All lexan hive??

[Frantz]

Hey guys and gals,
Here is a question for you. One of the other scout leaders in my group is a guy who works with trophies and such. He cuts lexan (spelling?) all the time. The other day while discussing bees and hives I asked if he could cut anything with that cool waterjet that he has. Bottom line is has anyone ever thought about doing a medium or something out of pure lexan? What if each one of your hives had a clear medium somewhere? Like the third or fourth from the bottom or something?? Would give a pretty good picture of what is going on inside without having to open it up..Just a thought. I was thinking about having him make my ob hive for me, and got to thinking about just doing a whole hive or at least a couple of hive bodies to spread through the different hives? I live in Park city UT, 5500 ft so it never gets that warm here, maybe 85 in the hottest of July and Aug so I just wondered. With ventilation and such it shouldn't melt the comb or anything right?? Anyway just a crazy thought. Now be kind as this is truly my rookie season, and I am sure there is some major reason why that can't happen... But I am always looking for things like this no matter what I get into.. Usually gets me in trouble or loses me lots of money.. But oh well... Let me know what you think
F

[Jerrymac]

When the sun hits the comb it will get too hot. If you have a way to keep it covered from the sun it might be interesting.

[wtiger]

I believe it's already been done, but can't seem to find it at the moment.

[Scadsobees]

Brendhan (Understudy) has one.

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?topic=7131.msg42482#msg42482

Yeah, you have to keep it covered.  It is neat to see the comb develop, especially if you don't use foundation.  The downside is that you only see the outsides of the combs.  It would be worth it if you can get the lexan free from scraps.  If not, then you might stick with the single frame width obs. hive since then you can see the whole workings of the hive.

I've thought about trying one like that with only top bars inside, but i like my single frame-er right now.

Rick

[beekeeperookie]

If it were me, I would do it to experiment.  I dont think they would like it with the light coming in.  I always thought they like it nice and dark.  But that would be interesting to see though if you put a made a medium put it in the middle of the hive and see if they will building in there or leave the box empty

[Jerrymac]

Light is no problem. Bees do build outdoors.

[wtiger]

As stated before the only real problem would seem to be keeping it out of direct sun so it doesn't become a solar wax melter instead of a hive body.

[Understudy]

The sunlight itself is not the problem. The problem is the angles make for a great way to melt wax in Florida. You don't have to have a high temp to melt wax but that won't help.

Also you must let it air out and get rid of the plastic smell.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Michael Bush]

>Bottom line is has anyone ever thought about doing a medium or something out of pure lexan? What if each one of your hives had a clear medium somewhere? Like the third or fourth from the bottom or something?? Would give a pretty good picture of what is going on inside without having to open it up..Just a thought.

If you block the sunlight with a board or something and only open it when you want to peek they work fine:

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesobservationhives.htm#pictures

[JP]

If it were me, I would do it to experiment.  I dont think they would like it with the light coming in.  I always thought they like it nice and dark.  But that would be interesting to see though if you put a made a medium put it in the middle of the hive and see if they will building in there or leave the box empty

Normally they build inside of a void space but sometimes they build an exposed hive:






....JP

[beekeeperookie]

I understand your point on the hives are sometimes exposed to the sun, I am assuming they would prefer the darkness hive boxes over the clear one.

[Michael Bush]

If you have a "window" open to the sun it's like the inside of your car, or, even more like a "solar wax melter".  Therein lies the problem.

[watercarving]

My dad built a hive out of a glass aquarium. Was really cool to watch. We left it on the front porch in the shade. They never seemed bothered by the light.

[Michael Bush]

As long as it's in the shade it will do fine.  Direct sun for even a short period will collapse the hive and kill the bees.