Bee Houses

[Bucherbees]

I have been reading this site for a while but never had the guts to post. But, here it goes:
I am intending to start keeping bees in the spring and have been reading all the bee books I can get my hands on.

I have been to Germany lately and visited the Bee Museum in Weimar. It was a wonderful place to visit and I recommend it highly. Unfortunately, most of the write-ups are in German.
What struck me was that a lot of beeks (private and small operatores) are putting their hives into what they call bee houses. These are modified sheds and it is claimed that the bees keep cooler in summer and are better off in winter.

Do any of you have experience with this in the US? I really would appreciate your input.

Thanks,
Lilo

[Ravenseye]

Hello Bucherbees,

I've read about those bee houses that you refer to but I've never seen any in use. There are some folks on this board that consider temporary quarters for their bees. Here are a couple of links that may or may not be useful to you.

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214622

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=186913

Keep posting. We'd love to hear from you!

[Mike Gillmore]

I've only seen this kind of set up at one bee yard back in the 60's in the Cleveland suburbs. The beekeeper we bought our honey from kept his hives in an out building year round. It was a long narrow building with 8 - 10 low windows spaced out on the long side of the building. I don't remember exactly but I assume that the windows were facing Southeast to catch the morning sun.

He had all the hives set up on low tables directly behind each window. In warm weather all the windows were opened up, of course, and in the winter he would close them up. In the Lake Erie snow belt we could get 1 - 3 feet of snow that would stay on the ground pretty much all winter. I'm sure his purpose for using the shed was to maintain ventilation in the hives during the winter and also to keep them in the shade for part of the day during the heat of the summer. Must have worked ok for him. He always had active colonies and plenty of honey.

[MrGreenThumb]

My russian bees are all fat with plenty of vodka. They can now weather out the worst that winter can bring, in their cozy little hives nestled near the woods...BURP

[Drone On]

I also have heard about bee houses in Europe and wanted to try it out. They use buses too with the windows open but I don't have a bus but do have a barn with a second story and windows all across its sides. The bees loved it up there. Even though the sun rarely shown on the hives they were out the door before my outside hives. I discovered how many dead bees get dropped out the front of the hive so add sweeping to your bee chores but scratch off mowing the lawn. The reason I ended the experiment was because instead of a staircase there is only ladder like stairs nailed to the wall. All equipment had to be hoisted by pulley up, all honey supers came down by pulley, rather clumsy. Getting the starter hive up the stairs pressed to me while jumping my hands up the ladder was thrilling. They were my best honey producers though. Being up high, they could coast down to the flowers an ideal situation.

[kc in wv]

From some research I did a few years ago I saw where in some parts of Europe and Western Asia they keep bees leaf style hives in enclosed wagons.

The wagons are pulled to the nectar producing area. Some of the wagons has a living area in the center and another has processing equipment. For the most part their system is very labor intensive.

Here is an interesting link

http://www.beekeeping.com/central-asian-honeys/index.htm

[Bucherbees]

Thank you all for replying to my post. I was just wondering if I was dead wrong to consider putting hives in a shed. I took all the notes from a German beekeeper, about ventilation, light, bee escapes, entrances. I would like to incorporate a bottomless entrance and haven't come up with a solution.
Thanks again for the response, I am grateful.
Bucherbees

[Konrad]

I love those bee houses in Europe!
Have posted some here before.
Some of them have such a romantic look to it!
But...as I was hearing from my friend bee keeper some years ago
from Switzerland, that some bee keepers are setting
up our type boxes and bees do better he says.
Konrad

[beenovice]

Check this out : http://images.google.com/images?q=%C4%8Debelnjak

These are probably all slovenian bee houses since I used slovenian word for "bee houses"

Some are really beautiful and I think majority of beekeepers in Slovenia keep bees in those !

[ian m davison]

Hi all

Check out this bee shed.

http://www.blackhorseapiaries.org.uk/Gallery/pages/octagon_jpg.htm


Any garden type shed with a few modifications will do. I have also seen some of you guys have problems keeping bees in towns/citys, why not consider a shed to keep the prying eyes off. You can even get changed in them and no charging around the garden in all the gear attracting attention.


Regards Ian

[ian m davison]

Hi all

Nuc's banked in a shed for Winter.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/ianmdavison/Bees2007/photo#5129858205182288194


Regards Ian

[Bucherbees]

I thank you all for replying to my post! I am looking at some sheds which could be converted. It will be a long winter but I should be quite busy setting up. I am getting a bit scared, I am so excited, but, what am I getting myself into?

Lilo

[France]

I love those bee houses in Europe!
Have posted some here before.
Some of them have such a romantic look to it!
But...as I was hearing from my friend bee keeper some years ago
from Switzerland, that some bee keepers are setting
up our type boxes and bees do better he says.
Konrad

Yes, bees in Langs, (our type boxes) are better honey producers. Their type of hives, AZ - Alberti Znidarsic are of limited size. There is only 20 frames - ten for brood and ten for honey...

So, comparing the two is not fair....

In Carniola/Slovenia, home of the Carniolan bee, cebelnjaki/beehouses have been used for centuries....
If they were any problems - don't you think that they wouldn't have noticed by now?

Granted, not all use them. It is estimated that about 10% of beeks use Langs and GJ, or similar boxes....

[Sarge]

Here's a site for some beehouses.

http://www.taylorsgardenbuildings.co.uk/bee_house_beehives.html

I have seen a couple folks keep their bees in old chicken houses that look like the place one person describes. Long, low with windows down one side.

[mistergil]

My grandfather living outside of Salzburg kept a number of colonies in a beehouse. I don't remember the exact amount but there were at least twenty units. The entrances were on one side with small landings and roofs over them They were worked from the inside of the building by pulling what were essentially enclosed drawers and manipulating the small frames within. He used a cigar for smoke which he blew over them by mouth. He claimed that there were too many bees for too little forage and this kept honey production low and therefore the area was not suitable for "modern" hive usage. I was a young fellow and do remember that 5 or 10 kilos of honey was considered very good for a colony. I wish now I had been more aware but you know..hindsight.

[Bucherbees]

Thanks for the picture. I am designing a shed and the inside pictures are somewhat helpful.
Bucherbees