Finman
Queen Bee
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2008
- Messages
- 27,887
- Reaction score
- 2,023
- Location
- Finland, Helsinki
- Hive Type
- Langstroth
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I am beekeeper Charles Reynolds. I got my start keeping bees when I was about 15 years old and living in the Great American Desert along the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington.
Update: I sold my taxi company, gave away all my bees, hives and paraphernalia and moved back to Washington
http://sites.google.com/site/worldbeehiveproject/
So far, this writer have measurements for the following bee hives:
Langstroth - Designed by American Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth, acclaimed for the "discovery" of bee-space - that mysterious amount of space which bees will neither fill with propolis or comb. This is the most widely used hive design in the world.
Dadant - Designed by American (emigrated from France) Charles Dadant and most commonly found across Europe, northern Asia and parts of South America. It is a close second for "world's most popular hive".
WBC - Designed by Englishman William Braughton ****. This hive type is almost exclusively found in UK and only then in the apiaries of hobbyists who mostly use it because its sloping sides beautify their gardens.
British Standard National - Essentially designed by committee and refined over several decades, this is the "standard" hive in use in UK and has little following elsewhere in the world.
Smith - Designed by Scotsman Willie Smith. This is, essentially, a smaller and simplified UK National. Use is almost exclusive to UK; most frequent in Scotland.
Layens - Designed by French botonist Georges de Layens. This has great popularity in France and Spain.
Warré - Designed by French monk Émile Warré. This hive has some following in France and gaining popularity amongst experimenters in UK and the Americas (both North and South).
Voirnot - Designed by French monk Jean-Babtiste Voirnot. This hive is popular in parts of Spain and France. However, this popularity has dwindled in favor of the Dadant and Layens hives.
Adansonian - Design by Belgian professor Roch Domergo. This is another not-popular hive, but it is distinctive in two ways: 1- It is designed specifically to house the smaller African honeybee (Apis Mellifera Africanus) and, 2- It is the most recently designed hive on this list, having been concieved in 1980.
Newton - I have no idea who designed this hive, presumably a man named Newton. This, also, is not a popular hive type. It's distinction is having been designed specifically for the Asian Hive Bee (Apis Cerana). It is notably smaller than the other hives, as befits a bee colony with populations notably lower than the European honey bee.
Skep - Since I live in a place where it is permitted to keep bees in this type of hive, I will build one. These are virtually extinct in North America (legal issues), but can still be found in Africa, southern Asia, South America, the Indian subcontinent and, rarely, in Europe.
Zander - Commonly found in Germany. It's a vertical, sectioned, framed hive. Still looking for some history on this one.
Segeberger - Found mostly in a limited area around Segeberg, Germany. This is a vertical, framed hive.
Bienenkiste (bee-box) - An old German horizontal beehive finding new interest among hobbyists. It is worked either from below or the rear of the hive, dependant upon the goals of a given intrusion.
Kerkhof - Designed by Canadian Herman Kerkhof, this is basically a double-hive consisting of two colonies in Langstroth nucleus boxes with a shared honey storage area. There is a complex ventilation system throughout. It has recently come back into commercial production - with modifications - by a New York beekeeper, under the moniker "H3".
Hinterbehandlungsbeute (rear-access hive) - This German contraption is an odd combination of horizontal and vertical hive. The framed combs are arranged as a vertical orientation, yet the beekeeper accesses the interior of the hive from the horizontal aspect. It also appears that I will need a cabinet-maker's precision to construct this; intimidating!
Golz/Bremer - This framed, horizontal, two-chamber hive hails from Germany. The original design, by Wolfgang Golz, has the combs oriented perpendicular to the entrance ("cold-way"). John Edwald Bremer's primary modifications are to reorient the frames parallel to the entrance ("warm-way") and change the frame size.
Quinby - This American beehive is extremely similar to the book-hive used by Huber to make his famous - and still often referenced - observations. Essentially, it's a series of frames lashed together with end-boards to enclose the whole mess. How he ever managed to achieve any profitability with these as a commercial beekeeper, I'm not sure I'll ever understand, even after reading his book!
... and more!
I'll add to the list as I build them. As of 23 July 2009, I now have nearly 30 hive designs to build, not counting variations. If I build them at my planned rate of three per year, that's ten year's worth of winter work.
