# Slovenian type Bee Houses



## stajerc61 (Nov 17, 2009)

Hey Dr, I'm from the Slovenian community in Chicago. We keep some hives at our church and our small group is a sub chapter of the Slovenian Beekeepers Association. I've been to Slovenia and checked out the AZ hives. The bee houses called "Cebelnjak" are nice but completely different than Langs. You work them from the back after you open cabinet style doors. Plans are available if you are interested. I've thought about trying to build one but do not have enough time to commit at this time. I am not aware of anyone in the states running AZ hives. I do have contacts with beekeepers and arcitechts that would be able to provide plans. If you would like to know more send me a pm.


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

stajerc61 said:


> Hey Dr, I'm from the Slovenian community in Chicago. We keep some hives at our church and our small group is a sub chapter of the Slovenian Beekeepers Association. I've been to Slovenia and checked out the AZ hives. The bee houses called "Cebelnjak" are nice but completely different than Langs. You work them from the back after you open cabinet style doors. Plans are available if you are interested. I've thought about trying to build one but do not have enough time to commit at this time. I am not aware of anyone in the states running AZ hives. I do have contacts with beekeepers and arcitechts that would be able to provide plans. If you would like to know more send me a pm.


stajerc61 - I've sent you a PM...


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## DrJeseuss (May 28, 2015)

Same , are they online anywhere?


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## Little-John (Jun 18, 2015)

Another approach would be to make a style of bee shed as used by Anton Janscha:










In case you're not familiar with these bee-boxes, here's a graphic showing one upside down and opened-up. 










As you can see in the first graphic, it's possible to place a second box above the first to form a super, for honey storage or colony expansion.

This style of hive has been resurrected in recent years by the "Bienenkiste" design which is proving very popular in Germany.

One question which still remains unanswered for me is, "how on earth were such hives inspected, when stacked like that inside a shed". Or perhaps they weren't ? But even if they were not routinely inspected, they must have been extremely heavy to move when loaded-up with honey.

The Bienenkiste design is improved in this regard, as honey can now be removed from the rear without disturbing the main section of the hive.

LJ


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

You can contact these people and buy AZ hives. http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...nian-AZ-Beehive/page4&highlight=slovenia+hive


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## gjt (Jul 24, 2014)

Little-John said:


> As you can see in the first graphic, it's possible to place a second box above the first to form a super, for honey storage or colony expansion. ...


I do not believe they are stacked. The ones I have seen in Northeast Slovenia they are just single, long horizontal hives (sort of like small coffins).

Most ones I have seen the frames are perpendicular to the long sides, instead what is on the picture. They tend to make them frames which roll out, sort of like a kitchen drawer, or more like a filing cabinet.

The parallel kind I saw also rolled out (actually inward), but the side walls did not come backwards like in the picture. It was built into a truck trailer (i think it was a grain truck trailer), where the hives where facing on both sides out, with hallway in the middle, and the thing rolled inward into that hallway. (Terrible description, I know...)

Looked something like this, but bigger and two axles.


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## akela (Aug 19, 2015)

any plans available for these bee hives????


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## rolftonbees (Jul 10, 2014)

It is illegal in the USA to use a type of hive that does not have removable frames.

There are many types of boxes that would lend to a bee house. 

A more square shaped of frame that can be pulled from behind might work best from the various behouses I have seen online.

I am not entirely sure that a bee house would benifit more than a pole shed in my climate.


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## Knobs (Sep 20, 2014)

Slovenian hives do have remove able frames. They would be legal in the US.


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

This is very interesting and I think the concept could be combined with either top bar or long lang type hives. 
That would make it where you had frames or bars to inspect, swap, combine, etc.


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## johno (Dec 4, 2011)

I will be 72 years old at my next honey harvest, this year I harvested from about 30 odd production hives all by myself and my back is still hurting. So I am taking a good look at the Slovenian hive system as you harvest frame by frame extract and return the frames to the hive.
The problem I have with the system is that the frames are not standard deeps or mediums and they need a different radial extractor. Also as I produce nucs every year the frames will have to be compatible with langstroth hives, so I would like to try and build some of these hives to use medium frames so the whole size would change. I have a little porch on my house where I keep my breeding queens and some nucs to over winter, I could fit 18 Slovenian type hives on this porch close it in and heat or cool it so that I could work my bees in comfort in the summer or winter. This would be my project for the winter and we will see how it goes in the spring.
Johno


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## Agis Apiaries (Jul 22, 2014)

Johno,

Take a look at this guy's operation. Much easier on the back. Watch for his prototype hive lifter he built as well.


