Keeping a hive indoors?

[Nakedapiarist]

I haven't gone mad though I don't know if this is the right section...

I love photographing and filming my bees, I'd like to capture footage throughout the year - including time lapse of comb being drawn out etc. and how the cluster moves during the winter. This means having mains power to the cameras and somewhere they won't get rained on. I don't think an obs hive is what I'm after as it wouldn't support a strong colony.

I also have a workshop - a large corrugated iron shed thing lined out inside, one side 'glass' roofed the other side dark for shooting time lapses ( I do 3 month sequences ).

If I was to build a mesh enclosure against the wall, cut a letterbox in the wall - adding landing board on either side then put a national hive inside the enclosure, would the bees be ok? I could either line up the exit exactly with the hive entrance or put it higher and let the bees find the way.

I'd add supers as normal but some of those supers would have a glass/perspex side - probably on sliding rails so I can change it as it gets waxed.

Bees are bound to get out into the workshop as I do the normal inspections etc but there are a lot of gaps under the eaves that will allow them out ( Or I can leave the door open ). The exit would be onto a passageway on my property usefully away from angry car owners

From the bees point of view I can't see how it'd be any different from being in a cavity wall.

The two main issues I can think of are ventilation which might mean adding a mesh roof during the warmer months and whether during the winter I'd cause issues having the workshop radiator set to 10C.

So cunning plan to get my macro bee fix the way I want it or should I just call the men in white coats?

 

[oliver90owner]

Probably umpteen things to consider, but the glass roof would present problem, if the brightest light source - bees fly towards tbe light and would get trapped in the building. Think here why honeybees are not useful for pollinating in polytunnels.

 

[Tom Bick]

Plenty of people keep hives in sheds I have two myself in a shed along with two other beekeepers on a very nice nature reserve and the bees do very well. You do need a system for the bees to get out of the enclosure especially during inspections

 

[drex]

Probably umpteen things to consider, but the glass roof would present problem, if the brightest light source - bees fly towards tbe light and would get trapped in the building. Think here why honeybees are not useful for pollinating in polytunnels.

I asked a strawberry poly tunnel farmer why he did not use honeybees and his answer was that when he wants pollination it is generally still too cold for them to fly on a reliable basis. Said it would save him lots of money if he could

 

[wessexmario]

an easier to manage approach might be to have the beehive outside, just a few inches away from the shed.
Have a door/window in the shed next to the hive,, with a frame the same width as your hive boxes, that can be slid across to give solid, glass or open access for photographing.
You could drape a cloth or make a frame to cover over the join between the hive and the shed, which would keep both light and bees out, and provide flexibilty when you add/remove supers.

If you had the beehive on a tabletop outside, the hive could then be slid a few inches back and forth to connect the rear of the hive (with the window sections) to a hollow box fitted to the shed, to provide a tunnel to photograph through, giving you a tight connection to the shed when photographing, but allowing you to slide the hive away from the shed for hive management.

thinking on... alternatively, if the hole in the shed was exactly the width of the beehive, and you have a vertical sliding 'door' on that hole in the shed, then the hive could be positioned to that it's rear wall was in line with or just inside the wall of the shed, the sliding door would rest on the roof, so able to adjust for any change in the number of supers, while keeping the bees and the weather outside.

 

[bontbee]

How do you have room in your sheds for a hive???!

 

[pargyle]

Two of our association members have 'bee sheds' with the hives inside the shed and various arrangements to allow them to get from the hive entrance to the outside ..

One has slots in the shed wall and a landing board on the outside of the shed, the hives are connected to the shed wall with a plywood 'tunnel' the size of the normal hive entrance - he can use entrance reducers on the slot in the shed wall.

The other has 32mm poly waste pipes that connect the hive's entrance to the outside of the shed wall.

In both cases the hives are on a shelf a few inches from from the inside of shed wall and the entrances are connected to the outside so there is no chance of bees flying around inside the shed except when you take the lid off the hive.

So there's no problem keeping hives in sheds - indeed, in our variable climate there is probably an advantage to keeping the hives in a sheltered environment.

Tom is right though - you need a means of escape for bees that get free during inspections and your glass roof might not be ideal.

Lastly, you will need to have the perspex side of the hive able to be covered over .. bees seem to prefer living in the dark.

 

[user 6228]

Probably umpteen things to consider, but the glass roof would present problem, if the brightest light source - bees fly towards tbe light and would get trapped in the building. Think here why honeybees are not useful for pollinating in polytunnels.

Bumblebees have the same light seeking behaviour, yet are used in poly tunnels

we have honeybees fly in the green house and dont get trapped, they just fly back out the way they came in.

Notwithstanding, I agree with the point made

 

[Nakedapiarist]

I can just close the door to the glass roof section and once the light's off then their brightest spot will be the gaps under the corrugated roof. I just need to get my mesh then

'course it means I won't be able to run an extractor in the workshop but that's not a major issue.

 

[pargyle]

I just need to get my mesh then

I really would not do it the way you are proposing .... start thinking 'hive entrances connected to the outside' ... much more chance of success.

Either that or a bee hive shelter with the hives sited under a protective roof but otherwise open to the elements.

 

[Tom Bick]

The normal way to get the flying bees out of the shed is to have the glass in the window to stop short of the top by approx 25mm the bees are attracted to the glass and light gradually move up the glass and out of the gap. Don't know how easy they will find the holes at the corrugated roof when you will have a big expanse of glass roof. Also don't underestimate just how bloody hot these sheds get in direct sun and that glass will be even hotter. Ants can be another thing to contend with not a great problem but I have a whole colony of ants living under the roof of one of my hives right now.

 

[Windowbee]

I keep my bees as follow several Years and they overwintering very well:
http://www.windowbee.com

sorry for translation is not finish in 100%

 

[Nakedapiarist]

OK wise guys, there's one thing you didn't warn me about. I've installed the hive with a neat portal to the outside world and the bees have settled in.

But opening a double brood indoors......

At least I know the bee escape portals work, I doubt that workshop will ever have security issues.