Observation Hive whats it all About ??

[Tommyt]

Observation Hives the Type that are Mounted in the House or set on a desk
 I've never seen one, Hands on, so I'll ask Green Horne questions
 Most I see pictured are 3 or 6 Frame
and are stacked
My thoughts
Lowest  Frame Brood
Next up Brood
Top Food

If I am correct How long will this hive stay put
or do you put them in Box's as they Crowd
Or are they just allowed to swarm

Am I way off and these Have no Queen ??
 Just Placed Hive Frames to Show for a weekend at the Fair
Or kept in the House for a week at a time

I know the story is "No Stupid Questions"

I just may have Broke that one


Thanks
Tom

[Scadsobees]

Observation Hives the Type that are Mounted in the House or set on a desk
 I've never seen one, Hands on, so I'll ask Green Horne questions
 Most I see pictured are 3 or 6 Frame
and are stacked

My thoughts
Lowest  Frame Brood
Next up Brood
Top Food

They can be anywhere from 1 frame on up.

They can be temporary or permanent.

I have 3 framer, and currently they only use 2 frames.  THey will use whatever frame for whatever they need it for at the moment.  In the spring/summer, all the frames are used for brood.  In the fall they fill it from top down with honey (or sugar).

If I am correct How long will this hive stay put
or do you put them in Box's as they Crowd
Or are they just allowed to swarm

Am I way off and these Have no Queen ??
 Just Placed Hive Frames to Show for a weekend at the Fair
Or kept in the House for a week at a time

You can have a queen and keep it as a fully functioning (if tiny!) hive.  Watch her lay eggs, eggs hatch, raise brood.  You can kill the queen and watch them raise new ones, if you are timely you can watch queens fight.  You can watch the mites, the SHB do their nefarious deeds, and a million and one other super interesting bee stuff.

You can also keep a 1 framer and stick a frame of brood and the queen in there for a day as a demonstration, returning them after use. They can't be cooped up for more than a day without bad effects.  If you do keep a frame with the queen for more than a day, the parent hive will re-queen.  If you take a frame without the queen for more than a day, then the little frame of bees will either abscond or try to raise a new queen.

No dumb questions.  Or stupid ones.  :)

I'd guess the most popular variant out of the thousands of options is a 3 frame observation permanent hive in the house with an exit to the outside.  3 deep frame (size) is the largest easily managable size.

I call mine my "Bee TV".

[Kathyp]

i have a 5 frame OB hive in the house.  it is heavy to move.  they are great for learning and also for seeing what the bees are bringing in.  i have found that they end up working from the top down no matter what you wish them to do.  i stuck a frame of brood in the No. 2 slot with this last small swarm that i put in there.  they stayed on the brood until it had hatched and then moved all the way to the top.  now they have moved down some as they stored above, but they still stay near the top as there are not enough to fill the entire 5 frames.

[AllenF]

Bee TV.   I like that.  :lol:

[D Coates]

I too have a 5 frame deep.  It's permanent and it hangs off my office wall.  I've only had it up for 5 months but in that time I've gotten to watch and learn about all types of things that go on in a bee hive that I had never seen.  It's also gotten others to better understand how bees work (non-beekeepers).

[ProPacific]

I have a 2 frame observation hive. It just for temporary use. We use at exhibits and fairs. Really helps other people understand bees and their habits.

[specialkayme]

Very good questions Tom.

Basically, Scadsobees covered it very well. Anywhere from 1 frame up to 8 frames (I've even heard of monster 15 or 20 frame ones, but never saw it myself). 1 frames are usually to take to farmer's markets, or day trips. You need at least 3 to overwinter, if you treat it as a stand alone hive. More than 3 becomes difficult to move.

I've heard others say they move straight up. Mine don't. I put brood on bottom, mixed food and brood in the middle, empty on top. They always take their sweet time filling out the bottom before they move to the top. Maybe my bees are a little special though   :-P

An OH (3 framer) can usually last about a full season (if lucky) without managing. After that they will swarm. It's fun to watch them swarm, but a 3 frame hive doesn't have enough bees to fully split in half, and have both halves make it. Every time mine swarmed, they absconed shortly after. OH's are usually boom or bust, and it helps to have a second full hive to pull brood from if your OH gets weak (they don't have a full foraging force) or to put brood into if the OH gets full (if the queen decides to lay at full capacity, it will fill up the OH in a day or two).

I HIGHLY recommend all beekeepers have an OH. I've learned so much, so fast from it. It's very relaxing and a great conversation piece when friends/relatives come over to visit.

[vmmartin]

I have been trying to convince the Mrs. of all the benefits of having an OH in the living room, but she ain't having no part of it. Yet. I was wondering about temperature. If they want to keep the brood around 94 degrees, how does the OH being in a 75 degree room affect them? if it does at all.

[Scadsobees]

The beauty of an obs. hive in the living room is that if you are like me, you no longer have to sit there and try desperately to think of things to talk about with guests!! :roll:

The hives do fine in the cooler house.  Mine one year stayed in the low 60s all winter, the next stayed in the mid 80s all winter.  Cooler is better, they don't use up as much stores.  Keep in mind that hives outside get -10F... And it is fine in the summer too, it is pretty cool I can put my hand on the glass where the brood is and feel the temperature difference.

