Mansion® Hive

01 · WHICH FRAME IT TAKES

Dadant Blatt, 470 × 300 mm

The format is Dadant Blatt, 470 × 300 mm, the most widespread brood frame across much of Europe. That means the frames are interchangeable with your Dadant colonies: you can populate it with a frame of brood from another hive instead of waiting for comb to be drawn from scratch.

External dimensions are roughly 65 × 39 cm. Before ordering, confirm with us how many frames it takes — what you can use it for depends on that.

02 · THE WINDOW AND THE FLOOR

Look without opening, count the drop

The rear glass window lets you watch the bees without opening the hive, which is half the point of keeping one in a garden — and it is also the least invasive way to check how comb-building is progressing.

Underneath it has stainless steel mesh and a tray that slides out sideways. That is not decorative: it is the open mesh floor that lets you do a natural varroa drop count without touching the colony.

03 · WHAT IT IS ACTUALLY FOR

Nucleus, wintering or shop window

It works as a nucleus — to start a small colony or hold a queen — and as a wintering box for a reduced colony, which is where the small volume works in your favour.

And it works, of course, as a garden piece. The roof opens completely from the back so you can work comfortably, and the step on the façade acts as a landing board in front of the entrance.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is a small hive: it serves as a nucleus or for wintering, not as a production hive. Confirm the frame count before ordering.