An original beehive was developed in Senegal nearly 15 years ago. The entire design is focused on the cost of the hive and the special conditions of tropical apiculture. It is very different to imported modern hives but is no less effective. Indeed, all modern hives are designed in the same way, with 80-litre capacity to store honey, about 20 frames to make it possible to remove the combs, sheets of imprinted wax comb foundation and an extractor for collection purposes. A hive of this kind costs African farmers about CFAF80,000/ Euros 122! In contrast, the horizontal hive costs less than CFAF5,000/ Euros 7.60 and it is just as easy to use as traditional hives. Its main strong points are that it is made of cement (cheaper and stronger than wood), it is horizontal (with no stand) and not vertical, the frames are easily made from sticks that are very cheap and the sheets of imprinted foundation are replaced by simple strips of ordinary wax. The honeycombs are not totally 'framed'. They can be extracted using traditional methods and the purchase of a modern extractor is not essential. This kind of hive can easily be made by beekeepers themselves and will give the same honey yield as a modern hive for a very small investment. More information from: Dr. Alain Vautier BP 6131 Dakar - Senegal Fax : +221 821 66 73 | An original beehive was developed in Senegal nearly 15 years ago. The entire design is focused on the cost of the hive and the special conditions of tropical apiculture. It is very different to imported modern hives but is no less effective....

Chronicles the history of beekeeping and the evolution of hive design from ancient Egypt to the twenty-first century.

One of the main directions of increasing the economic efficiency of bee products is an increase in productivity of bee colonies with economical expenditure of material resources, primarily use of such basic means as a new design bee hive. A completely new design of a two-block bee hive is proposed, allowing two colonies of bees in one house. The two-block bee hive allows to use a simple technological partition to combine two different colonies with their queen bee and get one super-strong family. The main drawback of one-block hives has been eliminated in two-block hives – significant weight of hive body, which restrains an increase in productivity of a beekeeper and prevents a decrease in product cost price. The volume of the two-block bee hive and the parameters of a combined technological partition, which were obtained as a result of observations and long-term experiments, have been justified. Economic and mathematical model of bee colonies development when housed in two block hive with the combined technological partition is presented. Practical calculation of the economic potential of the two-block bee hive has been made. Substantiation of regularity of obtaining high results in housing and peaceful unification of the bee colonies in the two-block bee hive with the technological combined partition is given. Keeping bees in the developed two-block hives opens up great prospects in the field of beekeeping. /Одним из основных направлений повышения экономической эффективности производства продукции пчеловодства является рост продуктивности пчелиных семей при экономном расходовании материальных средств, в первую очередь использование таких основных средств, как пчелиный улей новой конструкции. Предлагается совершенно новая конструкция двухблочного пчелиного улья, позволяющая находиться двум семьям пчел в одном домике. Двухблочный пчелиный улей позволяет с помощью простой технологической перегородки объединить две разные семьи со своими матками и получить одну сверхсильную семью. В двухблочных ульях устранен основной недостаток одноблочных ульев – значительная масса корпусов улья, сдерживающая повышение производительности труда пчеловода и препятствующая снижению себестоимости продукции. В статье обоснованы объем двухблочного пчелиного улья и параметры комбинированной технологической перегородки, которые получены в результате наблюдений и многолетних опытов. Приводится экономико-математическая модель развития пчелиных семей при содержании их в двухблочном улье с комбинированной технологической перегородкой. Сделан практический расчет экономического потенциала двухблочного пчелиного улья. Дано обоснование закономерности получения высоких результатов при содержании и мирном объединении пчелиных семей в двухблочном пчелином улье с технологической комбинированной перегородкой. Переход на содержание пчел в разработанных двухблочных ульях открывает большие перспективы в области пчеловодства.

Honeybees interact strongly with vegetables, air, soil, and water in the vicinity of the hive and, as a consequence, pollutants from these sources are translated to the honeybees and to the hive products. Therefore, over the last decades of the past century, honeybees and honey have been proposed as possible bioindicators for the study of the environmental status of the area surrounding the hive. This work is a critical review on the use of the hive as a passive sampling device and on the use of honeybees and honey as environmental bioindicator substrates for metals and radionuclides. The design of sampling networks, sampling procedures, sample pretreatments, analytical techniques, data analysis, and other influencing factors in this area are also reviewed. | The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author.

Sensor technologies have sufficiently advanced to provide low-cost devices that can quantify carbon dioxide levels in honeybee hives with high temporal resolution and in a small enough package for hive deployment. Recent publications have shown that summer carbon dioxide levels vary throughout the day and night over ranges that typically exceed 5000 ppm. Such dramatic changes in a measurable parameter associated with bee physiology are likely to convey information about the colony health. In this work, we present data from four UK-based hives collected through the winter of 2022/2023, with a focus on seeing if carbon dioxide can indicate when colonies are at risk of failure. These hives have been fitted with two Sensirion SCD41 photoacoustic non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) carbon dioxide sensors, one in the queen excluder, at the top of the brood box, and one in the crown board, at the top of the hive. Hive scales have been used to monitor the hive mass, and internal and external temperature sensors have been included. Embedded accelerometers in the central frame of the brood box have been used to measure vibrations. Data showed that the high daily variation in carbon dioxide continued throughout the coldest days of winter, and the vibrational data suggested that daily fanning may be responsible for restoring lower carbon dioxide levels. The process of fanning will draw in colder air to the hive at a time when the bees should be using their energy to maintain the colony temperature. Monitoring carbon dioxide may provide feedback, prompting human intervention when the colony is close to collapse, and a better understanding may contribute to discussions on future hive design.

The high temperature in the hive greatly affected the weight of honey produce. Weight of honey collected from the hive made of bricks was significantly lower than that of the wooden bee hive. To effect higher honey production, additional holes for air passages were provided for proper ventilation inside the hive. The lamp should be tested only during night time and turned off during day time from 10:00 o'clock a.m. to 2:00 o'clock p.m.

The predominant material used to construct honey bee colonies in the U.S. is wood. Though honey bee hive components are simple in design, they are subjected to many extreme management techniques that cause wear and tear, ultimately shortening the life of the equipment. This article discusses how to protect colony woodenware, particularly the pieces that are exposed to the elements. These include the bottom board, hive body/supers, and lids. This revised 4-page fact sheet was written by J. D. Ellis, W. H. Kern, and C. M. Zettel Nalen, and published by the UF Department of Entomology and Nematology, June 2012. ENY125/AA244: Preserving Woodenware in Beekeeping Operations (ufl.edu)