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Design of a modern frame hive and standards for bee housing

For students

7 min read

Design of a modern frame hive and standards for bee housing

Biological requirements for a beehive and frame standards

The hive design must fully meet the biological needs of a bee colony. A high-quality artificial dwelling reliably protects the nest from wind, dampness, and cold, while ensuring sufficient ventilation. To allow for the free movement of insects and the beekeeper's convenience, it is critical to strictly maintain the technological gaps between internal components.

  • Gap between the wall and the frame — 7.5 mm
  • Space above the frames — 10 mm
  • Space below the frames — 20 mm
  • Bee space width in the brood chamber — 12–12.5 mm
  • Bee space width in the honey super — 18–19 mm

Increasing the bee space in the super to 18–19 mm forces bees to lengthen the combs for honey. As a result, the queen cannot lay eggs in them. A standard hive is equipped with a bottom board, a hive body, honey supers, a roof with an inner cover, frames, dividing boards, and insulation cushions. To insulate the nest, a cloth made of linen or burlap is used, more rarely — wooden ceiling boards. During the main honey flow, supers, which are half the height of a standard hive body, are placed on top of the brood chamber.

A detachable bottom board significantly facilitates bee care. In such a hive, one can quickly install a mesh under-frame with a tray for collecting and counting fallen mites.

The dimensions of brood and honey frames in Russia are strictly standardized. This allows the beekeeper to easily move combs from one hive to another. Standardization also makes it possible to use uniform honey extractors when harvesting honey without reconfiguring the equipment.

Frame type Size, mm
Brood 435x300
Brood 435x230
Honey 435x145

Choosing a hive design and operational rules

Based on how the nest volume is expanded, hives are divided into vertical (stacking) and horizontal (long) types. In vertical hives, bodies and supers are placed one on top of the other in several tiers. In long hives, the nest is expanded sideways in a single tier, adding new frames lengthwise. The choice of a specific design depends on the regional climatic conditions and the adopted honey harvesting technology.

Hive type Number and size of frames, mm Design features
Multi-body 3–5 bodies of 10 frames each (435x230) Detachable or fixed bottom board. Internal body dimensions: width 375 mm, length 450 mm, height 240 mm.
Two-body 2 bodies of 12 frames each (435x300) or 1 body and 2 supers of 10 frames each (435x145) Fixed bottom board. Heavy — a filled body weighs about 48 kg.
Long (horizontal) hive Body for 20–36 frames (435x300) and a similar honey super Fixed bottom board, flat roof. The nest volume is increased by adding frames one by one.
Double-walled 12, 14, or 16 brood frames Double walls (15–20 mm each) with insulation in between. Designed for harsh climates, but inconvenient to work with.

Consider the physical strain when working in the apiary. Manually removing a filled upper body of a two-body hive weighing about 48 kg is heavy and poses a risk of injury for one person.

For specific apiary tasks, observational and control hives are used, as well as transportable bee packages and nuclei. An observational hive for 1, 4, or 6 frames in one plane is used to study the biology of a bee colony. To monitor the daily nectar intake, one hive is placed on a scale — it is called a control hive. The transport and shipping of new colonies are carried out in lightweight comb bee packages.

Bee package type Dimensions (LxWxH), mm Package contents
4-frame comb 475x200x390 1.2 kg of bees, 1.5 frames of sealed brood, 3 kg of honey
6-frame 475x290x300 Supplied without a fixed amount of feed and brood

For a 6-frame package, the standard filling consists of 1.5 kg of bees, 2 frames of brood, and 4 kg of honey. Each bee package must contain a high-quality mated queen. For assembly, it is preferable to use light-brown combs with properly built cells. If necessary, it is permissible to replace honey with 60% sugar syrup. Frames must be placed strictly according to a scheme: brood with the queen is placed in the middle of the package, then empty combs are added, and frames with honey are placed on the edges.

For keeping an unmated queen until mating and for the temporary storage of an additional mated queen, nucleus hives are used. To form such a mini-colony, a special "mini" hive is used. It is fitted with 2–3 combs (containing honey and brood) with an area of 1/16, 1/8, or 1/6 of a standard frame and populated with bees.

A well-built wooden hive should last at least 10 years. Timely maintenance of the wooden elements helps extend the service life of apiary equipment. For this, it is sufficient to regularly follow three basic rules.

  1. Use only high-quality, well-dried lumber for manufacturing parts.
  2. Ensure the precision of part processing during assembly, avoiding gaps in wall joints.
  3. Paint hives on the outside with high-quality paint and refresh the coating every 2–3 years.

7 – entrance insert with a small number of bees. Figure 5. Vertical hives Figure 6. Horizontal hives

Hives of various designs Name Internal dimensions, mm Entrance dimensions, mm Number of frames, pcs. of hives length width height bottom top 435×300 435×230 16-frame horizontal hive with 615 450 330 250×12 80×10 16 – a super 20-frame horizontal hive with two by two by 810 450 400 20 – a super 250×12 68×10 12-frame hive with 2 D-25, 450 450 330 250×12 12 – supers round 2-story hive for 375 450 330 120×12 120×10 20 – 10 frames Multi-story hive by 10 per 1

375 450 250 100×12 D-25 – story

Beehive frames and their dimensions, mm

Brood and super frames Details 435×300 435×230 435×145 frames length width thickness length width thickness length width thickness Top bar with

470 25 22 470 25 20 470 25 22 shoulders Bottom

415 10 10 415 20 10 415 20 10 bar

Top Top Top Side

290 37 bottom 10 220 37 bottom 10 135 37 bottom 10 bars

25 25 25

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