CATDOLL : CATDOLL: What is the most suitable size for native Chinese beehives and what is the appropriate temperature inside the hive?

What is the most suitable size for native beehives and what is the appropriate temperature inside the beehive?

1. Nest box: 440 mm long, 370 mm wide, 270 mm high. 2. Nest frame: 420 mm long, 250 mm high, upper beam 25 mm wide, 20 mm thick, 456 mm long. 3. Shallow super box: about 135 mm high, 370 mm wide, 440 mm long. 4. The size of the sub-cover of the beehive is the same as the outer size of the box. 5. The inner circumference of the box cover: 490 mm, 420 mm wide, 85 mm high.

1. What is the most suitable size for native beehives?

1. Generally speaking, the inner circumference of the nest box is 440 mm in length, 370 mm in width, 270 mm in height, and about 20 mm in thickness. A shallow groove 12 mm wide and 3 mm deep is left in the central part of the inner surface of the front and rear walls, and two notches 120 mm long and 20 mm wide are left on the lower edge of the front wall. The upper edge of the entire outer box is widened by a protective strip of about 20 mm and 25 mm high.

2. Generally speaking, the outer periphery of the nest frame is 420 mm long, 250 mm high, the upper beam is 25 mm wide, 20 mm thick, and 456 mm long. In addition, the frame ear is 28 mm long, the side strip is 240 mm long, 25 mm wide, and 10 mm thick, and the lower beam is 400 mm long, 15 mm wide, and 10 mm thick.

3. Generally speaking, the inner circumference of the shallow super is about 135 mm high, 370 mm wide, 440 mm long, and 20 mm thick. In addition, the outer perimeter of the nest frame is 420 mm long, 125 mm high, and the upper beam is 15 mm thick, 456 mm long, and 25 mm wide. It can be flexibly adopted according to the growth of the Chinese bees.

4. Generally speaking, the size of the beehive sub-cover is the same as the outer size of the hive body, and the materials used are wooden cover and iron mesh cover.

5. Generally speaking, the inner circumference of the beehive lid is about 490 mm long, 420 mm wide, 85 mm high and 15 mm thick. A wooden board 40 mm long, 20 mm wide and thick is nailed to the four corners inside. Galvanized iron sheet or tarpaulin is nailed on the top. There are also two tongue-shaped vents about 100 mm long and 20 mm high on each side.

2. What is the appropriate temperature in the beehive?

1. In some places, the temperature is high, the queen bee will stop laying eggs, and there will be no bee larvae in the bee colony. But in some places, even if the temperature is high, the queen bee can still lay eggs, and there will be larvae in the bee colony. Therefore, the suitable temperature of the beehive needs to be determined according to the actual situation of the bee colony.

2. In a bee colony with larvae, the central temperature of the colony remains basically unchanged, approximately between 34.4℃ and 34.8℃. The temperature where there are young bees generally remains between 32-35℃. In the periphery of the hive where there are no bee larvae, the temperature generally remains above 20℃.

3. When there are no larvae in the bee colony, temperature control is generally not strict. At this time, the temperature of the bee colony will generally change with the external temperature and will generally be maintained between 14-32°C.

Pictures and sizes of Chinese beehives, please guide me...

Chinese bee hives, that is, beehives specially used for beekeeping of Chinese honey bees, have the following specifications and dimensions:

1. Inter-frame bee path:

The bee path between two honeycombs is generally 8 mm; the front and rear bee paths refer to the bee paths between the two side bars of the hive frame and the front and rear inner box walls, which are generally 8 mm;

The distance between the sub-cover of the beehive and the upper beam surface of the nest frame is called the upper bee path, with a width of 6 mm; the bee path between the lower beam of the nest frame and the bottom plate of the box is the lower bee path, which is an important channel for bees to enter and exit and exchange air, and the general width is 25 mm.

2. Nest frame:

The width of the upper beam of a standard beehive frame is 27 mm and the thickness is 20 mm; the thickness of the frame ears is generally 10 mm.

There are three types of nest frames: square frames, tall narrow frames and low wide frames. Currently, the most commonly used are low wide frames. Generally, the width: height ratio is 1:0.5-0.6. This allows the bees in the box to clump together and keep warm, which is beneficial to the management of the bee colony.

There are many beehives used in my country now, such as ten-frame beehives, Dadan beehives, twelve-frame square beehives, etc. Their specifications and sizes are different, but the structural principles are basically the same.

Additional information:

Requirements for making a beehive:

1. The wood used to make beehives should be strong, durable, light, and not prone to deformation or cracking. White pine, red pine, paulownia, basswood, etc. are preferred in the north; fir can be used in the south. The wood should be fully air-dried or dried before making.

2. It is best to use a whole piece of wood for the four walls of the box. If smaller wood boards are used for splicing, it is best to use convex and concave surfaces or staggered surfaces to glue them firmly.