[specialkayme]

I can put my hand on the glass where the brood is and feel the temperature difference.

That's a blast, feeling the warmth and feeling the vibrations. It's crazy awesome.

Ever feel the need to open the standard 10 frame hive . . . just because you want to? Because you like watching them? The OH helps with that. I don't end up disturbing them (as much) and when they are able to do what they need to, they are much happier.

[hardwood]

OK, ya'll got me thinkin' about building one again! I've got a little single framer for show but that's it. I even got my hands on some beautiful tiger maple to build one about three years ago but never started...maybe this winter.

Scott

[Michael Bush]

>Lowest  Frame Brood
Next up Brood
Top Food

They are whatever the bees deiced to use them as.  I've seen brood in all four frames in mine at times and food in all four frames at times.  but the general tenancy is to put honey over the brood.

>If I am correct How long will this hive stay put
or do you put them in Box's as they Crowd
Or are they just allowed to swarm

That is up to you, but if you do nothing they will swarm very quickly once they start to take off.  most people steal some brood from them and give it to some other hive and let them build up again.  You could also remove the queen  and let them raise a queen, giving them the setback they need and you a chance to watch them raise a queen and watch the queens battle it out etc.

>Am I way off and these Have no Queen ??

What  fun are they if they have no queen?  "Nothing to see here."

> Just Placed Hive Frames to Show for a weekend at the Fair

Some people do that.  Usually they try to have  a queen or there is nothing to see.

>Or kept in the House for a week at a time

Can't imagine what good that would do... mine is in the house all the time and free flying...

[CapnChkn]

I wonder what the bees are like in the winter inside with a warm hive, and the temp is below freezing outside?

Do they pay attention to the fact that the outside is hazardous though the temps inside are a nice balmy 70 degrees?  I can't imagine they would exhibit a lot of clustering behavior without the chill.

Can anyone disillusion me?

[AllenF]

Inside the house may be 70 but inside the hive, it is much warmer. 

[specialkayme]

Inside the cluster it's over 70, but the door is still open, if you will. The bees do get some breeze from the outside (although you try to minimize it). You do notice some clustering, although it isnt the tight ball a normal hive would be.

[ronwhite3030]

I think I mighnt build one soon too and put it in my garage.

[Michael Bush]

>I wonder what the bees are like in the winter inside with a warm hive, and the temp is below freezing outside?

The same as any hive.  It's always warm in the cluster...

>Do they pay attention to the fact that the outside is hazardous though the temps inside are a nice balmy 70 degrees?  I can't imagine they would exhibit a lot of clustering behavior without the chill.

They may not cluster much (unless rearing brood which they may do from January on) but they don't fly anymore than an outdoor hive does.

>Can anyone disillusion me?

I can try...

[CapnChkn]

Thank you Michael!  I think you answered my question.  I re-read my post and didn't understand it.

Ok, I wuz havin a brian farp.  There would be ventilation, pulling cooler air from outside.

I'm still hung up on the mechanics of the overwintering bees.  Logic suggests keeping them in a heated room, radiating into the hive over the 57° F (14° C) threshold, would cause problems in the long run.

Practical experience is suggesting otherwise.  Now I'm wondering if putting all the hives in a controlled temperature greenhouse would help them overwinter any better.

Don't take me too seriously, I'm developing hypotheses.

[VolunteerK9]

Practical experience is suggesting otherwise.  Now I'm wondering if putting all the hives in a controlled temperature greenhouse would help them overwinter any better.

Don't take me too seriously, I'm developing hypotheses.

Ive thought about exactly the same thing but I'm sure there is a reason why not to do it or else all the cool people would be doing it .  :-D

[Scadsobees]

I'm still hung up on the mechanics of the overwintering bees.  Logic suggests keeping them in a heated room, radiating into the hive over the 57° F (14° C) threshold, would cause problems in the long run.

I wondered about that too...but one year that room stayed in the 60s, the next year in the 80s (I started using my fireplace!) over the winter.

All the stuff that we're told...bees need 80 lbs of honey, need to stay cool, etc  and everything that you'd expect really goes out the window in an obs hive.  I expected brood all year round.

Nope!  They over winter on 1.5 frames of honey.  They stop raising brood in Nov/Dec, and don't start again till late Feb.

The biggest problem with the temperature difference isn't in the winter. (for me at least!)  It is in the spring, in April/May when the bees start building up they over extend themselves, and since it stays warm inside, the small hive beetles (which overwinter!) are able to dominate very quickly and the bees can't defend.  3 years, 3 infestations in the spring.  And they can starve very quickly, by the time you realize it it is too late and the beetles are in the brood.

I've not had any problems with beetles except in my observation hive for that reason.

Rick

[D Coates]

I've seen a couple SHB's (literally) and I had an infestation kick in on a drone frame that I had frozen and put back in the hive to clean out.  I unbeknownst to me the hive was actually failing.  For 4 to 5 days I noticed hive activity was decreasing so I opened and reviewed.  There was a patch 5 inch of SHB larva on the frame.  I was able to kill them all and save the hive by re queening and moving it to full sun.

In short I'm not looking forward to dealing with them in my OB hive at all.