# What can you use for hive



## wilson44875 (Jun 17, 2014)

Do you have to buy a hive or can you use something else. Like barrel or fish tank or something like that. I am trying to find cheap free hive since bees cost so much. I know problem won't be able to find bees this late in the season but I want to get a few hives done this summer to order bees in January to have them shipped to me. Any info or if anyone knows of place with Honey bees this late in season please let me know. Thanks. Oh I am in Ohio.


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## xbeeman412 (May 10, 2002)

My best advise is to stick to a standard size equipment. The cheapest way for U to go may be a top bar hive that U can build with scrap lumber. If You don't want to go with a top bar hive keep the measurments to fit a standard 10 or 8 frame hive body.

Look for a local bee club and find a mentor there to help You. If You were near Me I would fix U up with old equipment I have replaced with new that has a few years of service left in it.


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

make life easy on yourself and use tried a proven bee hives they make keeping bees somuch easyer on you and the bees when you harvest the honey . there are cheeper ways to get your equipment like buying unassembled hives and putting them together. . in the old days bees were often killed during the robbing of the honey .they are to expencive to do that nowadays get good hives and take care of them and they last a very long time and your bees produce better . spare parts are redily available on n on .


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## wilson44875 (Jun 17, 2014)

hey we live off $726 month before rent bills. So spending $200 or more on hive is kind of not even close to our budget lol so need something cheaper then that.


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## xbeeman412 (May 10, 2002)

find a commercial beekeeper in Your area and get some old but usable equipment from him.. maby even a hive with bees.

Put an ad in the local craigslist for swarm removal and there are Your free bees.

FIRST off get Your bee suits and learn about what is involved before going into the bees. There is a lot more to beekeeping than just having a hive or 2. 

I started beekeeping in the 50s and today its a BITC# to keep them alive through the winter with mites,hive beetles an who knows what else may come along.


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## heyrakes (Sep 1, 2008)

WILSON, you can try a top bar hive. they are pretty simple to build and have a wide variety of designs. you can be only limited by your mind

http://www.beginningbeekeeping.com/topbarhivebeekeeping.html


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I think Alaska gets to cold to support top bar hives.

 Al


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## heyrakes (Sep 1, 2008)

alleyyooper said:


> I think Alaska gets to cold to support top bar hives.
> 
> Al


don't know if you are kidding, but a top bar runs the same temperatures as any other hive. i have seen some in the great lakes area, that had insulation all around them.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

And did they make it thru the winter? that is the reason they don't work in Alaska. They were made up for hot climates of Africa.

 Al


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## heyrakes (Sep 1, 2008)

alleyyooper said:


> And did they make it thru the winter? that is the reason they don't work in Alaska. They were made up for hot climates of Africa.
> 
> Al


actually they did. i really don't see what the difference would be in a top bar, and a Longsworth hive. except for the fact, that a top bar is easier to insulate then the Longsworth

can you tell me why you think a top bar would be any different then a longsworth in cold weather?


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

You don't have a state listed but up here in the north it stays cold from mid Oct to late March with nothing blooming. The bees work up from the bottom box to the top box eating the stored honey. Many a bee keeper up here HAS BEEN SADDENED IN THE SPRING TO FIND THEIR BEES STARVED TO DEATH, IN THE TOP OF THE VERY TOP HIVE. YET FIND THE HIVE STILL CONTAINS 50% of the honey the hive contained in the early fall still remains because the bees do not move side ways.
Insulation the hive doesn't seem to do much either best is to do some thing to keep the moisture out. And I am not even in Alaska.

 Al


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## heyrakes (Sep 1, 2008)

alleyyooper said:


> You don't have a state listed but up here in the north it stays cold from mid Oct to late March with nothing blooming. The bees work up from the bottom box to the top box eating the stored honey. Many a bee keeper up here HAS BEEN SADDENED IN THE SPRING TO FIND THEIR BEES STARVED TO DEATH, IN THE TOP OF THE VERY TOP HIVE. YET FIND THE HIVE STILL CONTAINS 50% of the honey the hive contained in the early fall still remains because the bees do not move side ways.
> Insulation the hive doesn't seem to do much either best is to do some thing to keep the moisture out. And I am not even in Alaska.
> 
> Al


you might not know what a top bar is. the bees work the same way, but in a more natural way. i have took hundreds of colonies from structures. that is the way colonies move any way.
i have had bees starve/freeze out here in NC with our mild temperatures, with the longsworth. the main culprits of s/f is too much space and too much humidity (not enough air circulation). the top bar can be as closed space as the longsworth.


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