CHAPTER 3

HIVE DESIGN

Introduction

The natural nests are composed of multiple honey combs parallel to each

other, with relatively uniform bee space. Bee hives are created artificially to honey

bees for the purpose of producing honey and to encourage the pollination of nearby

crops. Artificial hives take into account the bee space and other associated

requirements of natural hives. Artificial hives may be conveniently to exploit honey

flow season in different areas.

Traditional beehives simply provided an enclosure for the bee colony. No

internal structure were provided for the bees. The comb is often cross attached and

cannot be moved without destroying it. This is called as fixed frame hive to

differentiate it from the modern movable frame hives. Honey from traditional hive

was typically extracted by pressing- crushing the wax honey comb to squeeze out the

honey. Due to this harvesting, traditional bee hive typically provided more bee wax

but far less honey than a modem hive.

Mud and clay hives are still used in Egypt. These are long cylinder made from

a mixture of unbacked mud straw and dung. Skeps which are baskets placed open

enddown, have been used for 200 years. Skeps could also be squeezed in a vise to

extract the honey. Most US states prohibited the use of skeps. (Sammataro, 1998).

The earliest recognizable modem designs of beehives arose in the nineteeth centuary.

The intennediate stages in hive design were recorded by Thomas Wildman in

1768-1970, who described advances oxer the destructi\e skep - based beekeeping so

76
that the bees no longer had to be killed to harvest the honey (Wildman,

1770).Wildman fixed a parallel array of wooden bar across the top of a straw hive or

skep so that there are in all seven bars of deal (in a 10 inch diameter hive) to which

bees fix their combs

While domesticated honey bees live in man - made beehives. A bee hive is an

enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus Apis live and

raise their young. The western honey bee, Apis mellifera and the eastern honey bee.

Apis cerana are domesticated by humans. Apis cerana does not produce as large as

colony as Apis mellifera. It is thus kept in smaller hives by beekeepers that use

modem methods (Kapil. 1971; Wongsiri 1986). The differences in size between drone

and worker cells is less pronounced in Apis cerena (Rulter, 1988) compared to Apis

mellifera (Butler, 1975, Dietz, 1982).

The process of comb construction has been summarized by Ribbands (1953)

Friseh(1974), Michener (1974) and Gary (1975). Once comb is built it is pemianent

part of the nest, and honey bees do not tear down cells and reuse the wax as other bees

do(Michener, 1974). Although comb is composed entirely of bees wax, bees use plant

resin for other aspects of nest construction (Ghisalberti, 1979).

Queen cells are generally found in the bottom end sides of combs, or in

crevices on the comb surface. Drone cells are usually found grouped on the comb

edges (Free, 1967; Taber and ownens, 1970; Seeley and Morse, 1976; Otis, 1980; Lee

and Winston, 1985). Grouping of drone cells may assist the queen in laying batches of

fertilized and unfertilized eggs, thus allowing easier sex detemiination (Seeley and

Morse. 1976).

77
 Worker reared in old cells may be smaller than those reared in new cells larger

in diameter (Abdellatif, 1965 and Nowakowski, 1969). Frisch (1967) suggested that

the comb served as a platfomi for foraging, dances, and the number of cell diameters

traversed by a dancing worker is one of the mechanism used to communicate distance

to a food resource. Gary, (1975) pointed that old comb appears brittle and is

considerably darker than fresh comb. There are many researches that have been made

on the economics of honey production (Cicek, 1993; Akdemir etal, 1993; Habibullah,

1995; Wenning, 2001; Chaudhary, 2001). Pesaran et al (2001) determined the short

and long tenn effect of beehive types on the production of honey.Vural and Karaman

(2011) examined the effect of old and new type beehive use for the honey production

in Turkey.

Hives designed specially for^. cerana inclica cultured by Bee farmers in south

India include the Janatha and ISI models (A and B), made using laurel or teak wood.

Traditional bee hives are for housing bees, helping them to rear brood and store

honey. Separate chambers with frames are provided for raising brood or storing

honey. The frames are designed to allow and movement of the worker bees and the

queen bee is confined to the brood chamber. A. cerana indica living in these hives are

highly successful producing enough quantities of honey and other bee products.