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## johno (Dec 4, 2011)

0k Looks good Agis, but he will still be havesting out at 90 degrees and his hive lifter will not bring the supers inside.
Johno


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## b2bnz (Apr 5, 2009)

There is a company selling A-Z hives in USA. Go to www.slovenianbeekeeping.com and they have all the info you require.


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## McBee7 (Dec 25, 2013)

Im working on a shed that indoor winters nuc hives, but they have an outside entrance like the european bee haus's...This would be strictly a winter time house, and the nucs would be moved out in the spring to standard type hive stands that we in the Us are accustomed to....
I overwintered 15 nucs in this building last year and am looking to improve it for this winter....The toughest thing for me is when spring arrives and I cant control the indoor temps anymore, the hives must come out "ready of not" I'm hoping this will give me some time or control of the transition into spring....:}

==McBee7==


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## cdevier (Jul 17, 2010)

We just unloaded 4 AZ hives off of the truck two days ago. They look nice.


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## jcolon (Sep 12, 2014)

>It is illegal in the USA to use a type of hive that does not have removable frames.

Hope the bees read this forum or there will be lots of them in jail. :ws:


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## johno (Dec 4, 2011)

jcolon, just what hives are you referring to?
Johno


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## jcolon (Sep 12, 2014)

johno said:


> jcolon, just what hives are you referring to?
> Johno


Was just referring to rolfton comment on illegal hives. I don't know what he means either but seemed funny.


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## Cabin (Nov 30, 2014)

johno said:


> jcolon, just what hives are you referring to?
> Johno


I think post #6.


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

The concept is very nice. I've seen camper/horse-trailers and can see a bee version. Imagine traveling with the flows extracting different types of honey as you go. Park wherever you feel like it or where you get paid to go.
Great way to "retire".

Let it go...the hives have frames and can be taken apart and inspected. Completely legal.


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## b2bnz (Apr 5, 2009)

A-Z Hives do have removable frames, they are just removed in the horizontal plane instead of vertically. Suggest you look on You Tube to see these fascinating hives in action and the beautiful houses that they are kept in. Surprised that beekeepers in the colder climates of northern USA and Canada are not using this style of hive.


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## b2bnz (Apr 5, 2009)

Have thought that an old small caravan would make the ideal mobile apiary!


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## Goran (Oct 27, 2012)

b2bnz said:


> Have thought that an old small caravan would make the ideal mobile apiary!


Type in google picture search:

" kontejner za až košnice"

And you may find some ideas.


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## WesternWilson (Jul 18, 2012)

I know that you can buy adaptors for lang frames...this may mean they fit in your conventional extractor??

You can get the info from:
http://www.slovenianbeekeeping.com/index-one.html


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## beesting16 (Jan 23, 2017)

stajerc61 said:


> Hey Dr, I'm from the Slovenian community in Chicago. We keep some hives at our church and our small group is a sub chapter of the Slovenian Beekeepers Association. I've been to Slovenia and checked out the AZ hives. The bee houses called "Cebelnjak" are nice but completely different than Langs. You work them from the back after you open cabinet style doors. Plans are available if you are interested. I've thought about trying to build one but do not have enough time to commit at this time. I am not aware of anyone in the states running AZ hives. I do have contacts with beekeepers and arcitechts that would be able to provide plans. If you would like to know more send me a pm.


I would love to get a good set of plans if you can help. Thanks.


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## WesternWilson (Jul 18, 2012)

There are people using the Slovenian AZ hives, please note they use movable frames:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MitGad0qU4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwEjjdNa3kg

There is a source in the USA that produces AZ hives adapted to fit Langstroth frames.
http://www.thebeeshop.com/AZ-Slovenian-hive-p/hive-01.htm

I hear Woodprix has plans but I have never made it through his darned site video!

I imported two AZ setups last year and plan to set them up this season (2017). They should be an excellent hive style for beekeepers who, for whatever reason, do not want to lift heavy boxes. They are serviced via doors in the back of the hive, and each super has an interior screen so you can open the door and just see where the bees are and work them one box at a time. The frames slide toward you on rails. 

We built a small open roofed structure with a big shelf for the AZ hives to sit on. They are protected from the rain. But it would be nicer to have them set into a south facing garden shed wall such that they got nice winter protection.


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## angryhippie (Mar 11, 2010)

Drebbieville Hives now sells AZ hives that fit lang foundation. I'm very interested in building a beehouse setup on my barn and having the back open to my extractors, but it's hard for me to justify the price of switching over when I am still capable of lifting lang equipment. At the age of only 33, I still have a ways to go before the boxes are too heavy for me to lift hopefully.


