Beehaus

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News UK August 2009[]

Omlet and Natural England introduce the new ‘Beehaus’ urban beehive, August 5 ^[1]

The ‘Beehaus’ is developed with the help of leading beekeepers to be a 21st century home for bees and has urban spaces very much in mind.

Bees fly up to 3 miles from the hive and when there is a good flow the bees will need extra storage space The Beehaus has twice the room of a traditional hive; with plenty of space for the colony to grow the likelihood of the bees swarming is greatly reduced. It comes with four honey boxes; each can store up to 7kg of honey at a time.

The Beehaus comes with legs to keep the bees out of the coldest air in winter when they are hibernating; the legs raise the hive to a comfortable height for the beekeeper, which makes inspecting the hive much easier. It has a mesh floor that provides year round ventilation helping the bees to maintain a hygienic home; the mesh floor assists the beekeeper in controlling the varroa mite by allowing fallen mite to drop away from the hive.

The first Beehaus will be installed on Natural England’s office roof in Victoria, London, overlooking Westminster Cathedral.

Quotes[]

“There is no reason why our towns and cities should exist as wildlife deserts - wildlife can thrive when we design our urban areas with nature in mind and the Beehaus is a great example of how easy it is for anyone to bring the natural world closer to their doorstep.” Dr Tom Tew, Chief Scientist for Natural England