But around the brood nest there need to be pollen, nectar and honey stores and there will also be nibbled comb, spoiled bits around queen cells and drone cells which take up more room. A bit of arithmetic shows that a queen laying 2,000 eggs a day will need 42,000 cells to lay in, since a worker is 21 days in the cell from egg to emergence.

The number of bees in the colony depends on the queen – some strains lay in excess of 2,000 eggs per day, while other strains are less prolific. When selecting a hive, one of the major differences is the size of the brood box.

Bees do not mind if they are housed in good quality cedar, plastic or polystyrene. This is essentially a space with room enough for a cluster and winter stores, which can be easily defended. Research shows that swarms prefer a cavity of about 40 litres (a little larger than a British Standard National brood box), well up off the ground, with a small entrance. Having attended 4 days of training, read 8 books, quizzed 15 experts, asked questions on beekeeping forums and thought about it a lot, I have written this page to help new beekeepers decide what type of beehive to invest in (and they’re not cheap). As the beekeeper teacher kept reminding us, “… with 2 beekeepers you have 3 opinions, get 4 beekeepers together and you need to form a splinter group.” My Review Of Beehive Types For The Novice BeekeeperĬrikey! They don’t make it easy for us novice beekeepers do they? There are so many hives to choose from and no ultimate recommendation.

Best bee hive