Looking back: the Catenary Hive

Text and images from Home Honey Production

Top: Early Catenary hives on a trailer at Fountains Abbey.

This unique hive was the invention of Bill Bielby in the 1970s and was publicised in his book “Home Honey Production”. Published by EP Publishing Limited in 1977 as part of the series of ‘Invest in Living’ - very practical books which enabled people to:

improve their quality of life;

have an interesting and rewarding leisure activity;

produce financial savings.

Home Honey Production by W. B. Bielby, 1977.

Fountains Abbey. © Antony McCallum, Wikimedia Commons.

The Catenary hive with honey super. It is thought that entrances near the top of the curve at the front of the hive give greater security and shelter for the bees. The entrance is a 15/8” diameter hole.

It is important to remember that at this time many people were determined to improve their lives by taking part in self-sufficiency activities which covered many aspects of growing crops and the rearing of small animals for food.

Bielby’s book is still of value today in that the basics of beekeeping are simply outlined and includes sugges- tions on how to take part in the craft without spending too much money.

However, whilst many of todays’ readers of this journal have turned away from conventional beekeeping practices which include the use of frames, bought in wax foundation and the intensive management of colonies, the Catenary Hive, developed almost fifty years ago, shows how much Bielby understood the real needs of bees.

Bill Bielby was Adviser to the West Riding County Council until 1974, when he became the Beekeeping Adviser to North Yorkshire. He was a specialist in the insulation and the condensation problems in beehives and lectured on “The Wintering of bees in Cold Climates”.

He discovered a colony of native British Bees at Fountains Abbey in 1966 - using both the name of the Abbey for the strain of bees he propagated - and the Abbey grounds as a most suitable site for his apiaries.

Given knowledge accrued one the last few decades, I believe that Bielby would have improved the Catenary Hive, to make it a very successful home for colonies today.

John Phipps.

The Catenary Hive

When bees produce wax and build honeycomb, they hang in festoons from the bar which is to support the comb. These festoons or chains of bees, when freely suspended, form a curve. The natural shape of the honeycomb built when free from restrictions such as rectangular frames and square hives, conforms to the mathematical catenary. This shape gives maximum strength for minimum use of material. Bees do not live in a square world like man. They are not geared to the saw bench and the right angle. At honey shows, men set themselves up as judges of honeycomb and knock off points for holes in corners of combs in rectangular frames. Bees are kept in little houses with sloping roofs and given entrances and even doorsteps on or as near to the ground as possible (W.B.C. Hive). Very pretty, and in fact the general concept of a beehive. An entrance at the bottom of a hive makes it easy for every small creature on four legs to take an interest and possibly gain access to the precious stores within the hive. The bees have to defend those stores to survive. The beekeeper makes life very difficult for bees (a) by giving entrances too near to the ground and (b) by giving entrances which are far too large for circumstances at particular times, especially during periods of minimum activity.

The Catenary Hive gives facilities to the bees to build natural combs without the expense and labour caused by using frames, and yet the combs are movable for inspection.The shape of the hive gives the maximum comb area for the bees using a minimum volume of timber and labour. Thus capital expenditure on each hive is greatly reduced when compared with the square hives. But to operate these frameless hives it is necessary to use nylon-reinforced wax foundation to give strength to the natural comb. You will have to DIYS. Thus you can actually be completely independent of the equipment vendors.

Only one size of nylon-reinforced foundation is used in the super and in the hive body. Although this foundation is rectangular, the bees will extend it to form a naturally shaped comb in the catenary-shaped body of the hive. The nylon reinforcing gives strength at the weakest point of the comb, i.e. where it is attached to the bar and subject to great leverage when handled.

The Catenary hive body (brood box) and an example of of a nylon reinforced foundation on which the bees build comb to the shape of the hive body. The foundation is supported by two strips of wood which rest on the supper which also located the curve.

An idea for a queen excluder - slots incorporated in the top bars. (Askham Bryan College of Agriculture). It is not necessary to purchase metal queen excluders.

Construction

Hive Body

The two side walls of 12.7mm (1/2”) exterior ply 508mm x 304mm (20” x 12”) are held in position by two cross members 394mm x 38mm x 32mm (15” x 11/2“ x 11/4”) at the top, rebated into the two side walls, screwed and glued. Two dowels 406mm x 24.4mm (16” x 1”) provide a handle and support approximately 50.8mm (2”) from the bottom corners of the side walls.

The curve is 762mm x 381mm (30” x 15”) of 3.2mm (3”) ply cut across the grain to facilitate bending. Two locating pieces 11mm x 11mm (2” x 2”) fixed to the top cross members locate the curve and support the bars for the combs.

