• Preface
• Introduction

1. A Simplified Approach to Beekeeping
2. Essential Features of the Drayton Hive
   1. Horizontal format
   2. All round, all-year insulation
   3. Raised, small entrance
   4. Observation window
   5. Roof
   6. Floor
   7. Frames
   8. Queen excluder
   9. Division board
   10. Cover cloth
3. Feeding
4. Harvesting
   1. Honey
   2. Beeswax
5. Hive Hygiene
6. Seasonal Management
   1. Winter
   2. Spring
   3. Summer
   4. Autumn
7. Some Personal Reflections on Beekeeping Practice
8. Uniting Colonies
   1. A case study
9. Who is the Drayton Hive for?

• Further Information
• Home Construction Plans

Reviewed by Marcus Nilsson. Natural Bee Husbandry Magazine No. 26, Winter 2023

Andrew Bax has written a book about a hive of his own construction that is aimed at beekeepers like himself who seek a more relaxed approach to beekeeping. A ’coming of age’ hive and book? Not only that: it might just be the perfect hive for beekeepers/gardeners with a more relaxed view on backyard beekeeping for the beauty of keeping honeybees and not necessarily for maximized honey production; a hive that also makes a beautiful ornamental part of the garden as well as being a good home for its inhabitants.

This book is about a hybrid hive that in its creation, construction and usage reflects the personal journey of its inventor. As many experienced beekeepers know, heavy lifting of traditional stacked beeboxes starts to get hard on one’s back and knees when we reach a certain age.

But age also comes with a lot of accumulated experiences in bee behaviour and what beekeeping practices to use to help bees overcome such obstacles as drought or lack of sufficient stores for wintering, etc. An understanding of bees also leads many of us to have more faith in the honeybees’ own abilities to take care of numerous tasks in the hive, so that we as beekeepers need not to intervene as we usually have done as ’traditional’ beekeepers. We learn that it is easier and more cost effective to follow nature instead of trying to force our way as beekeepers upon it. The author gives many examples of this in his book as, for example, letting the bees build natural comb instead of providing them with frames of foundation. This lets the bees decide how to construct comb but also what cell size they need and how much drone comb. As Andrew Bax points out, "a more relaxed approach leaves the bees in control. Unstressed by constant manipulation, they are much more likely to be docile bees – just what is wanted in a garden hive".

The use of foundationless frames in a horizontal hive has benefits other than saving your back. It can be more economical in that all frames are kept throughout the year in the beehive, so no need for extra boxes with frames that take up valuable storage room, no need for investing in an expensive honey extractor as comb can just be cut out and strained or pressed to get the honey out of the comb without any mess. Frames emptied of honey are simply put back in the hive for the bees to clean up and start to build new comb in. The removal of comb in this way also leads to a rotation of old comb out of the hive to be replaced by new comb, thus lessening the likelihood of it harbouring the infections which can occur when old comb is re-used. As, normally, no frames are being moved between hives, the spread of disease between colonies is unlikely. All of the above will lead to better hive hygiene.

The author is very open when saying that the Drayton hive in its construction is a hybrid hive which borrows some of the best features of established designs such as the Warré hive and the Horizontal Topbar hive, but avoids some of the difficulties inherent in their use. Bax has also understood the importance of a well-insulated hive that leads to less consumption of winter stores and a better chance of survival for the bees. Instead of being tempted to use any form of insulation material, the author uses the simple but very effective method of sealed double walls with air in between.

Less intrusive management, as in the Drayton hive, gives the beekeeper the option of trying to let the bees manage the varroa population themselves without the need for chemical treatment against mites. Populating the hive with feral swarms, as the author practices, is also a good way of getting bees that could handle mite control better than the beekeeper.

The management system encouraged by the author is to leave the bees sufficient amounts of their own honey for wintering. This is at the cost of a smaller honey harvest but for the benefit of bee health. As stated above, the good insulation of the hive leads to less consumption of winter stores, giving the beekeeper the option of letting the bees winter on their own stores, if they are sufficient.