# My homebrew observation hive and some questions



## ApricotApiaries

1) Is it viable to take brood frames from an observation hive and plant them in a weak hive?

Absolutely. 

2) I assume the bees need to be brushed off said frames as the receiving hive would attack them. My observation hive will be in my second floor window. Can I brush the bees off the frame from downstairs? Will the bees find their way back to the hive in the window? Is this a silly beginner question? [/QUOTE]

You don't really need to brush off the bees. There might be a little fighting but generally not much. If the hive you are putting brood in is weak, it might need those extra bees to cover the brood you are giving them. 
Usually the issue with observation hives in the summer is they get too big for the space and potentially swarm several times a season. It is good to have a plan for how to cull them down periodically. Donating brood to weaker hives is a good way to do this. We move brood around quite a bit and have had very little issues with fighting bees. Brushing them off so they return to the observation hive is probably unnecessary and wont do as much to relieve crowding. 
Observation hives are loads of fun, especially for friends, visitors, and kids. Enjoy!


----------



## Teht

Thanks for the reply, sounds like I'm going in the right direction. I plan to make extra cartridges, so I can just swap for a fresh cartridge, carry the full one out and put it in the weakest hive to boost it. Then my observation hive will have plenty of new room to grow without swarming as much.


----------



## Slugga

Great work! I too have built my own observation hive (3 high x 1 wide deep frames) for in my classroom- I am a high school Science teacher. 

You have an interesting design- I look forward to how it performs once you have added the bees! 

A couple of thoughts/tips- 
1) Make sure you have the correct bee space in the bottom entry/exit so they don't start building comb in the entrance/exit when they fill the hive up- yours looks about right though! 
2) Is your feeder placed right near the entrance/exit of your hive? You may end up facing a lot of robbing from other hives if it is easily accessible from other bees (just a thought). Can you move the feeder to feed through the top PVC hinge somehow so it is more 'protected' from intruders?
3) Add ventilation holes to your main hive. Put more vents in than you think you will need and just make covers for them so you can open/close them as needed. Nothing beats the smell of ripening nectar through a room! 

On your questions- ApricotApiaries has exactly the same answer to what i would have typed. I think 'modular' observation hives are a great idea (even though mine isn't one)- I think the more you can manipulate them by adding/removing frames (without opening the whole thing up and having bees go everywhere) the better! The next one I build will definitely be a 'modular' design- I really want to try a module with a built in queen excluder on the bottom (for my uppermost frame) so we can have pure honey frames to feed to my school students...

Observation hives are absolutely fascinating, and you will learn heaps more about bees by having one! I am looking forward to your pictures!

Cheers,
Josh


----------



## Teht

Thanks Slugga!

1) I think the slot at the bottom is a bit tall actually, but I'm planning to make the plexiglass for the indoors side of that slot removable so I can clean out comb as needed. Even if I don't clean it though I'm not too worried if they build some comb down there.

2) The feeder is very close to the exit, so just like standard entrance feeders robbing will be a concern. I will have the upper hinge available as an option if I need to relocate the feeder, but I'm hoping robbing won't be too bad because I like the current design.

3) I'm most definitely adding an inch-wide screened vent at the top of the hive body frame, and will have a cover for it. I love the smell of my hives, so it's one of the reasons I'm doing this.

I finished designing my modular setup on Wednesday, and put together three frame cartridges yesterday. These cartridges have a half-inch gap on top and bottom which is slotted to accept a strip of plexiglass perfectly. The sides are also slotted and will accept plexiglass windows, and will seal quite nicely against the hive body frame I'm building to match. As you can see I made three cartridges, so I'll be able to quick-swap them as needed. I might think about making a queen excluder strip I can put in if I want to try making honey frames, but I want to learn more about the bees before I do so as I'm not sure two frames of hive body would be strong enough to fill honey frames.

Here's a picture of the cartridges!


