Rear-Access Hive
Lexikon
The rear-access hive is an older type of hive in which the beekeeper works not from above, as with today's box hive, but from the back of the fixed box.
The rear-access hive is an older type of hive in which the beekeeper works not from above, as with today's box hive, but from the back of the fixed box. From the outside it resembles a small cupboard with a permanently built-in floor and lid, in which the frames stand lined up one behind the other and are pulled out individually from the back.
Two main types are distinguished: with the so-called rear loader, the frames have to be pulled out one after another from back to front, like cards in a card index, whereas with the leaf hive each frame can be taken out individually like the page of a book without moving the combs in front of it. This design was widespread in the German-speaking world from the nineteenth century until the 1970s in bee houses and at fixed apiaries.
The big disadvantage compared with the box hive lies in the fixed amount of space: if a colony grows more strongly than planned, the box cannot simply be expanded like a hive body, which encourages swarming. The honey harvest is also more laborious, because each comb has to be removed individually instead of lifting off a whole box at once. Today rear-access hives are found mainly among older beekeepers who stick to their familiar management system, and regionally, for example in Switzerland.