Has anyone tried Rose Hives please?
On my previous post asking about Langstroths (as part of my decision-making on what type of hives to use going forward now I'm re-starting beekeeping after a few years having previously used WBCs) Patrick mentioned them in his reply:
"There is also the Rose hive which uses equal sized boxes throughout. Might be worth a look if you fancy doing something different?"
I can't find a great deal online (perhaps that's a sign?!)
But they look really interesting and have a reasonable nod from Roger Patterson:
http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/rosehive.html
I guess someone must be using them because they are available from Thornes:
https://www.thorne.co.uk/hives-and-bees/hives/rose-osb
The biggest difference seems to be in having all boxes just one size (midway between a BS Deep and a super). And in managing them without a crown board! So some extracted honey will inevitably come from frames which at some point previously contained brood. Is that such a big problem?! I often tell friends how hygienic bees are and they clean out cells in the brood box as soon as a new bee emerges. And as Roger Patterson points out "bees are moving nectar/honey about all the time and it is my observation that much of the nectar that comes into a hive is put in the brood nest first anyway."
So are Rose Hives a good idea - for both bees and beekeepers?
On my previous post asking about Langstroths (as part of my decision-making on what type of hives to use going forward now I'm re-starting beekeeping after a few years having previously used WBCs) Patrick mentioned them in his reply:
"There is also the Rose hive which uses equal sized boxes throughout. Might be worth a look if you fancy doing something different?"
I can't find a great deal online (perhaps that's a sign?!)
But they look really interesting and have a reasonable nod from Roger Patterson:
http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/rosehive.html
I guess someone must be using them because they are available from Thornes:
https://www.thorne.co.uk/hives-and-bees/hives/rose-osb
The biggest difference seems to be in having all boxes just one size (midway between a BS Deep and a super). And in managing them without a crown board! So some extracted honey will inevitably come from frames which at some point previously contained brood. Is that such a big problem?! I often tell friends how hygienic bees are and they clean out cells in the brood box as soon as a new bee emerges. And as Roger Patterson points out "bees are moving nectar/honey about all the time and it is my observation that much of the nectar that comes into a hive is put in the brood nest first anyway."
So are Rose Hives a good idea - for both bees and beekeepers?