Breeder and Harvester
Hives
Some backyard beekeepers are primarily interested in
bees as pollinators for gardens and orchards. Others want
a fascinating nature exhibit for themselves or their
children, and still others want to help restore the feral
bee population devastated by environmentally unsound
practices. For many of these beekeepers, the harvesting
of honey, wax and propolis are not objectives. For these
folks, the Breeder Hive is a practical model.
The Breeder Hive
Beekeeping has many rewards and not all beekeepers
have the same goals. For this reason, I offer my hives in
two slightly different configurations, the Breeder Hive
and the Harvester Hive. The differnces are explained
below.
The Breed Hive consists of my improved Warré stand and
bottom board, two hive boxes with observation windows
and top bars, burlap cover, screened quilt wth mouse
guard and aluminum covered roof. This configuration has
a lower initial cost and costs less to ship. And if you
decide to harvest honey, wax or propolis, you can always
add additional hive boxes later.
The Harvester Hive
The Harvester Hive consists
of the Breeder Hive plus two
additional hive boxes with
bars (no windows). The third
box is placed under the top
two (called "nadiring" in
Warré as opposed to
"supering" in Langstroth)
which are reserved for bee
brood and honey supply, and
when filled with honeycomb,
swapped out for the fourth
box so that the honey can be
harvested.
The Celtic Twilight by WB
Yeats.
