A stingless bee hive design for a broader climate range

The new hive design is light, compact and adaptable. It isprotective to the colony, is made from inexpensive external doorpanelling, is easy to construct and enables propagation of colonies byseparation of the top box. The size reduction of the TC hive broodchamber encourages the bees to store honey separately from pollen,which has been confirmed by honey storage being concentrated in theTC's honey super (Fig. 1b). Hive designs continue to improve (Dollinand Heard 1997; Klumpp 2007) and stingless beekeepers can choosebetween many designs. Although modifications are still needed tobetter protect bees from cold temperatures, the TC design trialled inthis study shows promise for extending the useable range of managedstingless bees in temperate regions.