From: Aaron Morris > Has anyone got experience with big (huge) observation
hives?  I am curious

New Quay Honey Farm in West Wales has a number of hives set up in large,
glass-sided cabinets with access to outside, to enable visitors to see bees
in natural environments (section of hollow tree-trunk etc).
One display is a colony on standard frames suspended from a rail (no outer
box). The visitor can press a button and cause a motor to separate the
frames in a zig-zag fashion for observation. After a short interval the
motor reverses to close the frames up again, and there is then a delay of
several minutes before the cycle can be activated again.
I understand that the bees tolerate this disturbance quite well. The brood
is protected from both draughts and direct sunlight as the cabinets are
inside an exhibition room. Obviously, the set-up is not portable, but then
no really huge observation hive would be.
Hope this is of interest to you.

John Burgess, Editor Gwenynwyr Cymru, The Welsh Beekeeper