Indoor Honey bee Hives for wintering and general observation

[whoami]

Hello Fellow Beekeeping Enthusiasts,

I have for the longest time wanted to have an indoor hive that I could observe and enjoy. I've been wondering if anyone has built/bought  one before? Additionally, is there anyone else out there that shares my interest? I've seen a few places that you can buy them, but they seem a little expensive. I do not see it for the honey factor, but rather for helping to support and be involved in beekeeping. I look forward to all of your responses.

[little john]

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?278036-DIY-Observation-Hive
https://cheapbeekeeping.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/diy-observation-hive/

There's plenty more - use Google.

[BeeMaster2]

WhoamI,
I have one that I built in 2011. I is made from solid Black Walnut from plan that I found here on Beemaster. Do a search for "Watch me build an observation hive". The design is very good although in its 3rd year of operation I doubled the hive from 4 mediums to 8 mediums and it works much better for the bees. It is a turn stile hive with the bees going into the center of the bottom of the hive from a 1"tube that goes outside. One year I did pull a total of 8 frames of honey off of it, only because I was trying to keep them from swarming. If you have good strong queens, this hive is very prone to swarming. That is great for learning the signs of swarming. Even as a small hive some queens produce very large swarms from it and last year one queen produced 4 swarms.
They are very educational. You will learn a lot about bees much faster than you will with a regular hive.
If you have a spouse to deal with, make it look very good, like a piece of fine furniture to get it past the "Your not putting that thing in my house". 
Jim

[BeeMaster2]

Here is one of the links:
http://www.beemaster.com/forum/index.php?topic=30161.msg239722#msg239722
It was posted by Specialkayme

[whoami]

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?278036-DIY-Observation-Hive
https://cheapbeekeeping.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/diy-observation-hive/

There's plenty more - use Google.

Little John. Perhaps you did not actually read my post. Let me help you by breaking it down for you.

Questions: 1)"I've been wondering if anyone has built/bought one before?" 2)"Additionally, is there anyone else out there that shares my interest?"

Statement in my post: "I've seen a few places that you can buy them, but they seem a little expensive."

Conclusion: I did use google. I am here looking for PEOPLES responses for the two EXPLICIT questions I asked. I hope this clears it up.

[whoami]

WhoamI,
I have one that I built in 2011. I is made from solid Black Walnut from plan that I found here on Beemaster. Do a search for "Watch me build an observation hive". The design is very good although in its 3rd year of operation I doubled the hive from 4 mediums to 8 mediums and it works much better for the bees. It is a turn stile hive with the bees going into the center of the bottom of the hive from a 1"tube that goes outside. One year I did pull a total of 8 frames of honey off of it, only because I was trying to keep them from swarming. If you have good strong queens, this hive is very prone to swarming. That is great for learning the signs of swarming. Even as a small hive some queens produce very large swarms from it and last year one queen produced 4 swarms.
They are very educational. You will learn a lot about bees much faster than you will with a regular hive.
If you have a spouse to deal with, make it look very good, like a piece of fine furniture to get it past the "Your not putting that thing in my house". 
Jim

Jim,

Thank you for going into such detail. How do you go about getting the honey out? Do you take it outside or leave a window open for a while? Also, thank you for the advice lol. I am not married.

[little john]

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?278036-DIY-Observation-Hive
https://cheapbeekeeping.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/diy-observation-hive/

There's plenty more - use Google.

Little John. Perhaps you did not actually read my post. Let me help you by breaking it down for you.

Questions: 1)"I've been wondering if anyone has built/bought one before?" 2)"Additionally, is there anyone else out there that shares my interest?"

Statement in my post: "I've seen a few places that you can buy them, but they seem a little expensive."

Conclusion: I did use google. I am here looking for PEOPLES responses for the two EXPLICIT questions I asked. I hope this clears it up.

I am neither your servant nor employee and therefore not obliged to answer your post according to your strict demands.

Although under pressure of time today, I tried to be helpful by focussing on your complaint that these types of hive were expensive to purchase, and within a very short time I had found enough information to enable you to build a DIY observation hive for around $80.  Such information is readily available to anyone who uses Google, and I'm sure there are many more examples to be unearthed.  Perhaps I will think twice about helping you in future ?
LJ

[whoami]

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?278036-DIY-Observation-Hive
https://cheapbeekeeping.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/diy-observation-hive/

There's plenty more - use Google.

Little John. Perhaps you did not actually read my post. Let me help you by breaking it down for you.

Questions: 1)"I've been wondering if anyone has built/bought one before?" 2)"Additionally, is there anyone else out there that shares my interest?"

Statement in my post: "I've seen a few places that you can buy them, but they seem a little expensive."

Conclusion: I did use google. I am here looking for PEOPLES responses for the two EXPLICIT questions I asked. I hope this clears it up.

I am neither your servant nor employee and therefore not obliged to answer your post according to your strict demands.

Although under pressure of time today, I tried to be helpful by focussing on your complaint that these types of hive were expensive to purchase, and within a very short time I had found enough information to enable you to build a DIY observation hive for around $80.  Such information is readily available to anyone who uses Google, and I'm sure there are many more examples to be unearthed.  Perhaps I will think twice about helping you in future ?
LJ

You are of course free to respond how ever you want, and your response was technically germane to a specific potion of my post, but I made it very clear in the same sentence that I already did the research into prices. Your response did not address my actual questions. I appreciate you taking time to respond to my post, but you did not actually help in any form. To answer your exact question: You did not help this time so feel free to think as many times as you need to ensure you are actually able to render help in the future(should you choose to).

Additionally, I wouldn't want you to be my servant or employee. I prefer people who can follow instructions and know how to help people.

