What type of hive is best for me?

There are several styles of beehives; bees can and do live in just about
any cavity; 55-gallon oil drums, discarded ammo boxes, hollow trees
(scarce in FBKS), and very commonly in the walls or soffits of houses.
We can divide beehives into three rough categories; fixed comb,

moveable comb, and moveable frame; each style has advantages and
disadvantages.
Fixed-comb hives are the originals - the honey comb is fixed by the
bees to the upper surface and cannot be moved or inspected without
destroying the integrity of the hive. These types of hives are very
common in third-world, developing countries and have been used for
thousands of years. They are illegal in Alaska; State law requires that
the combs MUST be moveable to allow for disease inspection. If youre
Mr. Natural and have dreams of hollowing out a huge spruce log for the
bees to live in you must make accommodation for the combs to be
removed for inspection. Warr hives (more about those later), in which
bees build natural comb, must be fitted with top bars and the bees
restricted from adhering comb to the side walls to conform to State
bee laws.
Moveable-comb hives can be considered the next step up; Kenya topbar, Tanzanian top-bar and Warr hives fall into this category. The
bees fix their combs to a top-bar (normally a strip of wood of the
correct width) and can be moved; allowing for better management and
inspection. New combs are very delicate and must be handled with care
to prevent breakage. When using top-bars, the width of a top-bar is
the only critical dimension and it is dependent on the bee species being
managed. Our European honey bee (Apis mellifera), requires a center-

to-center spacing of 1 (35 mm), African bees require 32 mm while

Asian hive bees require 28-30 mm. We only keep European honey bees
here in Alaska so if making top-bars, make them exactly 1 wide, it is
usually best to have some sort of comb guide. This can be a piece of
foundation (about wide), a strip of wood, popsicle sticks or, if youre
handy with a table saw, cut a 45 angle and the bees will build off the
sharp edge.
Fixed comb hives
Advantages
May be made of local, cheap
material.
Can be made any size.
Cut comb honey commands a
premium price if harvested in a
hygienic manner.
Ideal for the part-time, laissezfaire, 3rd-world beekeeper.

Disadvantages
Combs are very fragile, and fixed
to the upper surface of the hive.
Not conducive to moving; usually
heavy and awkward.
Illegal in most of North America
as combs must be removable for
disease inspection.
Because there are no frames
combs cannot be extracted in the
conventional manner.

Above left- bees fix their combs to the upper side of this Egyptian mud hive. Above right- bees build
wonky immovable combs in these traditional European skeps.

Kenya Top-bar hive

Advantages
May be made of scrap material.
Only critical dimension is the
width of the top-bar (1).
No heavy lifting of boxes you
need only to lift individual combs
(1-6 lbs).
Cut comb honey commands a
premium price.

Disadvantages
Combs are very fragile.
Not conducive to moving.
Poor choice if trying to
overwinter.
Because there are no frames
combs cannot be extracted in the
conventional manner.

Above left to right; a Kenyan top-bar hive with an observation window, center;
a BK in Cameron used scrap material to construct his hive, right; a modern
top- bar with division boards.

Tanzanian Top-bar hive

Advantages
May be made of scrap material;
very easy to construct.
Only critical dimension is the
width of the top-bar (1) but if
sized using Langstroth dimensions
components may be interchanged.

Disadvantages
Combs are very fragile.
Not conducive to moving especially
if frames are not used, normally
heavy and awkward.

No heavy lifting of boxes you

need only to lift individual combs
(1-6 lbs).
If properly sized, Langstroth
frames and feeders may be used.

Poor choice if trying to

overwinter.

Without full frames bees will

frequently adhere the combs to
the sides of the box.
Frames may be transferred to a
Frames must be wired or have
vertically oriented Langstroth hive foundation in order to use
for better overwinter potential.
conventional extraction methods.
For more on the Tanzanian style topbar hive see YouTube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
AFQMJzMb69E
Right a Tanzanian top-bar is characterized by vertical
sides, if built with Langstroth dimensions frames may be
interchanged. If using only top-bars the bees will frequently
adhere the combs to the sides.

Warr hive
Advantages
Normally square in cross- section
facilitating construction.
May be made of scrap material.
Only critical dimension is the
width of the top-bar (1) which
must be used to facilitate
inspection.
May (in some peoples opinion) be a
more natural cavity for the bees
to inhabit.

Disadvantages
Illegal if combs are adhered to
sides of the box and cannot be
removed for inspection.
Combs are very fragile
Not conducive to moving (heavy
and fragile)

Heavy lifting of boxes required as

the boxes for colony growth are
added to the bottom of the stack.

Above - a Warr hive with components on the left; on the

right, even with top-bars and comb guides, the bees can
build wonky combs.

Langstroth hive
Advantages
Industry standard almost worldwide
distribution.

Many hive components designed to fit

this standard design (interchangeable
parts).
Frames (deep, medium and shallow) are
easily extracted by centrifugal force.

Disadvantages
Most manufacturers have standard sizes
but there can be variations- take care
when mixing components from different
suppliers.
In Alaskas Interior pure wax foundation
is very fragile until the bees draw out
the combs.
A challenge to produce comb honey.

On the left below, the Langstroth hive is the industry standard; right,
an exploded view of the Langstroth hive, insulated inner covers are
recommended for the Interior.

The Flow Hive

If I had $5
for every email link
that was forwarded
to me about this
crowd-funding
phenomenon Id be
almost as rich as
the father and son
team behind this
new hive. They
were looking for $70,000 to cover start-up costs and ended up raking in $12.2
million; not bad for a couple of Aussie beekeepers.

Let me preface my remarks by saying I have NO personal experience with

this hive, NO financial interest in the company success or failure, and dont believe
in bashing a product that Ive never tried (just look at some of the negative
comments made on the YouTube channel). I know of 4 beekeepers in Fairbanks that
have bought into it so Ill form an opinion after the 2016 honey crop is in.
The number 1 thing Id like to emphasize is that this hive does not absolve
you from being a BEEKEEPER; youll still need to inspect whether or not you have a
viable queen, anticipate swarming signals, keep an eye out for disease symptoms
and manage the colony as you would any other beehive. You will still have to open
the hive during the spring build up so, contrary to the easily-formed opinion after
watching the Flow Hive video, access to honey is simply not a keg-of-beer-on-tap
situation. From what I understand the proprietary frame design acts in lieu of a
honey super; a bare-foundation honey super placed over a queen excluder is more
likely to initiate a swarm- the bees are not keen about wiggling through a queen
excluder especially to undrawn plastic combs. I usually recommend that BK allow
their queen full access through the hive then, in mid-July after the bees have
worked the honey super(s), place the queen excluder under the honey supers
making 100% sure the queen is below the excluder (more info if you take my class).
With the Flow Hive Id suggest moving a frame or 2 of capped brood up
into the top deep honey super to entice the bees through the excluder it remains
to be seen how they do their bee space.
If youre one of the 4 folks who bought the flow hive ($$$!) please stay in
touch; Id like to see the Alaskan aspect or, as the bumper sticker says We dont
care how they do it on the Outside