Bee House
Lexikon
A bee house is a fixed building in which several hives stand and in which equipment, comb and often also the extractor are housed at the same time.
A bee house is a fixed building in which several hives stand and in which equipment, comb and often also the extractor are housed at the same time. It became widespread in the nineteenth century, after the movable comb made working with individual colonies possible.
The advantages lie in weather protection for the hives and the beekeeper, in storage space and in protection against theft. Work can be done in any weather, and wooden hives last considerably longer.
Against this stand disadvantages. A bee house is expensive, usually requires a building permit, and cannot be used for migratory beekeeping, so it cannot follow the flow. In summer it becomes very warm inside, the workspace is cramped, and because the entrances lie close together, bees drift between neighboring colonies, spreading diseases and mites.
With the rise of the modern box hive, the bee house has been largely replaced by open-air apiary placement in Germany and Austria. In Switzerland, by contrast, keeping bees in a bee house is still the most common form of operation.