A lesser known type of hive of the medieval and Renaissance time period is the log beehive. The log
beehives are very common in North Eastern Europe. The log beehive is still used
to this day in that region.
Bees made hives in hollow trees naturally. Early beekeepers
would harvest this honey from the trees. Eventually they marked and claimed
ownership of the trees and the hives contained therein. Beekeepers also started
making their own cavities in hives. These types of hives were most common in
the Northern Forest Zone of northeast Europe, which includes East Germany, Poland,
as well as Northern Czechoslovakia and Russia. Larger logs were not
usually available west of the deciduous forest zone. There is no record of tree beekeeping found in
the Scandinavian countries. It was probably too cold for hives to survive in
the winter. (Crane 1999, 135)
Records of tree beekeeping exist from the 1200’s and
1300’s. The Teutonic Order of Germany
secured hereditary rights of bee trees in the 1253. Landowners started limiting
the rights of tree beekeepers in the 1300’s. This included making new cavities
in trees.
Log hives were developed and hung in the trees to keep
animals from foraging in them. Until 1600, forests were used for hunting and
collecting honey and wax. The Thirty Years War of Germany (1618-1648) changed
all that. Trees were felled and hives moved closer to the home and placed in
collections called apiaries. The switch from tree cavity to log hive beekeeping
was caused by a shortage of natural cavities. Trees were felled on land used
for agriculture or other purposes. Landowners also prohibited new cavities from
being made.
Log hives were often carved with faces and then later whole
logs were carved into human form. (Crane 1999, 231) In 1568, Nikel Jacob
advises to use poplar, lime, alder, and willow, but not oak wood for making the
hives. In the Armbruster Collection of Germany, there are hives made from
poplar, lime, oak, alder, beech, sycamore, pine, and spruce or fir. (Crane 1999
p 229) Nikel Jacob describes the hives as being 165 centimeters high by 60
centimeters in diameter. In the Armbruster
Museum, examples are
one-hundred fifty to two hundred centimeters high by sixty centimeters in
diameter.
Two log hives have been excavated from bogs in Northern
Germany. The first dates between 100-200 AD. It is one meter
high and thirty-one to forty-four centimeters in diameter. There is a
horizontal slit near the base for the flight hole. The flight hole is the hole
or holes in a hive by which the bees come and go from the hive. The second hive
dates between 400-500 AD. It is one meter high by thirty
centimeters in diameter. There is a cover held on by wood pegs. The flight
holes are at different levels on the hive.
Large logs might be divided into two colonies. The hives were
hung from trees or kept on platforms to prevent pest infestation. Most had
doors or access holes (Crane 1999, 229) Honey comb was removed from the bottom
of a closed top log hive. The beekeeper would take all the honey early in the
season or leave enough combs later in the season for winter.
