Observation Hive Maintenance

[Ben Framed]

For those who have observation hives, how do you harvest honey with the hive inside your home? What do you use to treat for Varroa Mites?  It seems bees would go everywhere in the home when the hive is opened? How do you overcome these and other obstacles?

[cao]

You plug the entrance and carry it outside.

[Ben Framed]

You plug the entrance and carry it outside.

Thanks Cao. I suppose bees which escape outside will simply return through the entrance hole when everything is back in place and the entrance hole is once again opened.

Though I have not built one yet, I have read more than one post here by some of you which have an observation hive, where that hive was a direct aid in answering different questions concerning our bees. Thanks for your reply.

[Ben Framed]

I am curious to see if any of our friends in the North or far North have an observation hive?
 

[TheHoneyPump]

My observation hive is outside and portable. It is 2 frame.  Deep over deep. Glass both sides. It is covered by a 1? foamboard insulation box to keep the sunlight out and help them manage temperature. When want to observe, close the entrance screen, lift the box off and carry it over to wherever.  When done replace it. All maintenance is done outside of course.
The OH starts out late spring with a ripe queen cell, a small patch of brood with half  frame of bees and a foundation frame above.   End of summer it is moved into a nuc and the rest of the operations for treatments and wintering preps.
It is a summertime only conversation/education piece as folks watch the progress from bees tending a ripe cell to keep it warm and hydrated. Their anxiously shaving of the end of the cell the day before, of an emerging queen the next morning, and the rest of the season through wax building and honey hoarding.

[BeeMaster2]

Ben,
My observation hive has doors on the bottom of the removable hive as well as one below that to keep the bees from coming into the room when the hive is not on top. You just close both doors and take the hive outside. I have locks on the front of the observation hive to keep anyone from open the hive in the house. I lay it down flat when working on the hive. Most years I don?t get any honey from this hive. One year I pulled 4 frames of capped honey twice. Each time I left 2 frames of capped honey. That queen only filled the bottom 2 frames with brood. Most times they fill six or all 8 frames with brood.
Jim Altmiller

[Ben Framed]

Thanks Jim, I remember seeing pictures of your Observation Hive which you posted here. It is a piece of wood art beauty!

[The15thMember]

I don't know if you are into podcasts, Phillip, but I just listened to an episode of Beekeeping at Five Apple Farms about the host's observation hive that was really informative about the details of working with them.  If you are interested it's episode 41, "Dear Queen Stubby and the Observation Hive".       

[Robo]

I am curious to see if any of our friends in the North or far North have an observation hive?

Yes, my son did an observation hive in our library as his eagle scout project:
https://steemit.com/eaglescoutproject/@bushkill/honeybee-observation-hive-and-educational-kiosk-eagle-scout-project
https://hvhives.com/olive-library-is-buzzing/

Although it was built to be removable it is quite the endeavor to do so when populated.   We don't harvest honey from it and have not come up with a great way to treat for mites.   I can tell you OA vaporizing was a huge failure.   I attempted it in the evening on a Saturday after the library was closed (closed Sunday too).   I was very cautious and didn't over do it for concerns of setting off the smoke detectors (long story for another day, but I'm cognizant of smoke detectors after setting one off in the firehouse at a scout event and the chaos that followed is burnt into my brain forever).  They reacted horribly and vacated for days and the queen stopped laying for a week.

 I have tried OA drip from vents in the top.   Not overly happy with that either as it didn't disperse well.   Suspending Apivar strips through the vent hole was also tried but was unable to get them down into the core of the brood nest.  So needless to say still seeking a good solution. So far brood breaks from swarming and my feeble attempts of treatment have seemed to work.

[Ben Framed]

Thanks RoBo. I enjoyed your post. From the pictures at the Library, your sons project was an interesting success! Your experiences with treatments was one of my major concerns.  Hopefully you will find a way to overcome the treatment obstacles. I would love to hear the rest of the story which you reserved for another day. 😊

Also thank you member for posting the podcast!

[Michael Bush]

http://bushfarms.com/beesobservationhives.htm#disconnecting

All work is done outside.