Janatha hive, which is a modified version of the Newton's bee hive, contains

about six frames both in the brood and honey chambers, allowing the bees to move

freely, especially when the hive is crowded. The bee space is often used by wax moth

and other enemies of honey bees resulting in heavy production loss.

78
 During honey flow season when migratory bee keeping is followed, it is

customary to have one more super chamber for accommodating foraging worker bees

that store honey. This increases the hive height, resulting in easy toppling and loss of

stored honey and bees. The entry of bees into the second super chamber is much

slower and honey production takes a longer time. Fastening the three chambers

together is very difficult and requires lot of skill.

When ISl hives are used, a second super chamber is not usually advocated,

instead one hive with bees is used. This adds to the input cost reducing the profit

margin.

In this study a new bee hive was designed to incorporate more brood and

comparatively larger quantities of honey in just two chambers, as in the conventional

models, doing away with a second super chamber. A number of experimental and

research hives have been designed to meet specific requirements.

The success of a bee hive is assessed based on the number of bees in a colony

(population), the number of brood cells and combs that are used for storing honey. It

is also possible to measure the surface of combs constructed within the frames

provided. Weight gain in the frames and also the increase area over specific intervals

of time also can be recorded.

These measurements are used to assess the health of the hive and its

producfion potential, especially, during the heavy honey flow season.

The hive designed in this study was based on the concept of rotating the

frames by 90" twice and vertically orienting the frames. The bees worked lengthwise

79
on the frames, rather than on a wide plane horizontally. The mere change in

orientation was not expected to affect the bees. Reorienting the frames provided space

for incorporating a few more, thus enhancing the brood as well as honey space. The

only change expected was moderate increase in the height of the hive. The capacity of

the hive increased without the use of a second super chamber. The newly designed

hive was tested in different areas of Kanyakumari District.

80
MATERIALS AND METHODS

Based on the existing bee hive models available, a new hive with some special

features was designed for accomodating more bees and enliance honey production.

The newly designed hive is made up of similar components found in conventional

bee-hives, but of slightly different dimension.

Bottom board

The bottom board carrying the brood chamber is 265 x 315 x 45 mm in size.

Brood chamber

The brood chamber is made up of planks of thickness 15 mm, with an outer

length of 225 mm, inner length 195 mm, outer breadth 295 mm, inner breadth, 275

mm and the height, 210 mm. At the sides and the centre of the brood chamber, runs a

support of thickness 10 mm. The queen lays egg in this chamber and the workers store

the daily requirements of honey and pollen in this chamber.

Brood frames

There are 12 vertical, rectangular brood frames, 100 cm long with a height of

205cm. The central and the side beading in the brood chamber holds the brood frame

in two rows of six each. About 65 mm from the top of the frame, there is a small

notch for supporting the foundation sheet.

Super chamber

As in the conventional hive, the super chamber is positioned above the brood

chamber. On the outer side, the chamber measures 225 x 295 x 170 mm and the inner

side, 195 x 275 x 170 mm. The excess honey required for future use, stored in this

81
'chamber is extracted by the bee keepers. Like the brood chamber, the centre and also

the two sides of the super chamber carry panels for holding the super frames.

Super frames

There are 12 vertical, rectangular frames of size 100 x 151 mm, airanged in

two rows of 6 each, hanging inside the super chamber. The length and height of the

brood and super frames are similar in this hive design.

Top cover

Just above the super chamber a top cover of size 225 x 295 x 45 mm is placed

for protecting the bees from heat, light and moisture.

Colony analyses

Number of cells in the super chamber are thoroughly analysed. The cells refer

to a regular back - to - back array of two types of hexagonal cells (smaller and larger)

arranged in parallel series. The smaller cells are used for rearing worker brood and the

drones are reared in the larger ones. But both the types of cells are used to store

honey, pollen and occationally water for short periods. A third type of elongated

conical cells, hanging from the comb edges are constructed for queen rearing.

Construction progresses in a random fashion, several bees contributing to the

building of any single cell and several cells are under constmction simultaneously.

Workers begin construction on the roof or side of the frames, with perhaps, two or

three constmction sites initially for each comb.

