I just built a "bee house" last summer.  It was somewhat inspired by
reading about the bee houses of Europe in the middle ages.  I understand
that the Germans had some very ornate ones.  It was, though, more
inspired by three bear attacks in one summer.  The bear population has
risen recently, and the bears that used to stay in the deep woods have
moved closer to people... and my bees.  I keep these bees at my summer
home in northern Wisconsin (USA).
 
I built this house to hold about a dozen hives in a square building made
of thick rough-sawn wood.  It has a shed roof and open eves to allow
bees (and smoke) and easy means of escape.  There are no windows down
low, but a number of wood hatches that can be removed when I am working
to provide better lighting.
 
I finished the season with only one (weak) colony surviving the bears.
This summer will be the first real try at keeping bees in the new
abode.  Bees do make life more interesting and challenging.
 
Larry Krengel
Marengo, IL  USA
 
 
Excerpts from BEE-L wrote:
 
> From:          Computer Software Solutions Ltd <[log in to unmask]>
> To:            [log in to unmask]
>
> I recently obtained some information on beehuts and I was wondering if
>
> anybody on the list is using them. I saw somewhere that they were
> popular in
> mainland Europe.
>
> I live in Ireland in a damp, temperate to cool climate (somewhat
> similar to
> the UK). We rarely get frost or snow here, as I am within a few
> kilometres
> of the sea,  but the winters are cold and usually damp.
>
> I am exploring the possibility of using a beehut in my suburban
> garden. What
> I was wondering was, does a beehut isolate the bees from the noise of
> mowers and other gardening machines, as I have had a few stinging
> incidents
> caused by these machines. And are there any significant disadvantages
> which
> would need to be borne in mind when evaluating beehuts?.