Which hive would you get?

[noshybabs]

If you were starting out right now, with everything you know?

As its in my Garden and I never plan to move it I'm thinking a WBC, but i just wondered what sort of opinion experience brings.

Noshybabs

 

[Silly Bee]

Depends if you intend to have more hives.

If you intend to expand your apiary, I'd go for Nationals, they are quicker to inspect.

I favour WBC's if you are going to limit your number, and/or time is not an isssue.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

As a functional garden ornament, the white painted WBC or a nice top bar would be hard to beat, though some are fond of their Beehauses. I've not been converted (yet) to the delights of the top bar or Beehaus, so personally I'd stick with a WBC, but get a 14x12 brood box for it as the standard one can be a bit pokey.

If not worried about looks I'd go for whatever was the standard locally (different parts of the UK favour Commericials, Nationals, Smiths, Langstroths etc), but again if National, I'd personally go for the 14x12 sized brood. You should also consider a polystyrene hive, cheaper and lighter, but again try and align its size with whatever the local favourites are.

The advantage of having the same size as your local beeks is that if you need to borrow a frame or get in a nuc or swarm, its much easier if the frames are compatible.

 

[hedgerow pete]

if you are just after one or two , then a white wbc just can not be beaten by any thing , i have several and they are beautifull.

if you are practicaly minded and want a simple to use hive then the british national is hard to beat too. its also easy for home construction

the poly hive on looks can be improved by painting but is a lot better for the bees but beyond home construction

if you do a lot of european travel i would suggest the danant or langstroth as they can brought a lot cheaper in the european market than blighty.

If you have a bad back or lifting issues then the drlington hive with its 5 frame supers are more convieniant to use
now thats just a rough idea, there are a millon reasons to keep on hive type against the other and it comes down to realy what do you want to look at

 

[drstitson]

"if you do a lot of european travel i would suggest the danant or langstroth as they can brought a lot cheaper in the european market than blighty."

agree - dadant blatts in pine are under 50 euro in italy flat packed.

plus you get a pretty little porch for your bees.

 

[noshybabs]

Thanks for the responses everyone, i guess what I was really asking was is there any reason why a newbee shouldn't get a WBC hive.

From the sounds of it, a lot depends on how many hives you have. I plan on having one, as my garden is quite small (25mx20m) and as well as being home to my bees, this will also be an attractive garden ornament.

Thanks

 

[Zaphod]

I was a newbee last season, so I guess I still am. WBCs are no problem. I have 4 but as advised above use 14x12 brood chambers and OMF (open mesh floors). My regional bee inpector always comments that apart from the additional lifts you have to remove they are actually really rather good. They get a bad press amongst "serious" beeks. But the brood and supers are protected from the weather and woodpeckers, so last longer where it counts, and condensation is reduced in winter. BTW, mine aren't white - can't be doing with regular painting. I just treat them with a safe shed preservative.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

Z

 

[edjex]

I'm a newbee too (doing a course at the moment - will be getting my first bees as part of it in June) and elected to buy a WBC instead of going for the 'default' option of a National. My rationale was entirely based on the fact that it's going to be in the garden and therefore I want it to look beautiful as well as being functional. I live in a Victorian house, so the WBC just seems more appropriate too.

I've gone for a 14x12 brood box since I understand that it can only 10 frames fit whereas a National takes 11 and I thought it would be better to give them more space to help with swarm prevention.

I put it all together last weekend - it took most of Saturday and half of Sunday to do it and that's without even starting to assemble frames and foundation. It looks fantastic already and has got my other half agreeing that it was worth paying extra for. I'm going to paint it in the next week or so, possibly in a light blue-grey rather than white. Haven't quite made up my mind on that yet

One option you could consider would be to go with a National but put a gable roof on it. I've seen a few photos on t'internet of those painted white and they look really quite nice.

 

[whizzwheels]

I'm in my third year and went for WBC as they are kept in the garden and look nice. I was also concerned about the cold winter weather where I live and decided on the WBC for the double wall to keep the bees warm in winter and so far haven't had any winter losses with them.

 

[hedgerow pete]

inside a standard wbc you can either use its normal 10 frame boxes which is what most are supplied with for the brood chamber but because we one frame short than normal i would suggest the 12" by 14" brood box, i have standard nationals inside mine which make it a little tight at times but i still have 11 frames of 12 by 14 and no problems. i would suggest that two are brought not one, it will not make any difference to your neighbours and its easier to deal with bee problems

 

[Poly Hive]

Given what you have said you also need to bear in mind that the ideal situation is TWO hives not one. One as a back up for the other.

Personally if I were starting out all over again I would buy myself all poly Langstroth. Lovely units to work, light to move, the bees love them and they are for me the ideal frame to use.

PH

 

[Midland Beek]

If you want to keep only one hive/colony I think you really need to do a bit more reading about beekeeping because one colony does not really work. If you want a garden ornament then you could probably get an old WBC hive for next to nothing.

 

[Beezer]

If you were starting out right now, with everything you know?

As its in my Garden and I never plan to move it I'm thinking a WBC, but i just wondered what sort of opinion experience brings.

Noshybabs

One that's very good for the bees - Polystyrene, will last for 30 years +/- 2C summer/winter, no rot, no damp, warm bees in a healthy environment.

Only my opinion based on a lot of reading and research on the web. MB in Devon do a very nice product as do Sw***ty in Denmark.

 

[Poly Hive]

Good quality poly will last pretty much until you destroy it.

The bees love it. If they didn't I for one personally would not use it.

What the bees want comes first.

PH

 

[*ZhG*StGeorge]

I would choose a Rose Hive, I have, I would also look to have them made by one of our hivemakers so that they weighed less than the standard rose hive boxes from th***es. Price is not everything.

 

[Silly Bee]

If you want to keep only one hive/colony I think you really need to do a bit more reading about beekeeping because one colony does not really work. If you want a garden ornament then you could probably get an old WBC hive for next to nothing.

I'll have some for that price MB, if only for spares.

 

[Gardenbees]

I agree about two hives, rather than one. With bees you're really dealing with one organism per hive, as it were.... a single colony is hard to judge, and you will have to think about how to control swarming unless you want them darkening the skies over your neighbourhood at some point! WBCs are really attractive, and practical enough - although personally I'd choose a National and paint it, with a gabled roof, as these also look attractive and give you a few more options (and have the advantage of warming up a bit quicker on short, sunny, spring days).

I guess most of us don't tart up Nationals as much as we might, but they can look almost as ornamental as a WBC. There's a picture of some really nice ones here:
http://www.****-hives.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/PM-Hives.jpg
(replace the asterisks with "p e a k", which for some reason is censored on the Forum, not sure why; I'm not advertising the hives, just drawing attention to the nice picture).

 

[Friar Tuck]

2 x national 14x12

 

[edjex]

I agree about two hives, rather than one...

I guess most of us don't tart up Nationals as much as we might, but they can look almost as ornamental as a WBC. There's a picture of some really nice ones ...

That's the picture I had in mind, though I've also seen gable roofs on some other Nationals somewhere on t'internet.

I plan to go with two hives and maybe eventually three. Just need to try and persuade my other half that getting a second hive when I haven't got bees in my first hive yet is a sound plan... I'm working on that one

 

[For want of a better word]

If you want to keep only one hive/colony I think you really need to do a bit more reading about beekeeping because one colony does not really work. If you want a garden ornament then you could probably get an old WBC hive for next to nothing.

Local "Garden Center" had an empty vintage WBC for its pretty cottage garden look... a "snip" at £600 !!!!

Worse than "Estate Agents" !!!!!! RIP OFF BRITAIN ?