82
Counting the cells in each frame

The cells are counted visually and observation marks are made on the cell -

line border, for counting on the next day. The cells on either side of the each super

frame of ISI - A, Janatha and modified type hive are counted and tabulated for

purposes of comparison.

Outgoing bees

The average number of bees going out in a period of 5 minutes in each diurnal

hour was counted at the entrance of the hive. The counting was done from December,

2010 to March 2011. The bees were manually counted and the possibility of foraging

bees getting counted a number of times, camiot be avoided.

Honey production

When the number of bees is high, a large number of combs are constructed for

storing honey. Each frame of all the three hive types are weighed weekly with the

help of a sensitive electronic balance and the amount of honey produced is compared.

83
RESULTS

Dimensions of different bee hives are tabulated (Table 3.1). The inner brood

chamber length of ISI- A, Janatha and modified hive were 240, 190 and 195 mm

respectively. The inner height were 172, 165 and 210 mm. The inner length of super

chamber were 240, 190 and 195 mm and the height, 92, 105 and 170 mm in ISI- A,

Janatha and modified hive. The inner length and height of super chamber were 210±2

and 65±2 mm in ISI - A, 185±2 and 80±3 mm in Janatha and 90±4 and I45±8 mm in

modified hive. Compared to ISI- A model, 22.09 percent increased height in brood

chamber was observed in the modified hive. Only 4.07 percent increased height is

noticed in Janatha hive. The inner length and height of brood frame, super chamber

and super frame significantly increased in modified hive compared to ISI- A type

(Table 3.2).

In ISI- A hive, brood and super chamber contained 8 frames, in Janatha 6

frames, an"anged horizontally. In modified hive both chambers contain 12 frames

arranged longitudinally into two rows of six each. (Plate 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6).

Frame wise cell count in the super chamber showed more number of cells in

Janatha frame followed by ISI- A type and modified hive. The maximum 1385 cells

were noticed in ISI- A, 1500 and 1300 cells observed in Janatha and modified type

(Tables 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5).

The comparative variation in the outgoing bees in different hive models was

recorded (Table 3.6). Maximum number of outgoing bees were noticed in the

modified hive. During December, the outgoing bees in the modified hive ranged from

22.8±1.4 to 89.5±7.2 per five minutes. In ISI- A type it ranged from 23.2±7.5 to

84
79.3±4.7 and in Janatha hive, 25.7±1.1 to 78.7±5.7. Maximum number of bees

108.0±5.7 were going out at lOOOhrs, during February in the modified hive.

Frame wise honey production was shown in the table (Tables 3.7, 3.8 and 3.9).

In single super chamber the total honey extracted in ISI- A, Janatha and modified

hives were 1693.8, 1702.3 and 2374.4 gm respectively.

85
 Table 3.1 Dimensions of different bee hives (in mm)

ISI 'A' hive Janatha hive Modified hive

Hive parts
L B H L B H L B H
Brood chamber
286±2 296±2 172 215 245 165 225 295 210
Outside

Inside 240 250 172 190 215 165 195 275 210
Brood Frame
230 - 165 190 - 150 100 - 205
Outside

Inside 210 - 145 185 - 135 90 - 200

Super chamber
286±2 296±2 92 215±5 245 105 225±8 295 170
Outside

Inside 240 250 92 190 215 105 195 275 170

Super frame
230 - 85 190 - 85 100 - 151
Outside

Inside 210±2 - 65±2 185±2 - 80±3 9()±4 - 145±8

Bottom board 361 ±2 296±2 50±2 250 260 40±2 265 315 45±2

Top cover 286±2 296±2 22 215 245 40 225 295 45±2

 Tabic 3.2 Comparison of important dimensions (in mm)

ISI 'A' model Janatha hive Modified hive

S. No Parts
L B H L B H L B H

Brood chamber 190 215 165 195 275 210

1 240 250 172
(Inside) (2.08)* (-14) (4.07)* (-18.75) (10) (22.09)

2 Brood Frame 185 135 90 200

210 - 145 - -
(Inside) (11.9) (6.9) (57.14) (37.93)
Super chamber 190 215 105 195 275 17
3 240 250 92
(Inside) (20.83) (-14) (14.13) (-18.75) (10) (84.78)
Super frame 185 80 90 145
4 210 - 65 - -
(Inside) (11.9) (23.08) (-57.14) (123.08)
250 260 40 265 315 45
5 Bottom board 361 296 50
(-0.75) (-2.16) (-20) (-81.99) (6.42) (-10)

