to go?? :confused:
[ February 09, 2006, 11:09 PM: Message edited by: SilverFox ]
Aspera
02-09-2006, 10:13 PM
Do you have a flat rooftop? Many beekeepers have had good luck with keeping colonies on top of there garages. I think that we even have acouple of urban beekeepers at beesource here.
Feedback much apprecieated. I knew it could not be so simple.
John Russell
02-09-2006, 10:46 PM
The Germans and a few other europeans have bee buildings where the hives are inside with full entrances cut through the walls. I've never been in one, but since the practice is used there must be a way around the humidity, bee escape and temperature issues. After all the engineering however, you may just find it easier to put them under your apple trees.
J.R.
honeyb.ca
thorbue
02-10-2006, 12:46 AM
I don't have a bee house myself but som friends have. Don't think temperature/humidity will cause problems in temperate areas - you will have to make a full entrance trough the wall.
Escaping bees do head for the light - and might even be minor concern, than when working in the open. Just make sure that they can escape trough a door or window, and that they don't get caught at ligtsources with no opening, such as roof "window plates" etc.
As John R states beehouses is quite common in Germany, Schwizerland and a lot of eastern european contries. Pictures for inspiration can be found on the net.
------
Thor
Michael Bush
02-10-2006, 07:44 AM
I'm not saying it's a BAD idea. But you really don't need a house for the bees. They have a hive. I've kept bees in some pretty inhospitable places, like Laramie, Wyoming, with no real problems without one. If you have the lumber lying around, or you just WANT one that's one thing. But I don't think it's financially justifiable.
Elmar Mook
02-10-2006, 10:57 AM
My Swiss beekeeping book says that you're supposed to get less stings is a bee house, because outside your head makes a strong contrast with the clear sky and bees attack the 'black surface'. In a beehouse this doesn't happen, on the contrary, the bees fly towards the light and out of the bee house.
For the rest it is supposed to be pretty convenient. Brother Adam kept his breeder colonies in a beehouse for that reason!
I think that when I get the chance (old shed or so) I will use the beehouse-concept too. at this moment my two hives are... on my garage!!
In the german speaking country's, where they have loads of these 'bienenhaus', as they call it, the special windows, to let the bee out, but not in...
They call it 'lamellenfenster', so much as 'sheetwindow'. It lloks like this: http://www.bienen-meier.ch/db/index.cfm?Artikelnummer=6537&do=detail
Just hope I am any help...
Greetings from europe's riverdelta,
Elmar
Michael Bush
02-10-2006, 11:14 AM
>My Swiss beekeeping book says that you're supposed to get less stings is a bee house
Getting stings is the least of my problems. A little smoke, some gentleness in manipulations, some good queens and it's really not a problem anyway.
Of course if we end up with AHB, this might become an issue someday. smile.gif
Thanks all very much for the information.
My situation is I truly don't have a great place to put the bees. The best location for me due to my small yard would be in the garage where the hives could be placed very well. The only other concern I have about the garage location is that directly across from the 'bee exit' is a wall from a small shed. It is about three feet of space before the bees would either have to fly up and over or side to side. Would that pose a problem to them?
Honestly I am trying to engage a hobby that I know I will much enjoy in a less than ideal setting from conventional outdoor hive placement due to lack of space.
Thanks so much again.
Michael Bush
02-10-2006, 12:11 PM
They will get out of the hives when you work them. How will they get back in? Will you have a "general" exit that they can get in and out and they exit into the garage first? I'd put them outside somewhere. An observation hive could work but you'd probably have to haul it outside to work it.
drobbins
02-10-2006, 01:12 PM
it sounds to me like you could put the hives outside in the 3 foot space between the garage and the small shed
3 feet is plenty for the bee's, it's a bit tight for the beekeeper
if you have a hive body, take it out to that space and see if you have enough room to hold it in front of you and turn around
Dave
David Stewart
02-10-2006, 06:22 PM
I like drobbins suggestion. If there isn't enough room to turn around, mount/place the hives on some type of roll away stands and center it at the end of the "alley" facing either the shop or the garage, for manipulations just roll it out a couple of feet until you do have room.
David
drobbins & stewaw both interesting potential options. Again thanks all for the thoughts and advice!
My next question is going to be the often asked... where to get my woodware and all the rest!
sqkcrk
02-12-2006, 04:50 PM
DGB, I saw some hives one time down on Long Island, near Amityville, of Horror fame (?), that were upstairs in a buggy shed that was then a garage. They were difficult to work because of the lack of light. But they seemed to exist just fine.
> They will get out of the hives when you work them.
> How will they get back in?
What about putting an inverted bee escape inside? I've been considering ways to overwinter bees in Interior Alaska, and one option that seems to me to make sense is a small heated house, kept about 40F, with TBHs built into the walls so that the entrance is outdoors but they can be fed and monitored from inside. Do you think the bees that get out inside the house would use inverted bee escapes with a porch just below to get back in the hive?