Beekeeping is a fascinating hobby. If you are thinking about getting into beekeeping, especially for profit, you’ll need to know which beehive is best for your needs. Knowing this will tell you what is the best beehive to buy in your circumstances. There are many different types of beehives to choose from, each with their pros and cons. In this article, we’ll cover some of the different options and what they have to offer to help you make a decision about which beehive to buy.
What are the main types of beehive?
There are two main types of beehives, Langstroth hives and top bar hives. There’s also a third type, the Warre hives, but we’ll talk more about them in a little bit.
The Langstroth Hive
The Langstroth hive is by far the most common and popular beehive. It’s the type of beehive that most people think of when they hear the word “bee hive”.
Langstroth hives are made up of removable frames that hold the beeswax and honeycomb. You can remove the frames and take them for a hive inspection. Alternatively, you can harvest the honey or beeswax from the frames. The Langstroth beehive’s core benefits is that it makes it easy to monitor and harvest your honey or beeswax.
The Langstroth hive was invented by Lorenzo Langstroth in 1851. The main draw of the invention was that the hives are made to be uniform in size and shape. This makes it easy to move the frames around and stack them. There are several different types of Langstroth hives, but the most common is the 10-frame hive. It is a box that has 10 removable frames. Each frame has a number of cells that can hold honey or beeswax.
The Langstroth hive is the most popular beehive precisely because it’s easy to inspect and harvest the honey or beeswax. It’s also very easy to add on to. If you want to add another hive box, you can just move the frames from the box you already have. Then, put them in the new box! That way you don’t have to worry about the bees making another comb in the new box. Langstroth hives are not as practical for people who want to keep a lot of bees. It’s difficult to harvest enough honey or beeswax to make a living off of them if you only have a few hives. It’s a great choice, though, for people who just want to keep a few beehives. In other words, it’s great for those that want to harvest honey for their own personal use.
The Top Bar Hive
The top bar hive is a very different type of beehive. The bees build their own honeycomb in the top bar hive. There are no frames to move around and stack. The top bar hive consists of wooden bars that are set vertically. The bees build their honeycomb on the top bars.
The top bar hive is often used by people who want to keep a lot of bees. That’s because it is more practical for the beekeeper. They don’t have to keep as many hives or use as much space to store them. It’s also a great choice for beekeepers who want to let their bees build their own honeycomb. This can be preferable for certain applications.
The Warre Hive
The Warre hive is a hybrid of the top bar hive and the Langstroth hive. It is similar to the top bar hive in the way that the bees build their own honeycomb in the top bars, and it’s similar to the Langstroth hive in the way that the frames are removable.
The Warre hive is, however, a little bit more complicated than a top bar hive or a Langstroth hive. It’s not as easy to inspect or harvest the honey or beeswax from a Warre hive. But it does have the advantage of not having to move the frames around so you don’t disturb the bees as much. The Warre hive is a good choice if you want to allow your bees to build their own honeycomb and ‘do their own thing’ without your interruption. It’s also a good choice if you want to keep a lot of bees. It can be a little more work to keep the hive going than a Langstroth hive or a top bar hive, but with increased capacity it will allow you to keep a lot more bees and that is an important benefit in and of itself.
The best beehive to buy: a quick summary
In summary, the Langstroth hive is the most popular beehive and if you are wondering what is the best beehive to buy, it’s likely this will be a good fit for you – at least in the beginning of your beekeeping. Because of its distinctive shape and size, it’s the one that most people think of when they think of a beehive, and that’s probably why it’s the one that’s most commonly used. The Langstroth hive is the most practical hive for the backyard beekeeper who wants to harvest their own honey, but isn’t as concerned about making money from their hives. It’s also the best choice for the beekeeper who wants to be able to conduct regular inspections of the hive without too much disturbance of the bees. Because of its widespread popularity, the Langstroth hive is probably the easiest to learn on.
The top bar hive, on the other hand, is a good choice if you want to keep a lot of bees and you want to give them the opportunity to build their own honeycomb. If you’re just starting out with beekeeping, the top bar hive is also a good choice because you can learn about beekeeping without having to buy a lot of equipment. The Warre hive is also a good choice if you want to give your bees the opportunity to build their own honeycomb, or if you want to keep a lot of bees without using a lot of space.
If you’re looking to get into beekeeping, knowing which beehive is best to start with is vitally important to the success of your hive.