What hive should I use?

Here's an interesting question you'll hear a lot from new folks over time.

My standard answer always is, "It depends, what are you trying to do?"

The way I look at it, there are no bad hives, just hives with pro's and con's.  Many hives are designed to fulfill a specific goal, like high honey production.

Others are designed maybe for ease of use or minimizing interaction inside the hive.

I ask people to think of what is their primary reason for keeping bees.   Are there any secondary or tertiary reasons?   Put them in order then we can go through the myriad of hives that can be used and how well they will help the beekeeper meet their goals.

For the most part, the most commonly discussed hives in use around here are the conventional Langstroth/Dadant style hive, the Kenyan Top Bar Hive, The Warre "People's Hive" and even the Perone "Automatic" Hive.

While I have listed 4 types of hives here, one of these, the conventional Lang or some variation of it, is the most widely used around the world.  This hive is popular for it's ease of inspection, portability and high honey production capacity.   Detractors are that honey super boxes can become very heavy and unwieldy to handle.  Higher cost of assembly and accumulation of multiple parts and some critics suggest that these hives are more prone to hive pests and diseases.

The Kenyan Top Bar Hive is a horizontal movable comb bar hive.  It is noted for lightweight honey harvesting, ease of inspection and contributing to docility of bees.  Cons of this hive are that it is not a known portable hive, it must remain stationary and honey production is usually significantly lower than a Langstroth hive.

The Warre "People's Hive" is often a choice of beekeepers seeking a hive claimed to be more like a tree or similar "natural" void bees in a wild or feral setting would locate themselves in.  The designer claims that this hive is "healthier" than movable comb hives and boosts bees natural resistance to diseases and pests.  It is noted for a relatively high yield of both honey and wax.  Critics say that it is extremely difficult to inspect the combs and that harvests yield less than Lang style hives.  using just top bars, it is a stationary hive as the combs can experience breakage and damage to the bees if moved.  with the optional use of frames, it can be a portable hive used for migratory pollination.

The Perone "Automatic" Hive is also a "no-touch" or low interaction hive which is claimed by it's designer to also keep bee colonies healthier and reduce incidents of diseases and pests.  The designer claims that it too is able to produce large honey yields.  This is a newer hive design and experience outside of the designer's native area is still being collected.  It is not a portable hive as the brood section is like a top bar with no surrounding comb support.

What is your main reason for keeping bees?  To produce honey?  Lots of it?  Honey and wax?  Pollination of a local garden, orchard or crop area?  Pollination of distant and/or multiple locations?

Are you able to lift heavier weights from tall stacks?  Are you limited to lifting light weights from lower levels?  Do you have time to attend to hives frequently or on a limited basis?

The combination of answers to these and other questions can lead you to using one of the listed hives above or even other hives that you might take the time to research.

Remember, there is no universal right or wrong way to keep bees.  Only the ways that work best, most successfully for you and your bees.

You should put careful thought into planning before you ever purchase equipment or bees.  Try to find a mentor or multiple mentors to get hands on experience with a variety of hive types and management styles before spending the time, effort and money on a system that may not be successful for you or the bees.