When the former is used, the convex boards are placed underneath and the concave boards are placed on top; when the latter is used, the upper boards should be made into surfaces to prevent rainwater from leaking into the box body due to prolonged rain, thus affecting its service life.

3. The outer wall of the beehive should be planed as flat as possible.

4. When making beehives, all parts and dimensions must comply with the standards currently set by the state or relevant departments. Strive to ensure that the specifications and dimensions are accurate and consistent.

5. The joints (mortise and tenon) between the side walls and the front and rear walls of the beehive must be made tight and firmly bonded to prevent loosening and deformation during use.

When the side walls and the front and rear walls are connected, the seams on the two adjacent walls should be staggered up and down, and the two seams should not be connected at the same level to ensure the firmness of the beehive.

6. The surface of the beehive can be painted with white paint or tung oil to make the beehive durable, heat-insulating and moisture-proof.

The movable frame beehive is usually composed of a nest frame, a box body, a box bottom plate, a box cover, a sub-cover, a partition and a nest door stop, etc. It is made of wood, and some are made of non-toxic plastic.

According to the bee species that the movable frame beehive is suitable for, there are two types: Western honey bee beehive (commonly known as Italian beehive, such as Lang's ten-frame beehive, etc.) and Chinese honey bee beehive (abbreviated as Chinese honey bee hive, such as Chinese honey bee ten-frame beehive);

According to the method of expanding the hive, movable frame beehives can be divided into two categories: overlapping beehives that expand the nest by stacking supers upwards (such as Langstroth ten-frame beehives, Chinese bee ten-frame beehives, etc.) and horizontal beehives that expand the nest by adding honeycombs horizontally (such as sixteen-frame horizontal beehives).

The movable frame beehives used in China mainly include the Lang's ten-frame beehive for raising western honey bees, the twelve-frame square beehive, the sixteen-frame horizontal beehive, and the ten-frame beehive for raising Chinese honey bees.

References:

Beehive - Baidu Encyclopedia

Live frame beehive - Baidu Encyclopedia

1. FWF type Chinese beehive

The inner dimensions of the bottom box of this Chinese beehive are 336×400×235 (length×width×height) mm, and the inner dimensions of the super box are 336×400×210 (length×width×height) mm; each box can accommodate 12 nesting frames, and the inner dimensions of the nesting frames are 300×175 (width×height) mm. Using this beehive, two groups of Chinese bees can be raised, honey collected and syrup produced in the same super box.

2. GN type beehive

The inner dimensions of the bottom box are 330×400×182 (length×width×height) mm, the inner dimensions of the super box are 330×400×157 (length×width×height) mm; there are 10 nest frames, and the inner dimensions of the nest frames are 290×132 (width×height) mm. This beehive can be used to raise bees, collect honey and produce nectar.

3. Conghua type beehive

It is 402mm long, 10mm wide and 7mm thick. When in use, the bee paths can be spaced 10mm or 7mm apart as needed. The bee path strips are used to seal the upper part of the bee paths between the frames, which is beneficial for heat preservation in cold weather and moisture retention in summer.

4. High-rise beehive

The nest frame is high and narrow, with an inner width of 244mm and a height of 309mm. The upper and lower beams are made of thinner wooden strips; the upper part of the side strips is expanded to 33mm, providing an automatic bee path spacing device.

Although there are many types of Chinese beehives in my country at present, most Chinese bees are still raised in Lange's ten-frame beehives.

Since Lang's hives are Western honey bee hives and are used to raise Chinese honey bees, their volume and honeycomb surface are too large, making it difficult for Chinese honey bees to cover the entire honeycomb surface for insulation. Overwintering and early spring bee colonies often have poor insulation, resulting in high mortality during the winter and slow development of weak bee colonies in early spring.

5. Chinese honey bee ten-frame beehive

The inner circumference is 440 mm long, 370 mm wide, 270 mm high, and 20 mm thick. There are 3.5 round holes at the lower back of the two side walls. A shallow groove with a width of 12 mm and a depth of 3 mm is opened in the center of the inner surface of the front and rear walls for the gate to be inserted.

There are two notches 120 mm long and 20 mm wide at the lower edge of the front wall, and a nest door board 386 mm long, 50 mm high and 15 mm thick is inserted in front of the front wall; there are 10 round hole nest doors on one side of the board and two tongue-shaped movable nest doors, each 60 mm long and 10 mm high, on the other side.

Standard ten-frame beehive - Specifications: (length x width x height)

Nest box outer dimensions: 41cm×51cm×26cm

Nest box inner dimensions: 37cm×47cm×26cm

Box cover size: 45cm×55cm×8cm

What are the dimensions of the Chinese beehive and the thickness of the fir board? Is it really good to use a double queen box for swarming?

Could you please give me pictures and dimensions of Chinese beehives?