Beehaus – Beekeeping for the 21st Century

The Beehaus

The Beehaus

During our research into beehives and such like we came across a modern take on a beehive called the Beehaus.

It is essentially a plastic version of the Dartington beehive and does have quite a few advantages over more traditional hives. From what I’ve read it was actually designed in conjunction with Robin Dartington, the inventor of the original Dartington Hive.

Plastic construction

Being made of plastic it should provide the bees with plenty of insulation, is easy to care for and clean, lightweight and therefore easy to use and should last well too. The colours may of course fade over time.

Modular

The modular design means that it can be configured to suit your (and your bees )needs. It can be used as one large hive or with a divider (that is supplied as standard) can be divided so that it can contain two colonies. It has been built to take standard National frames that are easy to obtain in the UK. The brood boxes fit deep national 14×12 frames and the supers hold standard National frames too. Usually a National hive has 2 supers (which are often added to that each hold 10 National Frames whereas the Beehaus has 4 Supers each holding 5 frames. This makes sense as it will make them easier to lift and move around whilst still providing just as much honey storage space.

Easy to use

As mentioned above the smaller supers make the hive easier to use and each one has its own cover board which act as individual lids so that you can close and open up sections of the hive making inspections easier. The hive comes with a stand that puts it at an easy working height too.

Easy to clean

Being plastic the hive should be easy to clean and maintain.

Overall it looks like a very good solution and one that would certainly suit city dwellers wishing to keep bees. The price is about the same as a good hard wood WBC hive and more expensive than a National hive. The fact that it can be used as two hives though does mean that it could work out cheaper for the complete beginner wanting to start off with two hives. I’ve found a Blog by someone who has one – http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/blog.php?u=406 – and you can download a brochure here: http://www.omlet.co.uk/misc/brochure.php

I’m certainly interested in the Beehaus but being a bit old-fashioned and a traditionalist I think I’d still prefer the look of a WBC hive in the garden. Somehow another piece of plastic in the garden just doesn’t seem that appealing. It is bad enough having Morgan’s plastic toys out there.

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Alan Cole

Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.

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