Elle Hive™ (*Home for her)

We changed the way of beekeeping and we designed the beehive (ElleHive™) that conforms to the natural habits of the bees and make work of the beekeeper easier (EU Climate Award Winner)
"Elle Hive" can contribute to the revival of beekeeping because it is easily managed by both new and professional beekeepers.
The bee is vital to survive in this world, so it should be used wisely, trying to help its survival and not to destroy it.

The most beehives used now days in the world were designed in last century or 2. For example: The Dadant Hive (Charles Dadant 1817-1902). Langstroth hive (Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth 1810-1895), The Warre hive (Emille Warre 1867-1951), etc. In the time when those hives were designed, the problem with Varoa mites didn’t existed. (Varoa mites first appeared in the hive in the middle of 20th century). The new time is bringing new challenges for all of us and need new approach.

Aditionaly, few beekeepers question whether their systems of bee breeding and colony management adversely affect the normal biological processes of honey bees. And even fewer consider assuring that the environment within the hive is “natural” – as close as possible to that which is optimal for honey bee survival.

That’s why we decided to combine everything we learned in the past 30 years of beekeeping experience with the scientific studies which are done about the life of the bees and nature and in same time to make our work easier. To create an environment and the practices which supports bee's natural defensive behavior toward the intruders.

“New beehive Elle Hive™ and sustainable beekeeping methods – reduce the expenses for 70%. 

The most important characteristics of the  Elle Hive™ are its dimensions and the innovative use of it. The advantage of the hive is that it can be easily expanded and transformed to suit the beekeepers and bees needs. Of course, if the beekeeper intervenes at the right time, the bees will not be left without enough space, nor with too much empty space. It should be noted that the external appearance of the hive does not affect the bee in any way. 

Being beekeeper for a long period of time, I could see up close, how the bees and their behavior are changing. In order to help the bees with their life cycle, I kept modifying the hives. I finished that five years ago and decided to build my own hive with everything I had learned over the previous thirty years. I installed these hives next to the classic hives. I can safely say that a happy bee really does exist!  The Elle Hive™ mimics a natural hive; no unnatural materials are used. The bees experience less stress as a result. The yields became much higher and the bees also became stronger. So, after hundred of Elle Hive™ that I tested, I decided to completely change my methods. I wonder why I did not do it before. But it is also true that one does not so easily decide to change the techniques of which one has already been taught.

Of course, financial reasons also play a big role, but the hive is so simple to operate, tuned to the beekeeper, fast for work that will quickly compensate for the investment even of a beekeeper who works alone like me, who takes care of a large number of hives.

In the book I wrote for Elle Hive™ you can find detail explanation of the techniques and small tricks that I use. Personally, when I test a method I do it on at least 100 hives and over several seasons.

The postulates of Elle Hive

Elle Hive™ is the only tool that beekeeper needs just like LEGO bricks, it can be easily transformed and adopted to perform all beekeeping operations.

  1.  Elle Hive ™ Adopts to the natural habits of bees -   Supports: bees' need for nest scent and nest warmth; successful overwintering; fast spring expansion; easy for rearing queens and young colonies, storing the honey; catching pollen and propolis; extracting the honey …
  2. No Chemicals, No Acids - We don’t use chemicals, acids, antibiotics, or harsh treatments of any kind. During the season we are not using any additional feeding of the colonies with sugar. 
  3. No stress - We don't disturb the bees too often, instead, we open the hives only three times in a season, in spring, summer and autumn for inspection, harvesting and treatment. Stress is a very large factor in life of the colony. There are stress factors present in the hive even without the activities of the beekeeper – connected with everyday life of the colony. The beekeeper with regular visits of the hive introduces additional stress to the colony and it is scientifically proven that after the visit of the beekeeper the colony needs about 6 hours to regain its calmness in state before the visit.
  4. Make work of the beekeeper easier ... The beekeeper have a numerous activities throughout the year that the design should answer. For example, in the autumn the beekeeper should prepare the colony for the upcoming winter and the beehive should follow the life of the colony in winter period. In spring, colony needs additional space in the brood compartment for the expansion and preparing for the main season. Now instead of using the additional equipment, Elle Hive™ is the only tool that beekeeper needs.
  5. Only natural Materials - Zero waste policy, only natural materials used inside and outside the hive.
  6. UNIQUE - based on modern knowledge and studies about bee life cycle and bees needs...

BOOK - How to work with Elle Hive™, techniques for performing all operations during the beekeeping season

  • Made from wood (thickness min. 50mm in the brood compartment)
  • No artificial materials for construction of hive and frames (wire, wax foundation…)
  • Deep brood frame for better development of the colony
  • Width of the frame that conforms to the size of natural bee cluster
  • Vertical extension of the colony during the season with honey storage frame
  • Separate entrances for the nursery bees and nectar collecting bees
  • Movable bottom
  • Adjusting the available space for one colony with adding thin walls
  • Creating young colonies with dividing the space of the hive and separating entrances.
  • Creating the queen nurseries with separating the space of the beehive
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