RiteHive™ bee talk and assorted buzzz
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No Flow-Through Ventilation: The RiteHive™ does not allow the flow-through ventilation found in standard beekeeping equipment. Instead, it creates a tightly sealed ceiling to mimic the bees' natural tree home and allows the bees to recreate the 'propolis bubble' effect within the hive. This preserves the desirable temperature and humidity necessary for healthy bee brood and low Varroa reproduction. See the Science page for a more detailed explanation!
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R 10 insulation The RiteHive™ design allows bees to control the temperature and humidity more effectively, reducing the air conditioning efforts therefore, optimizing their energy usage.
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Healthier, more productive colonies. Reduced housing stress extends the lifespan of the bees and allows more bees to be available for foraging, improving hive profitability and overall health.
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Winter Hibernation: The RiteHive™ helps our bees maintain a comfortable temperature of 8°C during the winter hibernation period. This eliminates the "chill/kill cycles" that are seen in uninsulated, ventilated hives.
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CO2 Build-Up in Wintering Colony: The build-up of CO2 during winter may induce a hibernation state in bees, further reducing food consumption and causing Varroa mites to perish rather than feed on bees or winter brood.
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Ideal Brood Conditions: During brood cycles the RiteHive™ allows the colony to maintain ideal bee brood temperature and humidity levels, which are not conducive to Varroa mite reproduction, helping to keep mite counts below economic thresholds.
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Predator Protection: The design includes features like the forest floor, under-hive walkways, and vertical entrance tubes which confuse and deter predators. The entrance configuration prevents most intruders from gaining access to the RiteHive™.
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Reduction in Robbing: While bees may still face threats from wasps and hornets, the RiteHive™'s design has eliminated robbed-out colonies in our apiaries, even for smaller, nucleus colonies (NuCs).
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"In the 45 years I have been beekeeping, if I have learned one thing it is that the bees know better than I do what they either want or need!"
Lyall Acheson SSI.2023
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Use as a four plex for breeding queens or Nuc production.
Add your honey supers and simply raise the top and insulating blanket.
At RiteHive, we believe that beekeeping is an art form. We have carefully crafted our equipment to be the best in the industry and offer a unique opportunity for those who keep bees. Our system is designed to enable those who experience heavy flows to utilize supers, while making it easier to care for their colonies. With our innovative technologies and high-quality products, beekeeping is made accessible for all. The hive can house from 1 to 4 colonies and is adaptable as to how many frames each colony occupies.
Stack on Langstroth honey supers.
Queen excluders in place allowing for two colonies with the use of honey supers.
The under the hive walkways.
The perforated channels support the vertical entrances tubes. The perforated walkways ensure that the colony will always have adequate air flow.
At the same time the central location of the tubes ensures there are always active bees at the opening into the colony. When a wasp smells a colony, it smells the base of the entrance tube, not the entrances to the walkways. Being unable to enter at that point and getting nothing the wasp often just flies away!
Perforated Steel Walkways The “under the hive” perforated steel walkways support the Entrance Tubes, confuse predators and provide readily defendable access to the RiteHive™. The location of the walkways and entry tubes protects the colony from adverse weather conditions such as driving rain or wind.
The underfloor entrances are versatile for any in-hive configuration as each entrance can be open to either or both long sides of the hive. This can be helpful when using the RiteHive™ for mating nucs, providing opposing entrances for alternating colonies and reducing drifting between colonies. Closing entrances is a simple matter of sliding the blocks into place with no risk of ventilation restriction.
This shows the walkways under the hive.
Wasp/hornets through the Summer and Fall
Wasps following the smell of the hive, find themselves under the centre of the hive rather than at the end of the walkways. Here they are obstructed by the perforated Walkway and are unable to enter the hive. As the insects circle away from the entrance tube, the smell of the hive dissipates. We found the bees rapidly recognized the walkway to the entrance tubes. Should a wasp attempt to use the walkway, the bees have little difficulty deterring the intruder. The walkway and entrance tube combination creates an easily defendable zone where the guard bees are highly effective.
