Using the Drawhive

An extra piece of kit is needed for use with these brood boxes.

It is a simple tray, in the form of a shallow box, to go beneath the open chamber, so you don't risk losing the queen in the grass.

Also, stands need to be long enough to hold the tray beneath the open chamber

and support it, if there isn't much weight in the supers. In this case, pulling

out the inner chamber tends to tip the hive, so the tray should be deep enough to support the end of the open chamber.

It is convenient to have stands long enough for two hives, with space between them for inspections.

In practice, it is found that the bees deposit a line of propolis, around the

joint of the opening end panel and, only in British National boxes, along the edges of the frame lug shoes. These areas are smeared with petroleum jelly twice a year.

To open the hive, a hive tool is inserted in the chamfered recess at each side, to break the propolis seal. The inner chamber will then slide out easily.

After inspection, the chamber is pushed most of the way in and the tray removed, checking for the queen. Any bees that might be crushed, in the gap, are cleared with a little smoke and the chamber can then be pushed fully home.
Drawhives can be worked as a double brood box. The tray needs packing up on a spare body, to open the top chamber.

Inner chambers can be removed from the outer cases, so it is possible to reverse the chambers without removing supers. The whole point of the Drawhive is to avoid lifting, so it would seem that a big enough single box, or a system which splits the brood, such as the demaree, is the better choice. In the latter case, the hive is particularly suited to queen raising in a top brood box.

© Michael Vesty 2006 all rights reserved. Patent pending