Note:
* Deviation not significant p = 0.05, df 5 (t - test) ; other deviations slalisticaliy signiiicant.
 Table 3.3 Frame wise cell count in the super chamber of ISI - A hive

Frames
Days
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1 254

2 600

3 950

4 1215 78

5 1385 480

6 832 100

7 1178 578

8 85 1371 937

9 432 1254

10 879 1368

11 115 1300

12 633 1380 107

13 35 1198 585 103

14 347 1321 1007 732

15 1347 1354 1300

Table 3.4 Frame wise cell count in the super chamber of Janatha model bee hive

Frames
Days
1 2 3 4 5 6

1 300

2 780

3 1410

4 1499 76

5 68 875

6 315 1343

7 487 1500 112

8 1178 317

9 47 1486 842

10 592 1240 112

11 1117 1492 913

12 1491 1397
 Table 3.5 Frame wise cell count in the super chamber of modified hive

Frames
Days Set I Set II
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1 200
2 1050 50
3 30 1300 806
4 415 1297
5 75 1280
6 518 1300
7 992 47 30
8 1297 787 847
9 1075 1083 472
10 1293 1295 848 102
11 1297 818
12 1243 613
13 1298 919 203
14 82 1292 988
15 614 797 1299
16 1277 1290
 Table 3.6 Count of outgoing foraging bees in the different hive types for a time interval of 5 niin

n=6
December January February March
SI.
Time(hrs)
No ISI
ISI Janatha Modified ISI Janatha Modified ISI Janatha Modified Janatha Modified

1 0600 23.2±1.5 26.1±1.2 30.0±2.1 25±1,2 28,4±1,8 31.4±1.2 35.2±2.0 38.2±2.9 41.5±3.2 74.5±6,3 78.1±6.3 85.0±7.1

2 0700 38.4±1.8 39.3±1.5 43.7±2.8 26±0,8 29.3±1,9 35.7±1.8 48.1±2.8 47.4±2.1 50.0±2.7 75.4±7.6 80.4±7.6 92.1±8.0

3 0800 62.7±3.1 65.2±4,7 71,1±5.3 39±1.2 42.1±2.3 48,7±2,7 77.5±6,1 78. 5±6.7 82.56.2 86.3±6.9 88.1±6.9 99.5±8.1

4 0900 74.5±4.8 77.4±3.2 85,7±6.8 68±5.3 68,0±5.7 72.U5.5 85.4±7.1 88.7±7.1 90.1±7.5 77.0±5.8 79.8±5.9 85.2±7.2

5 1000 79.3±4.7 78,7±5.7 89.5±7.2 77±4.7 76.7±6.1 82.1+6.3 93.7±7.8 95.4±6.7 108.0±5.7 68.2±5.4 75.1±6.1 80.0±6.5

6 1100 74.6±3.1 76.3±6.2 86,4±7.1 74±5.8 75.2±6,8 77.0±6.1 84.3±6.4 87.1±5.3 95.1±8.2 52.1±3.7 57.0±3.7 64.6±4.7

7 1200 75.4±4.2 77.2±5.1 70.3±5.2 68±3.3 64.5±4.7 70.7±5.1 57.1±4.2 59.0±4.7 77.0±5.5 48.4±3.1 50.8±4.1 55.6±4.3

8 1300 62,3±3.8 65.1±4.4 70.6±5.2 62±5.1 60,3±4.1 65.1±4.8 54.2±3.7 60.3±4.7 65.7±5.2 25.4±1.9 43.1±2.5 47.7±3.2

9 1400 36.1±1.2 38.0±1.5 47.8±3.1 54±3.8 57.5±3.8 61.5±4.3 31.4±1.2 47.7±2.8 51.3±3.7 22.7±1.4 35.0±2.0 38.0±2.1

10 1500 32.7±2.3 37.7±0.7 38.7±4 43±2.5 52.4±2.7 53.3±3.7 42.4±2.4 48.9±3.5 53.2±4.2 28.5±1.3 40.0±2.5 42.4±3.1

