Rating of the best hives for bees for 2024

Owning your own apiary is a great help for gardeners and villagers. You can breed bees not only for yourself, but also put up products for sale. Of course, good hives are needed for beekeeping. The features of their choice will be discussed in this article.

Types of hives

In the modern world, almost everything can be chosen to your taste, for yourself. Beehives are no exception: there are now a lot of beehives for sale with different characteristics to suit any requirement. The "houses" for bees are different:

• type of building;
• the material from which they are made;
• size (volume);
• the purpose for which they are used.

Bees need a good structure to function properly. According to the architecture, hives are prefabricated and solid. Nowadays, mainly prefabricated ones are used. Previously, the honeycombs in them were ruled, but gradually they were replaced by frame ones. Several honeycomb frames can be placed in one prefabricated hive, they can be removed and new ones added.

Important note: Whole hives are almost never used in modern beekeeping, because have a very awkward design.

The hives also differ in the direction in space. They are:

1. Horizontal. They can be extended in both directions by adding additional frames. The design itself is rather bulky and bulky.
2. Vertical. Increased by attaching the upper frames. They are quite mobile and light. Also, there are several parts inside, fenced off from each other, which allows you to enlarge the hive in any direction.

Hives can be used for several purposes, not only for bees to live in them:

1. Experiments and Experiments. For them, glass hives with closing shields are used.
2. Accommodation of queens. The size of the frames in such hives is reduced in order to gather a family around the uterus, which will fertilize it.
3. The main goal of bee keepers is honeycomb honey. Such hives consist of small frames with dense cells.

Important note: when working with these types of hives, there is no need to work with heavy elements. The large volume of the bee dwelling makes it possible to qualitatively protect it from the cold during the winter.

Hive selection criteria

When choosing a home for your striped workers, you need to pay attention to the following:

Region. If the area does not stand out for the high productivity of honey, it is worth setting up a single-hive hive. If, on the contrary, the rate of honey production is high, you need to take recumbent or double-hulled bee dwellings. Important characteristics:

1. Climatic and geographical features. If the area is exposed to frequent autumn-spring frosts, warm double-walled hives should be placed in order to be able to leave them for the winter in an open space.
2. Apiary type. Everything is obvious here: if the apiary wanders from place to place, for ease of movement it is better to use a model that is not bulky.If the apiary is "sedentary", the weight of the hives can be neglected - in this case it does not matter.

These characteristics must be considered for beginners in beekeeping. In addition to them, convenience in care and accessibility to all units of the bee house are also important.

How to choose a hive

Bee hives for novice beekeepers

If you have no experience with beekeeping, you can start with a simple, vertical, single-frame hive. The usual set includes two ready-made 12-frame store extensions, from which you can collect honey for personal consumption, or sell. The honey that remains in the nesting frames serves as food for the bees for the winter.

Hives for experienced beekeepers

Bee hives with more than 4 buildings are considered the most convenient and productive for stationary bee-farms. Multi-hive hives mimic the natural habitat of bees. They can be built on during the height of the summer season to increase honey yield. Also, these hives allow for high-quality care of bee colonies, regulate their numbers, and prevent swarming.

General overview of the hives

When choosing the type of hive, you should focus on the conditions of the apiary: stationary or nomadic. And also for the personal needs of the beekeeper - honey is needed in small quantities for personal consumption, or the apiary will be a commercial enterprise and you need to get the maximum possible amount of product.

The Dadan-Blatt hive is one of the most popular with newbies. It is single or double hull and is extremely versatile to use. One of its main disadvantages is the non-removable bottom and the relatively small size of the nest.
Dadan Double-hull

Cebro and Alpine hives are multi-hulls and are also widely used by beekeepers in various natural areas. Cebro performs very well in a continental climate with frosty winters and persistent summer heat.

The peculiarity of the French frameless type hive Varre is that minimal intervention of the beekeeper in the life of bee colonies is required, the design itself is created so that the hive itself is lightweight and allows a person with any physical data to take care of it.

Farrar's American type hive can be easily upgraded to be more productive. It is a multi-frame hive with a reduced frame size. In such a hive, two bee colonies can live simultaneously.

When choosing a hive, it is important to understand how large the honey collection area is in a given area, and how the weather and climate will affect the activity and productivity of the bees. Do not start with professional hives that are difficult and costly to maintain. Novice beekeepers should not buy many bee colonies at once in the hope of a large honey harvest. Better to limit the first year to no more than 10 hives. When experience is gained, then the apiary can be expanded.

Rating of the best types of hives for 2024

Lounger

This popular type of horizontal bee hive for stationary bee farms is worth considering as it has so many advantages and few disadvantages.

Many beekeepers are sure that the lounger is the most productive hive. It usually includes 20 to 24 frames. A 16-frame hive is called a "semi-recliner". Loungers are massive hives with a non-removable bottom, they can be expanded only in the horizontal direction, if necessary, attaching honeycombs from the sides. The size of the nest can be easily expanded or reduced using a special plug-in board. Starting in spring, it is convenient to keep two colonies in such a hive, completely isolated from each other by a blank partition. Usually on the facade of the hive there are two notches - the upper lower one. There is no special need to make an arrival board, because the bottom of the hive performs its functions.

The main parts of the lounger:

• hive ceiling;
• roof liner (can be folded);
• replaceable wooden partitions;
• opening roof with multiple ventilation openings.

• no need to move the hive body;
• bees do not swarm in such a hive;
• easy access to bee colonies and easy care for them;
• layering is very convenient;
• it is comfortable to keep two families in one lounger;
• bees can increase their efforts during honey collection.

