Swedish beehives

[2-Wheeler]

On a recent trip to Sweden, I saw these beehives on my cousin's farm. The design looks a bit different from the typical ones in the USA.

[MrILoveTheAnts]

I didn't know IKEA designed beehives.

[Frantz]

So is that a huge brood box with a queen excluder and then supers on top?? Just guessing so tell us what they all are. Did you get a chance to look inside? Don't tell us you went all the way to Sweden and did not look inside....
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[qa33010]

   Are those tops vented or were they designed to fit both size boxes?  Are those the brood boxes that all you have to do is lift it up and you can inspect without actually lifting the supers but lean up on the edge?

[2-Wheeler]

I wish I could have looked inside. But these were placed on my cousin's farm by another beekeeper who wasn't around to ask permission. Not to mention the fact that I didn't bring my tools and veil along on this vacation! 

It looks to me like the bottom (brood) boxes are extra insulated and designed to use supers very similar to the ones we use here. The top cover and the bottom boards look home-made, but I'm not sure. Does anyone else have hives like these?

I really think IKEA may have an opportunity here. The boxes could come flat-packed in cardboard and screw together with one allen wrench. You could have your choice of finish: light pine, dark green or traditional Swedish rust-red.  It sounds very close to everything else they already sell!   :-D

BTW, I was also in Finland on that trip and looked at a lot of blooming flowers, but never saw a single bee! (Granted, I was in the city of Helsinki)

[Frantz]

Very cool, thanks for the commentary. I am thinking of building some extra insulated brood boxes similar to that. Here in the mountains of Utah we could use them. I was also in Russia lately, and I agree about the flowers and no bees. I thought that was interesting. I was in St Petersburg just across the pond there from Finland. Moscow had bees but I did not see anything in the north...
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