[Groundhawg]

Hello Fellow Beekeeping Enthusiasts,

I have for the longest time wanted to have an indoor hive that I could observe and enjoy. I've been wondering if anyone has built/bought  one before? Additionally, is there anyone else out there that shares my interest? I've seen a few places that you can buy them, but they seem a little expensive. I do not see it for the honey factor, but rather for helping to support and be involved in beekeeping. I look forward to all of your responses.

I have never built or bought an indoor hive.  I do not want one at this time so do not share your interest.  Well at least I was able to answer both of your EXPLICIT questions.   

[whoami]

Hello Fellow Beekeeping Enthusiasts,

I have for the longest time wanted to have an indoor hive that I could observe and enjoy. I've been wondering if anyone has built/bought  one before? Additionally, is there anyone else out there that shares my interest? I've seen a few places that you can buy them, but they seem a little expensive. I do not see it for the honey factor, but rather for helping to support and be involved in beekeeping. I look forward to all of your responses.

I have never built or bought an indoor hive.  I do not want one at this time so do not share your interest.  Well at least I was able to answer both of your EXPLICIT questions.   

Thank you for sharing.   

[BeeMaster2]

Whoami,
I usually take it outside to work on the hive especially when it is a full hive. A few weeks ago, I opened it inside to release a queen but it only had 2 frames of bees.
Usually most of the frames are full of brood. I only had one queen produce about 12 beautifully drawn frames of honey and I took 4 of them, they filled them back up and then I took 4 more and left 4 for the winter.
Jim

[Michael Bush]

I have had one in my living room for years.  Here's some info on my web site:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesobservationhives.htm

[chorrylan]

... argumentative response to little John. ..

I am interested in building a furniture-grade observation hive (having once had a rather crude but serviceable one) so am following this thread with interest even though I have little to nothing I contribute.

To *me* little John's contribution was helpful and I expect will be later if/when I skim this thread for reminders and further info.
Arguments and people dis-respecting each other are not helpful and never will be.
If little John's contribution wasn't necessary or helpful to you then so be it,  it was succinct, and not presented in an argumentative way so was easy for you to skim and perhaps ignore.
Whils't you are the OP this discussion is being conducted on a public forum and is of interest and help to more than a single person. As such it was poor form and unhelpful to respond in such a way to his contribution.


Cheers,
Laurie


Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

[GSF]

dang whoami, you ain't been here 5 minutes and already have an attitude. The folks on here are very generous with their time and advice so don't get all worked up when things don't go like you think they should.

If you plan to post here in the future I'd suggest that you put your general location in your profile. That will clue us in on a more accurate answer since most questions are location specific. btw, welcome. We look forward to helping you if we can.

[CrazyTalk]

dang whoami, you ain't been here 5 minutes and already have an attitude. The folks on here are very generous with their time and advice so don't get all worked up when things don't go like you think they should.

Telling someone to google something in this day and age isn't being helpful - almost everyone's first stop is google. Not only does it not provide any actual helpful information -  it carries with it the implicit suggestion that the OP hasn't bothered to do any work for themselves.

It's the sort of stuff that drives new people away from forums, and prevents actual discussion.


That "Watch me build an observation hive" thread is pretty great.

[whoami]

dang whoami, you ain't been here 5 minutes and already have an attitude. The folks on here are very generous with their time and advice so don't get all worked up when things don't go like you think they should.

Telling someone to google something in this day and age isn't being helpful - almost everyone's first stop is google. Not only does it not provide any actual helpful information -  it carries with it the implicit suggestion that the OP hasn't bothered to do any work for themselves.

It's the sort of stuff that drives new people away from forums, and prevents actual discussion.


That "Watch me build an observation hive" thread is pretty great.

Basically my sentiments. Thank you for posting.

[GSF]

whoami/crazytalk, yall would have loved (not really) a former member named finiski. After making it clear I was a newbie and didn't know what I was doing, I asked a simple question. What was his response? He called me stupid.

Let me make sure you understand where I'm coming from. The written form of communication is the most misunderstood form of communication. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Patterns repeat themselves. If you think a comment is hateful report it to a moderator, they have the last word.

Back up take a deep breath and let's all start it over.

[Dallasbeek]

whoami/crazytalk, yall would have loved (not really) a former member named finiski. After making it clear I was a newbie and didn't know what I was doing, I asked a simple question. What was his response? He called me stupid.

Let me make sure you understand where I'm coming from. The written form of communication is the most misunderstood form of communication. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Patterns repeat themselves. If you think a comment is hateful report it to a moderator, they have the last word.

Back up take a deep breath and let's all start it over.

I second that and some of the previous comments by GSF and Chorryland.  Want respect?  Show respect.

[whoami]

whoami/crazytalk, yall would have loved (not really) a former member named finiski. After making it clear I was a newbie and didn't know what I was doing, I asked a simple question. What was his response? He called me stupid.

Let me make sure you understand where I'm coming from. The written form of communication is the most misunderstood form of communication. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Patterns repeat themselves. If you think a comment is hateful report it to a moderator, they have the last word.

Back up take a deep breath and let's all start it over.

I second that and some of the previous comments by GSF and Chorryland.  Want respect?  Show respect.

I third this. Let's just move forward and let this be water under the bridge. I can tell this is a great forum filled with awesome people. I look forward to reading peoples responses. Observation hives are extremely fascinating. I'm almost done building my own.

[GSF]

I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to the observation hives but Jim & Michael has some insight into them.

Keep us posted, make yourself at home, and ask as many questions as you'd like. 4 years ago I found this website and I'm not ashamed to tell anyone it was my mentor.