Observation hives.

[Perry]

There are probably many different Observation hives and I was wondering if any other members have one, or seen one they like?
Here are a few pictures of the one I built but have not put bees into yet.







Now, while this style is great for taking around to fairs and schools, if I wanted to house a permanent one in my house for year-round enjoyment, I would build one like this. It has a short clear tube through the wall to the outside!
This is a friend of mine's Ob. hive and it has been there for 4 years (with the same queen no less), and absolutely no chemicals, the only "treatment" being removal of frames with bees during the summer to relieve congestion. There is a regular Lang hive about 100' away from this one that was killed off by varroa last fall. This summer we allowed the queen to move up into the 2 half supers stacked on top of the brood frames and let her lay eggs. I then took 4 of those frames and raised queens from them.
I really like this idea!















I ended up with 3 good queens that open mated in one of my yards. One turned out to be a drone layer. If the old girl last one more winter we will do it again. Fingers crossed.

[LazyBkpr]

Awww!!!   They let PERRY in here???       :lol:

   Seriously though... how hard would it be to make that three frames wide Perry?" I know you couldn't SEE in between the frames, but I think it would make the bees easier to manage in it?

[Perry]

Let me in?  :shock:  I was kickin the door so hard they had to let me in, either that or they were gonna have to replace the door! :lol:

I know what you are saying about 3 frames wide. I think the main idea behind Ob hives is the ability to "see and find" the queen, etc.
One of the things that has intrigued Henry (Ob. hive's owner) and I though, is the fact this hive is so close to one that was over-run by mites and yet this hive has never shown any sign of even a single mite (or mite damage). Is it genetics, or could it be that these bees have some hygienic behaviour, and the fact that the brood rearing area is so restricted that they are better able to manage it?

[LazyBkpr]

oooh....  good point. You might be onto something there....

[G3farms]

..............or a restricted entrance

..............or since there was never a virgin queen in the hive that the drones did not come to visit as much. I have noticed that when a hive is queen less, has queen cells, or a virgin queen there seems to be more drone activity. Anybody else notice this??

[iddee]

Could the light have something to do with it?

[crazy8days]

That's pretty cool!  I've been thinking about making one that is attractive but simple in design.  Good job!

[Buzzbee]

As far as mites, I think often the strongest hives that go robbing weaker ones also bring the mites home with them, hitchhikers if you will. I have seen strong colonies virtually collapse with a mite overload.

[Riverrat]

I have always figured mite load stays low in an ob hive since you don't see near the drone brood in the hive.

[G3farms]

So the reverse thinking of this would be to NOT install the drone comb in the hives for IPM because it will load the hive with more mites? HHHMMMM interesting view.

[LazyBkpr]

Unless your going to pull the drone comb and freeze it as soon as it is capped  

[G3farms]

Missed my point...........
If there is more drone larva in the hive it will only give the mites somewhere to breed,
less or no drone larva means less or no where for mites to lay eggs.

This is just a backwards way of thinking about it! Not trying to prove anything or disagree with anybody here!

[LazyBkpr]

hrm....  I am lost again..    :oops:

   Correct me if I am wrong here.. but Varoa will USE whatever they have to, but prefer DRONE comb because of size AND length of brood cycle??  Even the hives with plastic foundation that eliminate "most" drone comb still have mites...  While DRONE comb IS their preferred nesting area, simply making sure there is no drone comb is no guarantee that there will be few mites because they will make use of worker cells despite the size/time difference.. Yes? No? Teach me MASTER!!

[G3farms]

You are asking the wrong one here for sure.

I have always figured mite load stays low in an ob hive since you don't see near the drone brood in the hive.

I was just turning this around, a different way to look at it.

The bigger the plowed field the more chance for weed to pop up.

[iddee]

You are both right.

Enough mites will grow in worker brood to kill a hive. Even more will grow if you add drone brood.

[Jacobs]

I'm going through my first complete season with an ongoing observation hive.  Iddee "loaned" it to me last spring.  I put bees in it for our Guilford County Beekeepers field day in April.  They have remained there since.  The overall design looks similar to the pictures.  I have an older queen who has not been a prolific layer.  Even so, I had to remove frames of brood during the summer to prevent overcrowding.  If she had been a strong layer, that would have been a chore to perform every week to 10 days.  

I find it a challenge to remove frames that have been propolized in.  I can't use the force normal for a regular hive to pry them loose. I also have to figure a way to clean "burr" comb from the plexiglass wall of the top medium where the bee space is slightly off.  If anyone has suggestions, I would appreciate having them.

During the summer, I saw an occasional varroa mite on an adult bee, but I did not see evidence of mite damage to the brood.  It may be that removing brood frames to avoid congestion is the equivalent of brood interruption methods that may be used in larger hives.  Just a guess.

[Perry]

" It may be that removing brood frames to avoid congestion is the equivalent of brood interruption methods that may be used in larger hives. Just a guess."

Hmmm, maybe a good point here!

[LazyBkpr]

   So the wife told me to go ahead with the OB hive/window..  I have a 57 by 25 opening to fill with bees...  I can fit 8 boxes in that opening, one above the other...

  thinking.... making 3 frame nuc's to stack on top of each other, one side designed to fit the window opening with cut outs for glass to actually be inside the house, the rest will remain outside. Kind of like having bees living in your wall.

   I would like to b able to see more, or perhaps down between the frames...  but then anything I can think of becomes impractical hanging off the side of the house...   

   Picture for reference;
   


   so the far left window is broken, if you can see it in the picture..  I am going to take the window out of the left side of the main room.. the one closest to the left of the extended part of the house to replace the broken window, and the OB hive will go in the living room window...

   I will have to make a shutter of some sort to cover the hive most of the time for the inside.. and I don't want the hive sticking out over the sidewalk any further than necessary..  I also don't want a LOT of the hive inside the house.. I am concerned about wintering and having them too warm..  I have seen bees do fine in the wall of a house, so thinking this should be close.. one wall will be warm, the rest will be whatever temp it is outside...

   so.. opinions and ideas?  clean slate... what would YOU do if you had that space?

[riverbee]

"what would YOU do if you had that space?"

hmmm, i think i'd put a big cushy lounging type chair out there, errr two, (one for you, one for the mrs.) with an umbrella, a table to set your drink on and a pair of binoculars, and a very small bar, so you can sit and watch the hives from a distance............ ...........

sorry lazy, couldn't help myself, but you asked for it.........

good luck and best wishes on your project!!!

[LazyBkpr]

"what would YOU do if you had that space?"

hmmm, i think i'd put a big cushy lounging type chair out there, errr two, (one for you, one for the mrs.) with an umbrella, a table to set your drink on and a pair of binoculars, and a very small bar, so you can sit and watch the hives from a distance............ ...........

sorry lazy, couldn't help myself, but you asked for it.........

good luck and best wishes on your project!!!

   Fold out lounge chairs..         
   Umbrella/table..                     
   Binocs/spotting scope..         
   very small Bar = cooler..         

   Fridge is only about fifteen steps inside the door but the cooler by the table is nicer

   so back to the OB hive.. looking for ideas/thoughts..  its going to have to look NICE to make Mrs LazyBkpr happy...  if thats possible....