Traditional Hives

Traditional hives are hives without movable frames in which the bees build their comb directly onto the inner surface of the body: hollowed logs, straw and willow skeps, clay pipes, cork and wooden boxes are the main ones. In Türkiye this group is generally called karakovan. They are cheap and can be made from local materials, but because the colony cannot be inspected, disease and varroa control is impossible.

What is a traditional hive?

Before movable-frame hives became widespread in the mid-19th century, beekeeping was practised for thousands of years with fixed-comb hives. In these hives the bees build comb freely from the ceiling and walls; the combs are attached to the hive and cannot be taken out and inspected. Honey can only be taken by cutting out the combs.

Today these hives are still used in rural parts of Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe; in many parts of Europe they are preserved as cultural heritage in museums and open-air village museums.

Traditional hives in Türkiye: the karakovan

• Log and board karakovan: A hollowed tree trunk or a box made of thick boards. In the eastern Black Sea region they are hung in trees and on poles in the forest to protect them from bears.
• Wicker hive: A body woven from twigs and plastered with mud and animal dung; formerly used in many parts of Anatolia.
• Clay hive: Tube-shaped hives made of clay; in hot, dry regions they are stacked in stone shelters or inside walls. The thick clay wall provides insulation against the summer heat.

Types of traditional hive around the world

Straw and willow skeps

For centuries the most common hive in Europe was the bell-shaped straw skep. Skeps woven from willow were plastered with mud and dung to keep out the rain. Skeps were placed in wall niches (bee boles) or under shelters to protect them from rain.

Log and tree hives

Hollowed logs are used both horizontally and vertically. In the tree beekeeping practised in Eastern Europe and Russia, a cavity is cut into the trunk of a living tree and closed with a lid; this tradition is preserved today as cultural heritage. In East Africa, long log or bark hives are hung from tree branches.

Clay, cork and other materials

In the Middle East and around the Mediterranean, clay pipes have been used for thousands of years; the pipes are stacked side by side and on top of each other and then covered. In the Iberian Peninsula and southern France, hives made from cork oak bark were common.

Advantages of traditional hives

• Low cost: They can be made from local materials without tools.
• Climate adaptation: Thick log and clay walls provide good insulation; some types have been adapted to local conditions over centuries.
• Cultural value: They keep regional beekeeping knowledge and crafts alive.
• Natural comb: The bees build comb to their own cell size; it gives a valuable product as comb honey.

The basic limitation of traditional hives: no inspection

Because the comb is fixed, the colony cannot be inspected in detail. The consequences are serious:

• Disease goes unseen: American and European foulbrood are not noticed until they have spread; a diseased hive becomes a source of infection for the surrounding area through robbing.
• Varroa cannot be monitored: Mite levels cannot be measured and treatment cannot be applied effectively.
• No queen management: An old or poor queen cannot be replaced; splitting and uniting are impossible.
• Comb cannot be renewed: Pathogens and residues build up in old comb.
• The harvest is destructive: Honey is taken by cutting out the comb; the colony has to put in the work again. In the past, in some areas the colony was even killed with sulphur for the harvest; this practice has now been abandoned.

Moving from a traditional hive to a framed hive

The switch brings clear gains in colony health and yield. There are two ways:

Transfer (cutting and tying in)

1. Choose a day when the colony is strong, the weather is warm and the nectar flow is on.
2. Open the hive with a little smoke; cut out the combs one by one.
3. Fit the brood combs into empty frames and tie them in with rubber bands or string; keep the honey combs separate.
4. Arrange the frames in the new hive with the brood in the middle and shake the bees onto them; make sure the queen has gone into the new hive.
5. If there is no flow, feed lightly; after a week, once you see that the bees have attached the tied-in combs to the frames, remove the bands.

Slow transfer (from above)

The traditional hive is set on top of a framed box placed beneath it, with an opening the bees can pass through. Over time the colony expands down into the frames; when the queen has moved to the lower box, a queen excluder is put in between, and once the brood above has emerged, the old hive is removed. This method is slower but does less harm to the colony.