Passive solar honeybee hive heaters

There's a company on Indiegogo who patented a basic passive solar window heater adapted to a Langstroth beehive. Genius!

Watch the video here... HiveHeater Video

I've been intrigued with the thought of passive solar heat since the back of my house gets some nice southern exposure in the winter time. I'm also getting into beekeeping this year, and thinking that since our northern Indiana winters can be harsh, having a passive solar hive warmer might bee a good idea if I don't want my bees to die when it gets -10 F outside.

Light me up with comments if you like. I'm posting this mostly to spread the word, because combining two ideas for a new outcome excites me. For the price of some wood scraps, black paint, wire screen, and a piece of glass or plexi, overwintering your bees could become a lot easier!

j

p.s. I'm not involved with Honey Haven Supply or the HiveHeater in any way. I don't get kickbacks or pay for affiliate links. I posted the URL simply so you can see how the heater works. Any action you take on their site is your bees-ness. ;)

I'm a huge fan of those type of passive solar heaters.  I think they are fantastic for a number of applications, but I wouldn't personally use one on my bee hives.  I would be very concerned about large temperature fluctuations between day/night and sunny/overcast days.  A small solar heater can create a large amount of heat very quickly.  Not only will the temperatures fluctuate greatly, they could very well get warm enough on a sunny day to melt the wax, and that would be catastrophic.

I live in a much colder climate than you do, so I am building a bunch of insulated Layens hives.  You may want to consider one.  Layens hives have some real advantages over Langstroth for non-commercial bee keepers.  Best of luck to you with the new hobby!

Insulated Layens hive build plans

they’re only for winter… I’d have the same reservations, the other three seasons. They’ve done extensive testing over the last three years. I’ll still do more research. Thanks for your input! Yes, I’ve been looking at Layens hives, too. If I get up the gumption, I may build an insulated one and test it out. For now, I’m just awaiting the arrival of my bee package at the end of the month. That is, if I don’t get a swarm first. Everything is set up, and I put Swarm Commander near the entrance and on the back of one of the frames. If I get a swarm first, I’ll just get another hive for the package. I’ve already got some built-up frames from a beekeeper in my local club. I’m also looking at Bluetooth thermometer/hygrometers to monitor winter temps inside the hive.

I couldn't tell from the video, so I contacted the company.  I'm curious if they have a mechanism in place to stop the air flow from reversing when the sun isn't hitting the heater, and it is colder than the hive temperature.  Generally solar heaters either have a flap that closes stopping the air flow from reversing, or a cold trap built into the frame.  If that isn't taken care of somehow, at night the flow will reverse, pulling warm air from the hive and replacing it with cold air.  I'm interested in what their solution was to that issue.

If you do get one of these and try it, I hope you post your results, I'm very curious to see how it works out.

My bees are due to arrive end of month also, and, like you, I'm hoping to catch a couple swarms this year.  I've never put out swarm traps before so I have no idea if I will get any.  We are probably a month out before I expect much bee activity here.

I’ve wondered for many years about adding heat to bees and bats. I think that altering their environment might not be good; their hibernation/cycles end and it’s not as warm as it is in their enclosures, they might come out and find theirs no food yet.

Trace Oswald wrote:I couldn't tell from the video, so I contacted the company.  I'm curious if they have a mechanism in place to stop the air flow from reversing when the sun isn't hitting the heater, and it is colder than the hive temperature.  Generally solar heaters either have a flap that closes stopping the air flow from reversing, or a cold trap built into the frame.  If that isn't taken care of somehow, at night the flow will reverse, pulling warm air from the hive and replacing it with cold air.  I'm interested in what their solution was to that issue.

If you do get one of these and try it, I hope you post your results, I'm very curious to see how it works out.

My bees are due to arrive end of month also, and, like you, I'm hoping to catch a couple swarms this year.  I've never put out swarm traps before so I have no idea if I will get any.  We are probably a month out before I expect much bee activity here.

It should not need the mechanism to stop reverse flow because entry and exit from the collector are at the same level.  It might help if the top say 2" of the hive were the same wood as the frame work rather than glass but as built it is a cold trap that should mostly stop circulating when the sun goes down.

Here is a good old video on such systems.  This website has been down for a while but I am using internet way back to get to it.  The pictures of this heater would make it a type 2 heater by the video.  Notice where the heat is.  Basically it is turning the mass in the super into a radiative ceiling for the hive.

folded path collector.

Now my solar home post might be of interest here.  I already put a link to a good folded path collector in another response.  Here is the link to my active air post here on permies.

active air solar collector.