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## WesternWilson (Jul 18, 2012)

For me, I just get a lot of pleasure out of trying new approaches and equipment...yes, I am doing that to always tweak my skills, to improve apiary results, but it is just plain fun, too. Remember the old Coke vs. Pepsi tasting setups? Didn't we all do that at home? It is that kind of fun, testing new apiary approaches.


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## daviauk (Apr 9, 2017)

I also would love to get a good set of plans!


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## WesternWilson (Jul 18, 2012)

Drebbieville is not releasing plans for purchase, which is fair, they want to sell the hives, which alas are beastly expensive to buy and ship. 

Is anyone out there a talented woodworker? We need a set of plans for an AZ hive that fits Langstroth frames.


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## rwmccor (Feb 29, 2012)

jcolon said:


> >It is illegal in the USA to use a type of hive that does not have removable frames.
> 
> Hope the bees read this forum or there will be lots of them in jail. :ws:


think maybe he was referring to wild bees?? looks like an old post that
i commented on


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## TexasFreedom (Feb 25, 2016)

This is an old thread. But a while back when I saw it, and again now it made me laugh.

My father grew up in old Yugoslavia. As a youth, to set up a bait box, he would bend young branches into a sort of circle. Then take a little honey mixed into water, and take some up in his mouth & spray it over the 'sphere'. Repeat. Then wait & see if a swarm would move in.

Nope, not the same as this topic. But then again, their home was a log cabin with dirt floors, no electricity or any modern conveniences. Different times, different tools. I'll stick with my langstroth and modern home.


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## crazybean (Dec 20, 2016)

There are two very different hives described here. The Carniolan hive, as described by Anton Janša some 300 years ago is stackable. It is 6 5/8 inch high. Of course it has no movable frames, as it is 300 years old design. But one can use medium bodies (aka Farrar hives) instead and use same management techniques. For example Rose hive technique is really similar to Janša principles.

Janša was beekeping teacher and author of several books 300 years ago.

AŽ hive is german technology. 93% of Slovenian beekepers are using AŽ hives. While they are really, really popular in Slovenia, recent research shows that they require twice the amount of work for half of honey yield. Fixed volume in heavy honey flow is major problem.


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## ahickman406 (Mar 26, 2014)

stajerc61 said:


> Hey Dr, I'm from the Slovenian community in Chicago. We keep some hives at our church and our small group is a sub chapter of the Slovenian Beekeepers Association. I've been to Slovenia and checked out the AZ hives. The bee houses called "Cebelnjak" are nice but completely different than Langs. You work them from the back after you open cabinet style doors. Plans are available if you are interested. I've thought about trying to build one but do not have enough time to commit at this time. I am not aware of anyone in the states running AZ hives. I do have contacts with beekeepers and arcitechts that would be able to provide plans. If you would like to know more send me a pm.


Do you still have access to plans for the Slovenian bee houses?

Thanks
Art


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## b2bnz (Apr 5, 2009)

There are now quite a few manufacturers of A-Z hives in the UAS and a whole community using A-Z Hives. Google A-Z hives and you will pick up their werbsites and Face Book pages. Various sizes being made depending on local equipment avaliable but most seem to be using the full depth Langstroph plastic foundation as the starting size and working back from there.
Lots of plans avaliable on the internet. good luck and have fun!


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## crazybean (Dec 20, 2016)

Using Lang frames instead of AŽ would be like day and night.

If you go for Lang frames, consider 3 storey design. In Slovenia we use carniolan bees. They are less prolific than american ligustica. Therefore havibg hive with two storey of 10 AŽ frames would be challenge to keep bees in the hive.

In order to make Janša hives legal in USA, one just have to use frames inside boxes. Janša used INNER dimension of 6 inches. All medium hives are 6 5/8 inches high (almost equal to Janša measures).

You can use all medium hive and call it "The Slovene hive (with frames)".


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

I watched the videos, and while not for me, that style of beekeeping is super interesting nonetheless. Some of those beehouses are impressive structures, too.


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## johno (Dec 4, 2011)

There is a facebook site called AZ Hivers where a bunch of folks in the USA keep and talk about Slovenian Hives. One of their members imports AZ hives from Slovenia and if you Google Drebbieville hives you will find a guy in Georgia making and keeping AZ hives that use standard US foundation, he has a few video's on his set up. There is also a guy in Texas building AZ hives.
Johno


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