Horizontal Format
The horizontal format of the RiteHive is a compromise between functionality for the bee keeper and the bees. While bees naturally move vertically within a tree cavity, they are highly adaptable, utilizing any protected space available. We are seniors ourselves and no longer enjoyed lifting multiple heavy boxes of angry bees, killing many, just to complete an inspection. As a result, fewer inspections were done, with more colonies lost to swarms or other issues not identified and dealt with promptly. We recognized that a compromise was necessary to make beekeeping easy and fun again while still providing the best possible housing for the bees. The capacity of the hive is adequate to house a full colony with sufficient space for surplus honey stores to be available for the beekeeper to harvest as desired. We understand the hive is not capable of providing the space required in high flow areas, but is super-able if needed, ideally with fully sealed and insulated supers, which we are now able to offer!
The ease and versatility of the horizontal layout truly shines when it comes to colony management tasks. Feeding is easily accomplished with frame feeders placed at the end of the hive, rolling back the foil insulation blanket just enough to fill the feeder, then close the hive. It can generally be done without even alerting the bees to your presence.
A colony ready for splitting can be readily divided into 2, 3 or 4 colonies by simply ensuring each area with an entrance tube has appropriate brood frames, stores and bees, insert the dividers and you don't even need to worry about the location of the queen. A walk away split without having to walk away! The sections without the queen will create queen cells and carry on business as usual and if a section fails to raise a queen they can be readily recombined with a sheet of paper in place of the divider board, you can provide further brood for another attempt, or introduce a new queen directly.
Mite testing simply involves pulling a brood frame, ensuring the queen is not present, shaking the frame over a tote, pouring or scooping the required volume of bees into your testing jar and replacing the brood frame. No boxes to pry apart to obtain nurse bees followed by reassembling a stack of heavy boxes. If a treatment should be required, peel back the foil cover, pop on the treatment a close the hive. No requirement to get to the bottom box in a stack to get the treatment onto brood frames, just to have to repeat it in another 14 days or so.
A year of beekeeping without lifting anything heavier than the lid of the hive, in the sun or the shade at your discretion, working at a comfortable height, with calm, healthy, happy bees was our goal and we hope to share that with you.
The R 10 Insulation
The R-10 plus insulation of the RiteHive™ is a necessary component of a good hive. The RiteHive™ maintains a dew point that is outside the hive's inner shell of the body and as a result, the internal walls of the hive, like your house, are dry and warm. The bees remain in the warm, humid environment they need rather than suffering the cold, wet conditions found in uninsulated hives with condensation 'raining' down on them. The insulation moderates external temperature extremes and reduces the effort involved in climate control tasks. Decreased work effort equates to less demand for food and avoids winter ‘survival strategy’ clustering.
Year-round, this insulation ensures the bees can easily manage hive temperatures to meet their needs. In our area, coastal southern British Columbia Canada, winter temperatures can be -10°C (14F). The bees will maintain the internal temperatures of the RiteHive™ at approximately 8°c (46 F). This means the bees can move about freely within the hive to access food as required. They never freeze or starve with food in the hive. In uninsulated/ventilated hives, bees are often found starved to death only one frame away from food as a result of a cold spell.
Since the bees do not need to form a tight cluster in a RiteHive™ due to the more easily maintained temperature, the bees do not suffer the repeated cycle of breaking cluster on a warm winter day only to get chilled the moment the sun goes off the hive. This scenario repeated multiple times through the winter often results in the colony’s demise. This ‘onion layer’ effect is often seen in uninsulated hive dead outs. Even the surviving uninsulated colonies end the winter with thousands of dead bees on the floor of their hive, which is dismissed as the expected die-off of the old bees. We see only a fraction of the in-hive dead bees that we used to see in our old uninsulated hives.
However, just as with Langstroth hives, regular winter checks of the entry tubes should be performed and a straightened coat hanger or similar object used to sweep the walkway clear of any accumulated dead bees.
The Flexible Insulated Blanket
The flexible insulated blanket rests on the middle shelf of the top board. This allows the bees to seal the hive tightly to the top board preventing warm, humid air from escaping.
When placed on the top board, the insulated blanket initially lays on the bee frames and within hours, they will begin building wax pillars to push it up against the insulated lid. The pillars hold the insulated blanket above the top of the frames and create the all-important "Bee Space” allowing air, pheromones and bee movement.
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This picture shows tape up for display purposes but should be installed taped side down to provide a reinforced edge to resist tearing when removing the blanket.