----------



## Teht

Over the past week I've put a lot more work into this project. See the album below for my progress. The bees go in on Friday!

http://imgur.com/a/8K60h


----------



## mgzavri

Teht, this is awesome! I've also been working on a modular observation hive design. I had resigned on creating an overlay for the stacked modules, but your design with the frame for them to sit in is great! Thanks for sharing.

Did you bother with using a sealant on the wood?


----------



## Teht

Thanks mgzavri! I've been pretty pleased with how the plans I sketched up off the top of my head are turning out, especially since I didn't have a lot of woodworking experience when I started out.

I am using a stain/sealant combo on the exterior of the structure, but the hive body will be left unstained - It won't be exposed to the elements and I don't want the bees to be bothered by the chemicals.


----------



## mgzavri

How would you modify this to make it a top entrance instead of a bottom? For me, I've got to do a top exit and using your exterior frame would work, but I've got to figure out a way to make it a top exit instead of bottom.


----------



## Teht

You can see in a few of the pictures the top hinge is PVC as well. All you'd need to do is cut it shorter, build a slot on the top for them to use as their exit, and plexiglass over the indoors side. I'm leaving that top hinge in place in case I need to move the feeder up there because of issues with robbing.

Edit - I'd need some time to clean them up a bit, but I can share my sketchup files with you if you're interested


----------



## Slugga

Great job Teht!

Hopefully the bees wont gunk up the slides between each cartridge with too much propolis! Looking froward to the bees going in!


----------



## jbeshearse

Teht,

What I do is once the OB hive is overcrowded I move all the frames from the OB hive into a single (my ob is 6 medium frames). Add two frames of foundation on each side of the 6 from the ob hive. Then I move three frames of brood and eggs and nurse bees from a full strength hive as well as one of stores to the empty OB hive, add two frames of foundation at teh top. This gives me a good build up hive and I get to watch the newly installed bees rasie their queen and build up to strength, then I do it again.



jeb


----------



## mgzavri

Teht, 

I'd be interested in seeing your SketchUp plans. I also used SketchUp for my design. It was really helpful to plan everything out and then start buying materials.


----------



## Teht

mgzavri,

I'll sit down this weekend and clean up the plans so I can share them. Just got my bees installed, and things are going great! So far it looks like I don't have any design flaws, and the girls have found their way down through the sink flange and across to the outdoors slot. I've already watched more "Bee TV" this week than I have watched regular TV... My girls are fascinating!

Check out my gallery to see updated pictures: http://imgur.com/a/8K60h


----------



## Teht

I cleaned up the sketchup file and uploaded it - keep in mind the file only includes the base design. See the description for more information.

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=ucacf576f-ba50-4ae7-a06e-6b7b9addc21a

Here's some more pictures of the girls this morning!

My queen









Baby bee chewing her way out









Lots of activity at the entrance pipe - pollen town!


----------



## mgzavri

So, I made my modules a little different then yours and didn't add a dado in the top and bottom runners where the plexiglass sits. Instead, I have them affixed on the sides with dados there. There are no gaps between the plexiglass and the inside of the module, but I'm considering using some silicon sealant just to be sure. 

What do you guys think? If I use silicon, can I use an acid-curing acetoxy sealant? Will it hurt the bees?


----------



## Teht

Not sure about the sealant. I request pictures though, I'm interested to see how yours turned out!

I just got a dado blade and a router table... wishing I had those while I was building my hive... Oh well, might just be I need to build another! On the bright side, my parents have been talking about asking me to build them a hive for their house. Looks like I'll get to use what I've learned!


----------



## mgzavri

Here is what the hive as a whole looks like. I'll probably make a new one in the coming months. With this hive, I made each module sized for a small frame size. I think this was a mistake and I'll probably make the next one with either deeps or mediums, depending on what the size will be when/if I start normal hives








Here is a view of the dado that I made. This is mirrored on the other size and the plexiglass sits on top of the runner. There is some flex on the plexiglass, but I'm not sure that the bees would be able to push it outward enough to actually create a gap. 








This just shows the module with a frame. 








Sorry that the photos are sideways.


----------

