I would like to know how many different types of beehives there are out there?
I assume you don't want a number, but want some help in getting a idea of the various types of hives that are out there. Well, hives can be categorised in many ways.
For one, there are
fixed-comb hives and moveable-comb hives. Fixed-comb hives are hives in which the combs can't be moved out temporarily or moved around. Examples include most skeps, the Japanese warre-style hive, and African-style tubular hives (including e.g. the original Tanzanian design). Some hives have a fixed-comb section and a moveable-comb section. Examples include the bienenkiste and the Perone hive, and also deliberately supered skeps (including heather skeps). Most hives used by commercial and hobbyist beekeepers are moveable-comb hives, however.
Moveable-comb hives can be divided into
hives that use frames and hives that use top-bars. I'm not sure if this is a real distinction, though, because I don't know of any hive that can only use one of the two. You can successfully run Langstroths with top-bars, and you can run a Kenyan-style top-bar hive with frames. However, some hives are simply more suited to one or the other. Hives with slanting side walls are more suited for top-bars, and hives with straight vertical side walls are more suited for frames. There is the additional question of "what is a frame", but I would define a frame as any comb supporting structure that does not rely solely on the bees to maintain the appropriate beespace to keep the comb moveable.
Another way of categorising hives is by
whether they are modular. By modular I mean the ability to expand or contract the hive space by adding or removing hive body parts. Most skeps and tubular hives are non-modular (i.e. they have one size and one size only, and you can't make more room without dramatically altering the hive design). A Kenyan-style topbar hive is also non-modular, because you can't put supers on it (unless you alter the design of the top-bars). Long Langstroths are mostly non-modular, because you can't expand the brood nest by adding more brood boxes, but due to the fact that it uses frames instead of top-bars, you can add supers. A Golz hive is non-modular, and so is the bienenkiste.
Some hives are
partially modular, i.e. they have a fixed-size brood box and then you can add supers to it. Examples include the einraumbeute, the Dartington, and the long deep Langstroth. The Perone hive is also partially modular (the brood section is a fixed sized box, and also happens to be a fixed-comb section, and you can add supers, which happen to use moveable comb). But most hives used by commercial and hobbyist beekeepers are fully modular, i.e. all hive bodies can be used for both brood and honey, and can be switched around in unrestricted combinations. A hive may have a "brood" box and a "super", but nothing in the hive design keeps you from putting a brood box on top of a super (and it won't affect the bees).
Beekeepers who do pollination or who live in flow poor regions would also classify hives based on whether they are
easy to travel with. Some hives are difficult to close up and load on a trailer.
Another classification is whether hives are
double walled or single walled. A double walled hive has an outer wall which is sturdy and weather resistant, and an inner wall (or several inner walls) which may not be as weather proof. There is also the often disputed belief that double-walled hives have thermic advantages.
You can classify hives
by intended purpose. Hives used for queen rearing look different from hives that are used for getting a honey harvest. You can classify hives on the number of frames (one-frame, two-frame and three-frame hives are often used for breeding or for making increases, 6-frame hives may be for transporting colonies intended for sale, or for splitting colonies, and bigger hives such as 8-frame, 10-frame or 12-frame hives are often used for honey harvest or pollination.
Other distinctions include whether the entrance is at the top, in the middle or at the bottom (and whether there is just one entrance); whether the bottom board is screened or solid; whether the bottom is removable; whether the roof is telescoping; whether the hive bodies use top- or bottom beespace (or both); whether frames have long or short lugs (or no lugs, in which case they're often non-hanging); etc.
Hmm, what else?
Samuel
Topic: How many different kinds of beehive types are there? (Read 3948 times)