The ability to measure the weight of a beehive can be used as an important tool in good beekeeping management. Yet there is no accepted method of weighing a beehive which is simple, accurate and economic. Some of the established texts recommend ‘hefting’ or methods based on hefting which are at best crude and at worst misleading. This article briefly reviews different methods of hive weighing and proposes an approach which has been tested over two seasons in the author’s apiary and which is not only simple and accurate, but is readily integrated into normal beekeeping practice. The purpose of the article is to offer an acceptable means of providing an accurate hive weight to those who wish to have such a measurement and to describe applications and benefits of measurement.