11 1600 31.3±0.8 30.6±1.2 41.5±3.5 41±2.1 39.1±1.5 48.2±2.6 40.3±1.5 37.4±3.0 45.1±2.8 40.0±2.8 45.8±1.9 47.0+2.5

12 1700 27.5±1.2 28.3±0.9 33.4±2.1 50±3.7 47.2±3.2 49.1±2.9 46.2±3.1 49.8±3.2 45.5±3.9 54.7±4.1 62.1±5.7 64.3±4.8

13 1800 26.4±0.9 25.7±1.1 22.8±1.4 30±1.9 35.2±1.1 38.0±1.7 54.7±4.7 38.2±2.8 43.2±3.2 65.1±5.2 71.6±6.1 79.0±5.9
 Table 3.7 Frame wise honey production in ISI - A hive

n=6
Frame
Total Frame + Comb Honey
number

1 345.6±22.5 120.7±10.3 220.0±11.0

2 322.2±27.6 120.4±10.5 200.5±15.3

3 361.9±30.1 115.7±9.7 230.4±10.8

4 349.7±28.4 125.4±8.9 225.5±11.8

5 322.6±24.7 118.9±8.4 200.9±9.2

6 336.0±29.9 117.5±9.5 210.7±10.5

7 352.9±29.8 120.0±10.2 225.8±11.3

8 300.4±19.4 122.4±8.7 180.0±11.0

Total honey yield in gram = 1693.8

 Table 3.8 Frame wise honey production in Janatha hive

n=6
Frame
Total Frame + Comb Honey
number

1 376.8±30.5 75.0±6.3 295.3±18.3

2 358.7±28.7 73.4±5.7 280.3±15.1

3 383.3±23.1 77.3±6.1 300.5±25.1

4 488.9±31.7 78.1±5.9 305.7±21.8

5 377.7±24.8 76.8±5.4 295.3±17.6

6 280.3±11.3 70.5±6.0 225.2±12.7

Total honey yield in gram = 1702.3

 Table 3.9 Frame wise honey production in modified hive

n=6
Frame
Total Frame + Comb Honey
number

1 278.5±22.3 78.4±5.4 195.5±11.3

2 286.6±18.3 79,7±4.8 200.3±17.4

3 285.5±15.3 79.8±6.9 200.4±13.9

4 280.4±16.5 78.4±6.9 197.7±12.5

5 273.5±18.4 75.2±7.0 193.9±13.3

6 267.3±n.8 72.1±6.4 190.6±16,4

7 278.9±19.2 76.6±5.9 198.4±13.2

8 285.5±22,1 80.9±7.1 200,2±16.4

9 284.3±19.7 80.3±7.1 200.1±14.8

10 285.0±21.3 80.7±5.9 200.0±13.7

11 282.5±19.6 79.2±6.0 198,3±12.1

12 282.0±21.1 79.1±6.4 199.0±11.9

Total honey yield in gram = 2374.4

Plate 3.1 ISI- A model

Plate 3.2 Janatha model

Plate 3.3 Modified hive

 Plate 3.4 ISI - A super chamber frame arrangement

Plate 3.5 Janatha - super chamber frame arrangement

Plate 3.6 Modified hive super chamber frame arrangement

Plate 3.7 Janatha model hive - Brood frame with bees

'^X^

Plate 3.8 Sealing of cells in super chamber

Plate 3.9 Hive frames

1. Janatha frame
2. Modified frame
3. ISI - A frame
 Plate 3.10 Super frame with support for foundation

Plate 3.11 Downward building of combs in the modified hive

Plate 3.12 Frames in modified hive

Plate 3.13 Bees at hive entrance

 DISCUSSION

hi ISI- A and Janatha type bee hives are in successfijl use for a number of

decades. The frames in the brood and super chambers, the bee space and the entire

hive design are highly suited for Apis cerana indica bees. Any hive design should

accommodate maximum number of bees, provide space for the construction of large

combs and yield maximum amount of honey.

