Dear bee friends and friends of the Foundation.
First of all, a happy new year to you all. It will probably remain exciting.
We are looking forward to further results from our ongoing research project on bee health. Winter has not really arrived here yet. There have only been a few days with frost in the low single digits. At the moment we are even observing weak bee flight at temperatures around 10-15 degrees. But it is still too early to judge how the colonies will get through the winter.
We have used the last two months to make progress in our workshop project. Today the first one-room hive left our workshop and will be ready for the arrival of a bee colony in spring, after painting with an ecological glaze (linseed oil glaze). Our thanks go to the hardworking hands that made this possible.
The prototype is based on existing concepts for one-room hives. Originally, this type of hive was developed by a US bee scientist, Thomas Seeley. From our point of view, the advantage of this hive is that the entire colony can be accommodated in one room. Among other things, this promotes the construction of a coherent brood nest.
The bee hive has a size of 85*36*60 cm. It is made of well dried (18%) spruce wood and weighs approx. 28 kilograms.
There are also suppliers where you can buy ready-made one-room hives. The purchase price for a complete hut is between 350 and 550 €, depending on the supplier and the equipment. For our own construction, we had material costs of about 120 €. In addition, there would be the cost of the stainless steel lid, which was made for us by a friend of the foundation. Of course, a galvanised sheet metal lid would also be sufficient. Thankfully, the material was free of charge for the Foundation. However, a solid workshop equipment, patience and some manual know-how are necessary. Building instructions can be found on the internet.
In conventional hives, which consist of several frames, the available space is divided into brood and honey rooms. The "single room" also means that the honey stores are closer to the brood nest and thus the energy expenditure for the bees is reduced.
Despite the advantages, which for the conventional beekeeper, who sees the honey harvest as the main focus, is still much easier to handle, the number of single-room hives in use is quite manageable, at an estimated 2500 in Germany. This may also be due to the significantly higher purchase costs. A classic "Zander hive" with three magazines has a purchase price of between 120 and 200 €.
The one-room hive is a much more natural housing for the bees. Therefore, we are convinced that this further component will support the health of the bees in the long term. We will report on our research results.
Here's to a good bee year 2023!
Be(e) good
Yours/Yours
Klaus Heinzel