The Buzz on Beekeeping: Choosing a Type of Beehive for Your Colony

In our last post, we discussed beekeeping clothing and equipment. Now let’s talk about a home for your bees …

Most new beekeepers purchase hive components ready to assemble, but it’s certainly possible to build your own hive. If you do, it is very important to follow the exact measurements for the type of hive you desire. Incorrect hive dimensions result in honeycomb being built where it is not wanted—from the beekeeper’s perspective, at least!

3 Best Types of Hives

1. Langstroth Hive:

The Langstroth hive (pictured below) is the most common style in use today and a favorite for new beekeepers. Rev. Lorenzo Langstroth patented the design in the mid-19th century. It features removable frames that the bees build comb in. Langstroth hives consist of boxes that stack on top of each other. 

Parts of a Langstroth Hive

• Outer/Telescoping Cover—This cover keeps the whole hive dry from rain, similar to a roof on a house.
• Inner Cover—The inner cover fits between the top hive box and the outer cover. It provides insulation and prevents frames from sticking to the outer cover. It can be used with a bee escape when harvesting honey.
• Shallow/Honey Super—Shallow supers are the most commonly used size for honey production. 
• Queen Excluder—This optional piece of equipment allows only worker bees to pass through, keeping the queen and drones away from the honey. It prevents the queen from laying eggs in the honey collection supers. Not every beekeeper uses an excluder.  
• Frames—Removable frames (wooden or plastic) fit into the hive boxes. Frames come in different sizes to fit the three different sizes of supers. Bees build honeycomb inside the wooden frames (often using beeswax foundation or plastic foundation as a guide). The comb cells hold young bees, pollen, nectar, and honey.
• Foundation—Most beekeepers use sheets of beeswax (or plastic) foundation as a guide inside the frames. This helps to encourage the bees to build straight comb inside the frames.
• Brood Chamber (Also called deep super or brood box)—The brood box contains larger frames than the shallow super. Here, the queen lays eggs for the next generation of bees. In this maternity ward, nurse bees care for the young.
• Bottom Board—The base of the hive. Bottom boards are available with a solid bottom or a screened bottom. 

A Langstroth hive can contain any combination of the three sizes of super boxes: deeps/brood, mediums, or shallows.   

2. Top Bar Hive

The top bar hive is the oldest hive design in the world. A horizontal top bar hive features wooden bars laid along the long box’s top. One-piece bars are used instead of the 4-sided wooden frames of the Langstroth design. The honeybees build comb down from the top bars. No foundation is required, but the hive should be lifted off the ground with a stand.

There are several advantages to a top bar hive. In addition to not needing foundation sheets, there are no wooden frames to assemble. Perhaps the biggest draw of the top bar hive: no heavy lifting. Unlike the Langstroth hive, which requires moving several heavy hive boxes, managing a top bar hive is much easier on the beekeeper’s back.

Top bar beekeeping does have a few challenges, however. For example, a centrifugal honey extractor can not be used to remove honey from the natural comb, so the comb and honey must both be removed from the bar. This results in the honey bees having to make new comb each year. In general, top bar hives also require more frequent inspections to prevent overcrowding/swarming. 

This type of hive can produce honey, but it is a favorite for beekeepers who want hives solely for pollination.

3. Warre Hive

The Warre (war-RAY) hive, created by Émile Warré in the mid-20th century, is another top-bar design. Instead of being a long horizontal top-bar hive, the Warre hive is called a vertical top-bar hive. Identically sized stacked boxes have no frames or foundation sheets. Bees build honeycomb down from top bars placed within each box. 

Beekeepers using the Warre style often “bottom-super” their hives: instead of putting empty boxes on top to give the colony more overhead room, they place empty boxes at the bottom of the stack. They feel this arrangement better mimics bee life in the wild.

These are the three most popular hive designs, but every style has pros and cons! It is up to you to decide which type of beehive best suits your goals and management style. Closely follow plan directions if you choose to build your own bee hive of any style. Improperly built bee hives result in wayward comb, difficult inspections, and angry bees (and, soon, stung beekeepers). 

Painting Your Hive

Painting your hive protects the wood and will last longer. Traditionally, most hives are white to reflect the sun. Today, you can find hives in all colors. 

Lighter colors are best for hives in Southern climates due to the possibility of overheating in the sun. Any water-based (Latex) paint will do well. Only paint the outside surfaces of the bee hive.

Now that you’ve got your supplies, set up a beehive and know what you’re in for, and learn where to get your bees.

Beekeeping 101: Raising Honey Bees in Your Backyard

Read through our Beekeeping 101 series to get an overview of backyard beekeeping:

1. Should You Raise Honey Bees?
2. Planning for Honey Bees
3. Beekeeping Supplies, Clothing, and Equipment
4. Choosing a Type of Beehive (You are here.)
5. Where to Get Honey Bees
6. Harvesting Honey
7. Common Bee Pests and Diseases