The special modified bee hive designed for this study consisted of 24 frames,

arranged longitudinally, 12 in the brood and 12 in the super chamber (Plate 3.6). The

inner length of the brood chamber of the modified bee hive was 18.75 percent shorter

than the ISI- A type and 2.63 percent larger than the Janatha type (Table 3.2). The

brood frames, super chamber, super frames and bottom board were of significantly

different dimension in the modified hive. The modified hive measurements were

intermediate between the ISI- A and Janatha model. The main objective of

constructing the modified hive was to provide more space for bees (15mm) and

accommodate more number of worker bees to enhance productivity. Both the brood

and super frames were smaller in the modified hive. But the smaller size was

compensated by doubling the number of frames. The honey bees worked well inside

the modified hive, as they worked in ISI - A or Janatha hives.

The top of Newton hive is 280 mm long and 250 mm wide. Height at the

centre is 100 mm and top board slant down towards the two ends. The slanting boards

are 350 mm long and 190 mm wide. At the three edges of the bottom board and four

sides of super chamber extra weir of 25 mm width and 10 mm thickness are given to

put them in proper position (Ghosh, 1994). Compared with the small Newton hive

86
with 4896.76 sq.cm brood chamber capacity (BCC), the bigger hive like Jeolikot

villagers have BCC of 9141.92 sq.cm and Langstooth BCC of 17,690.92 sq.cm were

less prone to swarming and the yield of honey also increased relatively in one locality

(Kapil, 1971) The dimension of the bee box depend on the dimension of the frame

and the number of brood frames, it is required to hold. The width of any gap in the

hive where bees move around between two facing surfaces must be equal to the bee

space for the worker bees. The bee space for the most African Apis mellifera is 7 mm

(Jones, 1999). Kapil (1971) suggested sufficiently large brood chamber capacity will

help decrease to a long way excessive swarms which are probably inherent in the

Indian honey bee.

The number of cells in the super frame were counted for a maximum period of

15 days. The construction of the cells was faster when the strength of worker bees was

sufficient.

Worker cell size of A. cerana iiuiica varies from 4.3 to 5 mm in diameter

depending upon the body size. Worker to drone cell diameter ratio is 1: 1.33.

In Italian bees, Apis mellifera ligustica and other European bee races, the

worker cells are generally 5.2 - 5.4 mm in diameter, whereas the drone cells are 6.2 -

6.4 mm (Frisch, 1974; Dadant, 1975). African evolved A. mellifera aclansonii

construct worker and drone cells of 4.8 - 4.9 mm and 6.0 - 6.3 mm diameter

respectively and rear smaller bees from those cells (Smith, 1961). Newly colonized

swanns of Italian bees constructed worker cells of a precise 5.2±0.05 mm diameter

(Lee and Winston, 1985) where as cells in older colonies can be highly irregular

because of distortion by hea\y leads of honey (Seeley and Morse, 1976).

87
 The bees worked on the frames from middle and reached the side portion after*

about 5 days. The cells were constructed on either side of the frames. In the modified

hive initially, there were only about 200 cells where as in the ISI - A and Janatha the

cell number was 254 and 300. The bees worked from the centre towards the sides

(Tables 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5).

The number of foraging bees was counted every hour of the day for five

minutes consecufively for 4 months and the strength of the colony was established. In

December to March compared to ISI - A and Janatha hive an increased number of

outgoing bees were observed in the newly modified hive. This indicates more

population in the modified hive (Table 3.6).

Honey production is affected by genetics and hive internal and external

environment (Mostajeran et ai, 2006). The record of honey production indicated the

superiority of the modified hive, especially during the honey fiow season.

In Turkey, honey production is increased in new type hives. Honey production

showed a rapid increase from 1936 ~ 2005 and reached 82.336 tons in 2005. At the

end of the same term bee hive numbers reached 4,590.013 and 3.42% of these hives

were old type hives and the remaining 96.58% were new type hives (Vural and

Karaman, 2011).

The modified bee hive is ideal for use in migratory keeping of A. cerana

indica. In migratory bee keeping, the hives are transported to distant places where the

honey flow is high. It is customary to have an additional super chamber to gather

more honey. The Janatha hive with two supers is easily tripped. It is 4.07 percent

88
increased to ISI- A hive where as the newly designed hive contains frames equivalent

two super chambers with 22.09 percent increase in height. Thus the modified hive is

highly productive with an average honey flow of 2374.4 grams (Table 3.9).

89