• insufficient height of the frames is just as inconvenient as in the Dadan-Blatt hives, and if you add store extensions, this will cause difficulties in caring for the hive;
• the development of bees in the spring will be associated with greater difficulties than in the same vertical hives.

Multi-hive hive

It is a structure consisting of three main parts:

1. Several cases stacked on top of each other. Each case contains 10 frames and a removable bottom.
2. Top cover or roof.
3. Roof liner.

For the manufacture of a multi-body hive, boards of soft wood species are used. The hive is made single-walled, with a standard frame size of 435 * 230mm. The design of each case is two main tap holes and one additional, upper one. In the spring, when the bees come out of hibernation, the queen lives in the upper tier and lays eggs there. Bees live on average, and the third tier serves as an attachment for storing honey. In the winter season, the uterus moves to the second level, and the upper one is filled with honey and used as a feeder for the whole season.

• low frame. The design is especially convenient for inconstant honey collection. It allows you to control the size of the nest and magazine. Bees build honeycombs faster, they practically do not break - neither when collecting honey, nor when transporting a structure.
• comfortable wintering. The density of the club throughout the whole depends only on external factors. The club itself is formed at the lower levels, and as the levels are freed from feed, it moves up.
• early formation of families. In spring, the multi-body hive maintains a favorable temperature regime and a suitable humidity in the brood part. For the uterus at the top level, there are a lot of cells to work with, this allows families to develop faster.
• it is more convenient for bees to work. More space helps the bees work harder. The bee colony realizes its potential much faster and more efficiently.
• comb turnover, brood rearing, comb building and wax production increase. At the same time, swarming is reduced.
• convenient honey collection. The correct design helps to collect honey without disturbing the bees. This is due to the fact that the honey store is separate from the nest.
• easy repair. The multi-body hive is easy to disinfect. It is not difficult to repair and paint it without assistance;
• reduction in labor costs. The beekeeper's task is facilitated by working with bodies, not frames.

• lack of proper ventilation;
• difficult work with hulls during intensive beekeeping;
• working with frames due to lack of space, this increases the risk of stressful situations for bees
• difficulties in breeding two or more families;
• frame construction and family preparation and swarming cannot be controlled due to the closed structure.

Styrofoam hive

This is one of the most popular options for novice beekeepers. Small costs for the purchase of material for construction, or an already finished hive, can save a lot. It is ideal for a small apiary to master the basics of beekeeping. And only later, you can easily move on to more complex hives in their design.

Important information! Styrofoam hives must not be exposed to the sun. Since this material deforms with prolonged exposure to direct sunlight. Keeping the bees in such a hive will not work, and they will look for a new comfortable home.

• retains heat well, which means there will be no dampness in winter;
• small weight with large dimensions;
• excludes the appearance of fungi, mold, does not rot;
• easily replaceable internal parts of the hive.

• requires additional external fixation;
• the cost of renovating internal parts of the structure every few years.

Varre

This is the simplest hive, which is as close as possible to the natural bee house due to the lack of frames. It consists of square enclosures, 30 cm wide, the enclosures stack on top of each other.In the summer, 2 hulls are added to the bees, and in the winter they are removed. Rectangular strips, which will be the bases for the honeycomb, are attached to 2 walls facing each other.

Due to its simple operation with such a hive, it is often recommended for beginners. However, more experienced beekeepers warn that varre is highly susceptible to dampness. Dampness is the main enemy of bees during wintering. And the location of the taphole at the very bottom makes it a convenient niche for the settlement of varroa mites.

Interesting fact! In folk medicine, not only honey and beeswax are valued, but also the cap is a kind of honeycomb caps. It has a positive effect on human health. Increases the body's immune response, improves complexion and cleanses the skin, helps to fight various viral diseases and the common cold faster.

• ease of construction;
• can be recommended for beginners.

• highly susceptible to dampness.

Tips for beginners

Experienced beekeepers share great tips to help beginners prepare for different situations:

1. The family of bees should easily endure the winter, which means that only strong families should be left.
2. It is better to discard old families in advance.
3. Each family should have at least 4-6 kg of honey reserves. In the absence of honey, the queen stops worming, and the bees throw out the baby. The May fee is best left out, especially if supportive bribes are expected.
4. To strengthen the colony - 1-2 brood frames can be added at the exit. There is another way - replacing families. Frames with bees are sprayed with water with mint drops, and the queens are covered overnight. And they change the framework with bees, a weak colony for a strong one.
5. Expand the nests as needed. Overcoming long distances to the free cell, the uterus can lose up to 600 eggs per day. Timely expansion solves this problem.
6. A short distance from the apiary. Bees bring all the nectar only at a distance of no more than a kilometer. Having flown 3 km, the bee loses up to 2/3 of all nectar.
7. To avoid swarming, it is necessary to control the seventh frame. There is a 7th frame rule. As soon as it is full, the beekeeper makes layering.
8. The hive must be well ventilated to keep it dry during winter. Dampness negatively affects the health of the bees.
9. At the end of wintering, the condition of the family is checked, on average, once every 12-14 days. If the feed runs out, the club will be at the back wall. In such cases, top dressing is done so that there is enough honey until the end of wintering.
10. It is better to overwinter only within the habitable framework, reducing the nests. For each street you need to leave about 2 kg of honey. It is better to leave more honey.

Breeding bees is not as difficult as it seems at first glance. The advice of experienced beekeepers will always help. Beekeeping can become a favorite hobby, because it is not only working with bees, it is also solitude with nature. Such an activity will give strength, energy and health.