[jbeshearse]

This is my observation hive. It sits ourside my dining room window. It has an upper entrance, a feeder jar slot and a screened bottom. It can hold either deep or medium frames. It is two frames wide, by 2 frames high with deeps, or2 frames wide by 3 frames high with mediums. My only real issue with this hive is that the queen is frequently between the frames so she is not always visible, nor the brood, etc between the frames.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157631787992353/

It is based off the OB hive from the DIY section here on beesource with my modifications.

jeb

 

[jbeshearse]

The top is hinged. You open the top and slide the glass up and out. Place the frames with bees on them in from the side with the glass out then slide the glass back in and close the top.

This hive was built for 1 1/4" spacing which was a tad to close with frames that are drawn to deeply. So the second groove(which was initially for the cover) was used for the glass instead. This gives just a rd too much room, resulting in cross comb. The dimensions on the file were changed to allow proper bee space with 1 3/8" spacing.

I generally load this hive with the same brood/stores as you would a 5 frame medium nuc.

I give it three frames of brood and one of honey. Let it build it's own queen. One it builds up to completely full of bees I move all to a 10 frame box and start over from scratch with the OB hive. Usually get 2 to 3 complete hives a season this way. An added bonus is I can tell when the honey flow starts( it's obvious when they start filling the frames). Also when pests(SHB) populations begin to increase.

The glass is just standard glass. Tempered would be better.