I am beekeeper Charles Reynolds. I got my start keeping bees when I was about 15 years old and living in the Great American Desert along the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington.
Update: I sold my taxi company, gave away all my bees, hives and paraphernalia and moved back to Washington
http://sites.google.com/site/worldbeehiveproject/
So far, this writer have measurements for the following bee hives:
Langstroth - Designed by American Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth, acclaimed for the "discovery" of bee-space - that mysterious amount of space which bees will neither fill with propolis or comb. This is the most widely used hive design in the world.
Dadant - Designed by American (emigrated from France) Charles Dadant and most commonly found across Europe, northern Asia and parts of South America. It is a close second for "world's most popular hive".
WBC - Designed by Englishman William Braughton ****. This hive type is almost exclusively found in UK and only then in the apiaries of hobbyists who mostly use it because its sloping sides beautify their gardens.
British Standard National - Essentially designed by committee and refined over several decades, this is the "standard" hive in use in UK and has little following elsewhere in the world.
Smith - Designed by Scotsman Willie Smith. This is, essentially, a smaller and simplified UK National. Use is almost exclusive to UK; most frequent in Scotland.
Layens - Designed by French botonist Georges de Layens. This has great popularity in France and Spain.
Warré - Designed by French monk Émile Warré. This hive has some following in France and gaining popularity amongst experimenters in UK and the Americas (both North and South).
Voirnot - Designed by French monk Jean-Babtiste Voirnot. This hive is popular in parts of Spain and France. However, this popularity has dwindled in favor of the Dadant and Layens hives.
Adansonian - Design by Belgian professor Roch Domergo. This is another not-popular hive, but it is distinctive in two ways: 1- It is designed specifically to house the smaller African honeybee (Apis Mellifera Africanus) and, 2- It is the most recently designed hive on this list, having been concieved in 1980.
Newton - I have no idea who designed this hive, presumably a man named Newton. This, also, is not a popular hive type. It's distinction is having been designed specifically for the Asian Hive Bee (Apis Cerana). It is notably smaller than the other hives, as befits a bee colony with populations notably lower than the European honey bee.
Skep - Since I live in a place where it is permitted to keep bees in this type of hive, I will build one. These are virtually extinct in North America (legal issues), but can still be found in Africa, southern Asia, South America, the Indian subcontinent and, rarely, in Europe.
Zander - Commonly found in Germany. It's a vertical, sectioned, framed hive. Still looking for some history on this one.
Segeberger - Found mostly in a limited area around Segeberg, Germany. This is a vertical, framed hive.
Bienenkiste (bee-box) - An old German horizontal beehive finding new interest among hobbyists. It is worked either from below or the rear of the hive, dependant upon the goals of a given intrusion.
Kerkhof - Designed by Canadian Herman Kerkhof, this is basically a double-hive consisting of two colonies in Langstroth nucleus boxes with a shared honey storage area. There is a complex ventilation system throughout. It has recently come back into commercial production - with modifications - by a New York beekeeper, under the moniker "H3".
Hinterbehandlungsbeute (rear-access hive) - This German contraption is an odd combination of horizontal and vertical hive. The framed combs are arranged as a vertical orientation, yet the beekeeper accesses the interior of the hive from the horizontal aspect. It also appears that I will need a cabinet-maker's precision to construct this; intimidating!
Golz/Bremer - This framed, horizontal, two-chamber hive hails from Germany. The original design, by Wolfgang Golz, has the combs oriented perpendicular to the entrance ("cold-way"). John Edwald Bremer's primary modifications are to reorient the frames parallel to the entrance ("warm-way") and change the frame size.
Quinby - This American beehive is extremely similar to the book-hive used by Huber to make his famous - and still often referenced - observations. Essentially, it's a series of frames lashed together with end-boards to enclose the whole mess. How he ever managed to achieve any profitability with these as a commercial beekeeper, I'm not sure I'll ever understand, even after reading his book!
... and more!
I'll add to the list as I build them. As of 23 July 2009, I now have nearly 30 hive designs to build, not counting variations. If I build them at my planned rate of three per year, that's ten year's worth of winter work.
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