# Designs for PORTABLE OH?



## brushwoodnursery (Feb 10, 2012)

Look up Ulster Observation Hive. They work great! but I wouldn't leave a nuc in it for more than a few days at a time.


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## brushwoodnursery (Feb 10, 2012)

You load a beautiful frame and the queen into the top, single frame portion and the rest down below. The instructions call for keeping 5 below and pulling one up into the top then adding a division board feeder with syrup down below. Don't do it! You'll slosh syrup all over the place. Ask me how I know! 
I assemble the whole thing from 6 frames out of a single deep 8 frame. The outside frames remain behind. Gives the foragers a place to hang out until the colony comes back home. Most of the Ulsters you can buy have an entrance so you can bring it home and open it up but I've never kept a colony more than 24 hours in mine.


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## chrisnbarnes (8 mo ago)

brushwoodnursery said:


> Look up Ulster Observation Hive. They work great! but I wouldn't leave a nuc in it for more than a few days at a time.


My thought was that I could put the OH inside my house, with a tube running through the wall to the outside...


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## brushwoodnursery (Feb 10, 2012)

It's a decision you'll have to make. I think the Ulster is the best choice for portability. I'd build a bigger one with lots of glass for my home if I were you. Then keep the Ulster in the Bee Shed for hitting the road.
Either way, you'll LOVE having an OH in your home!


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## Hoot Owl Lane Bees (Feb 24, 2012)

Have you don a search?
There are a lot of designs out there.
I have 3, 4 and 5 frame OH's
Last year was the first in about 8 years we didn't have one in the sun room all winter.
Here is one from Bee Culture.





OBSERVATION HIVE HOW-TO From simple to complex, you can make these yourself. (2 of 2) | Bee Culture







www.beeculture.com


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## ffrtsaxk (Jul 17, 2017)

I keep 2 observation hives in my home year round. One is a 2 frame hive from Betterbee. The other is a custom 21 frame. I use the 2 frame for presentations. It would be easier to keep a 5 frame single wide observation hive like the new 5 frame Betterbee offers year round than the 2 frame. If you build your own, remember to keep the bee space right or there will be problems.


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## launermark2 (7 mo ago)

Hoot Owl Lane Bees said:


> Last year was the first in about 8 years we didn't have one in the sun room all winter.


I


chrisnbarnes said:


> I made a small 2-frame OH for when I need to do a presentation for small groups (schools) or for demonstrations like at a county fair. What I would usually do is simply go grab 2 frames (from the brood area) from one of my hives and put it in to take. This made it small and fairly easy to carry - but made it pretty problematic when I brought the hive home and tried to re-integrate the frames back into the hive.
> 
> I've been thinking about trying to redesign a new OH, one that is somewhat bigger (5 frame?) where the bees can just live in the OH (until they outgrow it). But I'm afraid that if I just take a Nuc w/ plexiglass sides, the people in my class will never actually see anything interesting (brood, queen, etc). Otoh, I have seen designs where there are 2 frames, 3 hive (6 frames total). But those seem like they would be a nightmare to try to transport and move around.
> 
> ...


Www.bonterrabees.com
Market View
TableView


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## brushwoodnursery (Feb 10, 2012)

Hoot Owl Lane Bees said:


> OBSERVATION HIVE HOW-TO From simple to complex, you can make these yourself. (2 of 2) | Bee Culture
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Clicked the link and...hey, cool, that's me!


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## broncorm (Mar 9, 2018)

Heres one I made in the living room following

Honey bee observation hives, Bonterra Bees observation bee hives Do it Yourself Plans






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‘One I quickly made when the kids want to bring bees to school.









I did make a bigger double frame portable with a feeder but don’t seem to have a picture ofe it


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## chrisnbarnes (8 mo ago)

launermark2 said:


> Www.bonterrabees.com


Those look nice, but $36 just to buy the .pdf plans is not really what I was hoping for...


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## brushwoodnursery (Feb 10, 2012)

Bonterra took a long time to work out the details of those designs. How many hours will you fiddle around getting to what you think might be right? What's that worth to you?


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## chrisnbarnes (8 mo ago)

brushwoodnursery said:


> Bonterra took a long time to work out the details of those designs. How many hours will you fiddle around getting to what you think might be right? What's that worth to you?


I've already made 2, so I am somewhat "on the way" to getting what I want. I am also pretty good at reverse-engineering things from pictures. 

I DO understand the effort it takes to come up with a good design for things. I do removals semi-professionally and made 3 different beevacs before I came up with a design I really liked (basically a modified version of a Colorado Bee Vac) as well as several different ways to render bee's wax (couple of solar melters & one steam melter that looks like an alcohol still). But fwiw, I give those design plans away to whoever wants them...


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## brushwoodnursery (Feb 10, 2012)

Sounds like you have some solid experience. Just be mindful of beespace and I'm sure you'll be fine.


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## brushwoodnursery (Feb 10, 2012)

Check out the Ulster observation hive.


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