I have always designed my OHs to sit on a rather permanent base. Then,
built into the base, and the entrance of the OH were "cutoff slides", or
devices to block the passage way. In this manner, I could keep the bees
from escaping out of the hive, and also from entering the room through
the passage tube coming from outside. I had one of my OHs in a small
breakfast nook off my kitchen, which protruded out in a bay like fashion
with 3 windows. On a lark one time, I decided to work the OH right in the
kitchen, (I should tell you that I'm not married......anymore!). Anyhow
it worked OK until the ladies got a bit disturbed by all of my antics,
and before you know it, the kitchen was full of them. Fortunately,
however, I just opened the windows, and before you know it, they all flew
out the windows and tried to re-enter the hive via the entrance tube
(which was now blocked). Now, I just put in my slides, blocking the
entrances, take the whole shebangs outside and take care of business.
One last comment, I read where someone mentioned the OHs weren't meant to
house the bees very long and it would be lucky if they lasted the summer.
I sure never had that problem........I kept having to "harvest" brood and
honey, replacing it with foundation just to keep the thing from bursting
at the seams from growth.
Enjoy your OH. You WILL see things in there that you won't in a regular
hive. One reason is that you don't get to see the ventral (belly) side of
bees any other way. I discovered that varroa much prefer to hitch rides
on bee's bellies, and it was really cool to see the wax producers skitter
around with all those scales hanging from their abdomens!
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