Honey Super

The honey super consists of two side walls 508mm x 146mm x 12.7mm (20” x 53” x 1”) ply nailed or screwed and glued to two end walls of 483mm x 146mm x 12.7mm (19” x 53” x 1/2in.) ply. Two bar supports 483mm x 6.4mm x 12.7mm (19” x 1/4” x 1/2”) are nailed and glued lengthways 12.7mm (3”) below the top of the super. Wax foundation is supported by two pieces of wood 11mm x 11 mm (2” x 2”) cut to length for body or super and using metal ends and/or pins.

Queen Excluder

A queen excluder may be a piece of plastic cut to leave 127mm in. space round the inside perimeter of the hive body for the bees to gain access to the super when the colony is strong enough and requires space to store honey. This type of queen excluder was used successfully many years by the late Miss Margaret Logan, Adviser in Beekeeping, North of Scotland.

Roof

The roof of the hive is again made from 12.7 mm (1/2) exterior grade ply deep enough to accommodate 102 mm (4”) thickness of insulation (polystyrene or polyurethane foam) which should be protected to prevent the bees from chewing it. 1.5mm (1/16”in.) ply or vinyl wallpaper may be used. Inside, the roof and the interior walls of the hive should be painted with a flat black paint or dag to minimise condensation.

Siting the Hive

To establish a colony of bees in a catenary hive use a prime swarm or all bees from a colony about to swarm (an artificial swarm). Site the new hive with the top bars and foundation running magnetic North to South. If your entrance hole (41mm (15/8” diameter) is on the curve, then the entrance will be facing SSE to South. Bees build comb under the influence of gravity and magnetic forces, so it is a good idea to set up the hive properly to obtain the best comb building possible under the prevailing conditions.

The frameless combs of honey can be extracted by uncapping and centrifuging in the normal way. Although the combs might tend to collapse when spun radially, the honey comes out and the comb can be straightened and used again and again thanks to the nylon reinforced midrib. A framed acrylic sheet crown-board is a very worthwhile luxury 508mm x 406mm (20” x 16”).

Nylon reinforced wax foundation held in position by two 11mm x 11mm bars as used in the brood or hive body of the frameless catenary hive. The bees will build comb on this foundation and extend it into a natural catenary shape. The nylon net gives strength at the weakest point of the comb.

Frameless reinforced wax midrib ready for use again for comb building. Honey was extracted twice during the summer from these ‘combs’ and then they were scraped to the midrib after being filled at the heather.

My Experience

I was fortunate to be given an example of one of Bielby’s Hives. It had been given to a school and had been placed on the flat roof. The teacher who managed it was retiring so I was offered it as a gift. The biggest problem came at the very start - removing the hive with a super and obviously wellfilled with both bees and honey. I don’t know to this day how we managed to get it down the ladder and into my car - it seemed to be such a monster of a hive. I asked the beekeeper if he had any particular problems with the hive, his only criticism was that it was almost impossible to clean the bottom curved floor of the hive and that damp and debris accumulated there. My experience was that the bees made full use of the deep combs which were were very heavy and tightly fastened together with propolis.

Thinking about the hive today it had some good and bad features. The bees could build good natural combs and without having to use foundation - some starter wax was all that was necessary on the top bars. Using one today, wouldn’t be much of a problem - if the combs were not built so that they could be easily removed, no matter, as it wouldn’t be my intention to interfere with the colony. The curved plywood to give the hive its catenary shape necessitated the use of very thin wood which meant there would be very little insulation. Also, as the curved body part of the hive was exposed to the weather, it was not surprising that inside of the hive became damp. Additionally, I didn’t like like the use of plastic components in the roof for insulation

In an attempt to improve the hive, I boxed in the whole of the spaces which faced the curved parts filling, them with insulation and added a thick wooden crown board and a solid roof. This done I made some simple top bars the under sides of which were covered with beeswax and in which a souvlaki stick was embedded.

In order to try the hive out I put it in a prominent place hoping to attract a swarm.

Unfortunately, despite this work, my attempts to test the hive were foiled as a bait hive. It was taken over by a pair of great tits, despite my trying to block the entrance for them, but not for bees searching for a nest site. Each time I placed a pin in the entrance they quickly removed it! Nine eggs were laid, then I left them alone and watched as the food was carried the nest and the first flights of the young birds. A wonderful experience!

Catenary Hive built to original specifications.

Above and below: Top bars - flat, primed with hot wax in which souvlaki sticks are embedded to give extra adhesion for the combs.

Catenary hive being used as a bait hive. NB. Wooden boards have been added to the front of the curved sides and the spaces filled with insulation. The pin in the entrance was meant to deter birds from using the hive as a place to nest.

Great tit. The male fed the female while she was incubating the eggs.

The nest in the hive contained the same mixture of material.

Squabs.

All photos from Wikipedia.