Box Hive

[rail]

Anyone keeping bees or has kept bees in box hives?

[Vance G]

You may want to look at the warre hive portion here as that in effect is what they are doing. It is illegal where I am. We have to have moveable frames.

[Michael Bush]

I have briefly because I didn't buy all the propaganda about what it was like and how destructive it was. I would do it if I had to, but you just can't inspect all the combs and find a queen when you need to...

I had a box with the bottom and lid separate. You could flip it upside down, and pull the box off (a few small cuts around the edges first) and when you lift off the box you can see a lot of what is going on and cut honey off the edges. Quinby (the guy who invented the smoker with bellows) was a very financially successful beekeeper who used nothing but box hives until they legislated him into using movable frames. He was a very good beekeeper who did splits, raised and sold queens, and made a lot of honey. His theory was that you couldn't make a profit if you spent all your money on equipment.

[rail]

I can fabricate custom frames (removable) for the hive. What are dimensions for those old style box hives?

[psfred]

Box hives are illegal here in Indiana because they cannot be inspected for AFB (or EFB for that matter). As a result, it's very difficult to prevent the spread of said diseases, which can wipe out thousands of hives if they really get going, particularly AFB.

There is absolutely no advantage to using them, as you must either trap out, or more usually, kill the bees to get the honey.

Peter

[Michael Bush]

>There is absolutely no advantage to using them, as you must either trap out, or more usually, kill the bees to get the honey.

I did neither. Quinby did neither. I'm not recommending them, but you do NOT have to trap them out or kill the bees to get the honey if you set it up right and manage it right. They are illegal in virtually every state as every state that has not repealed it's inspection laws (I think AZ has) requires movable/inspectable comb.

[Kieck]

I'm curious: what would be the advantages of a box hive that might make them appealing?

[rail]

For myself it would be the learning experience. I am "interested in the nest dimensions and hive volume"!!!

Like I had posted, to adhere to the state law I would fabricate custom frames....

[curios1]

im sure you could run 1 or more just for the experience, to satisfy your curiosity, and just to say you did. so long as you didnt tell every one and have your inspecter find out. after reading this post i might even think about 1, just to see how it works out. hhhmmmmm!

[Michael Bush]

>I'm curious: what would be the advantages of a box hive that might make them appealing?

My interest was to debunk the chronological snobbery and propaganda. Qinby's reasons were that box hives were dirt cheap and no effort to build. Smaller investments in equipment mean bigger profits.

[Kieck]

Reasons enough to try them. I guess I've grown so accustomed to hives with frames, and the convenience of moveable frames appeals so much to me, that I tend to dismiss other types of hives without much other consideration.

My biases should not be interpreted as a general judgement of what might be best.

I have experimented with a variety of shapes and volumes of hives, but all have included frames generally styled after the Hoffman design.