The Stewarton hive is a type of historical bee hive. Extra boxes below allowed expansion of the brood, and thus strongly inhibited swarming and any tendency for the queen to enter the honey boxes, while expansion with extra honey boxes above the brood area gave ample space for the bees to create surplus honey stores that were easily harvested by the beekeeper. The introduction of this hive is credited to Robert Kerr, of Stewarton, Ayrshire, in 1819.
During the last quarter of the twentieth century, workers at Rothamsted Experimental Station built and operated a Stewarton, demonstrating some of the old claims for the design. Others continue to operate the hive today.
Read more about Stewarton Hive: History, Octagonal and Observation Hives
Famous quotes containing the word hive:
“If the hive be disturbed by rash and stupid hands, instead of honey, it will yield us bees.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)