How to Weigh Hives
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A luggage and fishing scale will work well to weigh hive boxes. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)
How to Weigh Hives
There are many reasons why a beekeeper would like to know the weight of a hive.
Bees in USDA Hardiness Zone 5 need at least 50 to 80 lbs of honey to consume through winter. Honey bees don’t hibernate; they cluster inside the hive keeping the queen bee warm in the center. A beekeeper needs to make sure the colony has that much honey before deciding what to do with whatever extra honey there may be.
Each of the frames bees pull out with wax vary in thickness and depth. So a medium frame of honey can weigh 2 to 5 pounds.
Finally a beekeeper monitors hive boxes to make sure the queen bee has room to lay. Boxes with empty frames weigh less than frames full of baby bees, bee bread or flower nectar.
One of the ways to weigh a hive, especially when starting to keep bees, is to use a luggage or fish scale. These easily portable scales can easily attach to the back of a box and provide a good estimation of the weight of each hive box. When full of honey, a 10-frame medium box can weigh a good 50-60 lbs.
Once the beekeeper has experience, just lifting the hive box from the back will provide a good guestimate of how much honey is in the box.
