National Slovenian AZ beehive 20-frames with feeder

Recently interest has been shown in the Slovenian (AZ) beehive. This is a small hive and as such is being advertised as suitable for those who find using a full-sized beehive difficult. Basically, the hive is worked from the rear so that there is no lifting of heavy boxes. In Slovenia the hive is kept in a bee house, a building holding a number of the hives, generally with decorated fronts.
 
The Slovenian hive has two stories separated by a queen excluder. The queen and brood are in the bottom section, and honey is stored in the top part. Both boxes have separate entrances. When the back door of the Slovenian hive is opened the end bars of the frames are visible. Frames are removed like taking books from a bookshelf. Bee space is preserved for the frames with a slotted rack in the front and on the removable back.
 
The bottom of the frames slide on three metal rods placed crosswise. At present, the Slovenian hives take their own special frames, but it would be possible to make a modified version for Langstroth frames.
Certainly, other beekeeper-invented hives do exist not only in the United States but also throughout the world. These hives may never be produced to be sold to other beekeepers. However, it does make us wonder what beehives will be like 160 years from now—that is approximately the time since Langstroth discovered bee space.