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fatshark
15-02-2020, 05:24 PM
All quiet here as everyone waits for Storm Dennis to disappear ...

Does anyone have a reference, a link or even a photograph of the cassette-type hives used in continental European bee houses? These are accessed at the back, rather than the top, so that they can be stacked.

I'm preparing a talk for Lochaber BKA next w/e and this is the only thing I've failed to find.

With thanks

Mellifera Crofter
15-02-2020, 06:29 PM
Do you mean the Prokopovich hive, Fatshark? Google search here. (https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_en-gbGB886GB886&sxsrf=ACYBGNSRonJM6LO044WVQYAbT3tiek1RyQ:158178734 8699&q=prokopovich+hive&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwix6p2IidTnAhU4QxUIHWRLBS4QsAR6BAgGEAE&biw=1258&bih=1018)

I thought Alan Riach had a video of, possibly, a casette-type hive on the SBA website - but I can't find any of his videos now.

Kitta

fatshark
15-02-2020, 08:56 PM
Ah ha!

Many thanks. A Google search turned up lots of pictures ... and a quick perusal of the pics turned up one on this thread (http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/showthread.php?2388-stupna-ko%9Anica-dk-i-rad-sa-njom-Whatever-that-means) of SBAi in which the second post, from a helpful contributor called 'Kitta' (!), pointed me to an article on the Slovenian AZ hive on the SBA website (https://www.scottishbeekeepers.org.uk/images/education/AZ%20Hive%20-%20Mark%20Chorba.pdf).

Which was probably what I was thinking about in the first place.

Thanks again

Mellifera Crofter
16-02-2020, 12:44 PM
Oh, I forgot! 2017 and Module 8 are a long time ago. It was interesting rereading the PDF. It seems like a complicated hive to build, but Alan Riach had a go. I found the video. It is still on the SBA website - here (https://www.scottishbeekeepers.org.uk/advice/bee-basics/az-hive-in-action), filed under Advice/Bee Basics. From Alan's video, it also seems like a difficult hive to manage as he is struggling to fit the frames back into the hive. I don't think he managed to completely fit the last brood frame back - so, problems ahead, I think. I wonder if the hive wouldn't be easier to manipulate if you could pull out a whole box, rather than frame by frame as Alan was doing?

He also said making an artificial swarm would be difficult. I can't see why ...?

The PDF wrongly attributes those lovely hive paintings to the AZ hive. In fact, they're from Janscha's box hives of about two centuries earlier.

Kitta