About the
Drayton Hive

The Drayton Hive is a deep, framed, horizontal hive that borrows some of the best features of the WBC, National, Warré and Horizontal Top Bar hives, and avoids some of the problems inherent in those designs. Its simplicity in operation makes the joy of beekeeping accessible to those who don’t have the time or inclination to invest in intensive management or expensive extractors. It is therefore well-suited to the amateur, and to those who recognise the importance of supporting our pollinators.

Hive body

This is a box of a size to accommodate standard 12 x 14 Hoffman frames, fitted with an entrance, inspection window, removable floor and roof. The sides and ends are heavily insulated so that, together with the insulation bags (see below) the bees are well protected against extremes of temperature in both winter and summer. Its raised, horizontal structure enables management without bending or lifting, thus avoiding the risk of back injury which is so common among beekeepers. The standard hive holds 18 frames, roughly equivalent in comb area to a National brood chamber plus two supers. Overcrowding in the Drayton Hive is avoided by replacing frames full of capped honey with empty frames as the season progresses.

Frames

The body of the Drayton Hive is fitted with 12 x 14 Hoffman frames fitted with a narrow piece of unwired foundation as a starter strip or with solid top bars and a V profile on the underside (available from certain equipment suppliers). Bees will build their own comb within the frames but, because they do not have wire support they should always be held vertically when filled with comb. Pre-wired foundation should not be fitted into the frames because it will make honey extraction much more difficult. All 18 frames remain in the hive throughout the year, avoiding the need for storage in the winter months.

Division board

In the Drayton Hive the queen and cluster are confined to a brood chamber at the front of the hive throughout the year. During the winter months, a division board, consisting of 12mm plywood held vertically between two frames, is positioned in the middle of the hive to reduce the size of the brood chamber and conserve heat. Spare frames are stored behind it. The division board is movable and its position is determined by the size of the colony.
For uniting two colonies, a spare division board in which a hole of, perhaps, 25cm² has been cut and covered with perforated newspaper is effective.

Excluder

This is a standard queen excluder cut to size with a 4mm wooden frame on either side to fill the bee space. It rests on the floor and is held vertically between two frames in the middle of the hive; it replaces the division board during the spring and summer months. During this period the colony will expand through the excluder to fill the frames behind it with comb and honey. The excluder is movable and its position is determined by the size of the colony.

Cover cloth

The Drayton Hive has a cover cloth made from stiffened hessian and laid across the top of the frames. It will be propolised down by the bees so has to be peeled back to expose the required area when working on the hive. There is a hole at the front of the cover cloth for feeding which, when not in use, is covered by a separate piece of stiffened hessian (see Seasonal Management).

**Insulation bags**

These bags are made from unstiffened hessian, stuffed with dust-free barley straw and sealed by Velcro. Their purpose is to provide insulation against temperature extremes in both winter and summer, and to absorb excess moisture in the Drayton Hive. There are three of them so that they can be removed one at a time without disturbing the whole colony.

Entrance slot

Small (150mm wide and 8mm deep), to make it defendable against wasps and too narrow for mice. It is, however, big enough to allow free access by workers, drones and queens. A landing board is fitted at the entrance so that returning bees can be observed, together with their pollen loads.

Observation window

Useful for determining the strength of the colony and for monitoring the situation during the honey flow without having to open the hive (see Seasonal Management). In the illustration here of a prototype hive, the edge of an excluder can be seen between two frames.

Floor

The floor consists largely of a sump which is hinged down to release hive debris and, by inserting a card above it, to measure varroa infestation. It is rebated and held tightly in place to reduce drafts.

Roof

The roof is pitched to throw off rain and the eaves overhang the hive to provide additional protection. There are ventilation holes at each end of the Drayton Hive.

Legs

These raise the hive by about 500mm, and are made from rot-proof timber. They have to be strong enough to support the Drayton Hive and, potentially, up to 40 kilo.

About the Drayton Hive

About the
Drayton Hive