Agriculture Industry

kosher · Guest

I'd like to have a small hive to teach my children about bees and
honey. I thought an observation hive would be ideal since it's small
and the kids can see through it. The question: would we be able to
harvest honey at all from it?

Oxymel of Squill · Guest

"kosher" <kosherbroker@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1178172377.880022.61170@p77g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...

Adam Finkelstein · Guest

In article <46434f7f$0$97227$892e7fe2@authen.yellow.readfreenews.net>,
Oxymel of Squill <sasha42@lineone.net> wrote:

timrowe@eircom.net · Guest

I thought yours was a good question and I don't know why you didn't
get a straight answer.. The short answer is No, you won't be able to
harvest honey.
The reason is mostly down to space - usually an observation hive is
made up temporarily from a bigger hive and might only contain 3 or 4
frames. Whilst a normal hive might contain 100 frames by the end of
the harvest. Bees restricted so much will try to swarm immediately or
perhaps just dwindle..
In theory you could make an observation hive bigger but you'd get into
problems around ventilation, condensation and over-heating, which
would make things complicated. (Heat regulation in a hive is a big
subject all on its own..)
I would suggest a normal hive and good bee-suits all round - You'll
end up seeing more and getting more involved - plus a honey harvest.
But others will disagree - I hope!
Good Luck, Tim