Hello Tom

> I have been asked by my Association to manage a 3 frame observation hive >
The location of our stand will be too far from the outside to allow us to
> set up an arrangement to allow the bees to fly, hence they will have to be
> imprisoned for 5 days.
>
> Will this cause a serious problem for the bees, will I need to ensure that
> they have a supply of water etc?.

Thornes have a new design of observation hive - a 5-frame nuc-box with a
glass-sided box which clips on top to take a single brood frame, which can
be brought up from below complete with queen. A piece of queen excluder
keeps her on view. The whole arrangement is very stable when placed on a
table for display.

This arrangement was used for the 4 days of the Welsh National Honey Show,
again without allowing the bees to fly. However, the whole hive was taken
away each evening at about 7pm and the bees allowed to fly for a couple of
hours until dark. I guess if the weather was bad, then opening the hive for
ventilation would have been sufficient.

I would be unhappy to keep the conventional 3-frame observation hive sealed
for 5 days in warm weather, but this system seemed to work well.
Hope this helps,
John Burgess, Editor Gwenynwyr Cymru/The Welsh Beekeeper
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