Wax Pillars
In the picture below you can see the wax towers on the top of the frame. The bees have built these to lift the insulated blanket until it comes in contact with the underside of the lid insulation. These are the supporting towers of the "bee space" and should not be removed.
The bees will physically lift the blanket until it is pressed firmly against the underside of the lid’s insulation, maximizing the insulation value. The bees do this by forming wax pillars, which look like the pillars in a parking garage, as shown in the picture above. This is one of the most interesting surprises we have had in developing this hive.
When replacing the foil, let it settle lightly, allowing a moment for the bees to get out of the way before replacing the lid to avoid crushing bees unnecessarily. They will have it resealed in moments, simulating their 'propolis bubble', and returning to pre-inspection conditions in minutes.
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This shows our older duplex model. All units now have 4 entrances for maximum versatility.
The top board shown in the picture above has been placed over the foam insulation. The inner panels have been slid into place. The top board comes fully assembled. As this is a metal hive, the top board functions as a thermal break between the inner and outer walls.
The lowest rail of the top board supports the metal edge of the inner side panel. The metal edge of the inner panel covers the frame rail of the top board and protects it from hive tools. The rail above the frame rail is the resting place of the insulated blanket or your honey super.
Building the RiteHive™
The galvanized metal construction of the RiteHive™ is strong, durable, fume-free, requires no maintenance, ensures an airtight top and is suitable for texturing with any coarse product.
The body of the RiteHive™ requires no maintenance, is free of any toxic materials and can readily be flame sterilized’ in the event of disease, rather than having to be destroyed as is the case with woodenware.
In the unlikely event that you wish to store or ship your RiteHive™, it can be quickly dismantled.
Health issues
Hives can be quickly dismantled or flame-sterilized if you have an infectious disease. With some infections, you will be required to destroy infected wood or plastic equipment but not the RiteHive™!
Replacement insulated blankets can be sourced locally or ordered from us in the event of damage. Top boards can be flame sterilized.
Outer panels assembled: note the use of duct tape to hold parts in position.
Propolis
As bees dislike rough surfaces, coating the inside of the hives with walnut particulate triggers increased propolization which in turn, optimizes the colony’s external immune system.
You may use any texturing material you please, but particles of 1 - 2mm has been proven to maximize propolization. We have included sandblaster walnut grit in your kit.
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While this shows an older model hive with only 2 entrance tubes, all units now offer 4 entrances for maximum versatility.
Forest Floor
In the wild, bees live in a hole in a tree trunk, the floor of which receives dead bees, dropped pollen, wax and other waste. The RiteHive™ Forest Floor feature plays an integral role in moderating the hive climate and maintaining a healthy hive ecosystem.
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The organisms found in this natural floor material process colony waste products and maintain a healthy hive environment. In this material, there are thousands of different organisms that live harmoniously within the hive and are naturally resident in soil, decomposing wood and forest floor debris. We are aiming to provide the closest environment possible to a natural hive in a tree, including the native flora and fauna which would be found there and co-evolved with bees. One of the ‘stars of the show’ is the pseudoscorpion, an awesome little guy who loves eating varroa. He and the many other organisms work together to keep the hive 'clean' and ecologically balanced.
A RiteHive™ requires roughly 4 gallons of decayed forest debris, rotten wood from old stumps or fallen trees and some native soil. If this is unavailable, add some local soil to either coconut coir fibre and/or peat moss to inoculate the mix with some beneficial organisms. By including some naturally decayed material in the recipe, the hive’s forest floor becomes home to thousands of beneficial organisms that live in harmony with the bees and add vigorously to hive health.
To watch the pseudoscorpion at work:
The RiteHive™ is fully compatible with Langstroth style equipment and is fully super-able with your existing equipment, if desired.
Whether putting a package, a NuC or an entire colony of bees into your RiteHive please make the move earlier in the day and leave the bubblewrap inner cover and steel lid slightly ajar to allow the stray bees an opportunity to find their way into the hive before dark. You will see the bees fanning at the opening, helping the lost bees to locate the colony by following the scent of the pheromones being fanned. Once they are settled or after dark, close the hive and the bees will begin to orient to the new bottom entrances the next day. You will see some confused bees for a few days but they should have it figured out after a few nice flying days. Remember to feed as neccessary until your colony is established and foraging freely.