The Fortress Beehive is the optimum defense to the seemingly endless attacks on honeybees!​

1. At the bottom of the hive stack is the Foundation that includes a Moat to keep crawling insects from getting into the hive. Alternatively, the Moat can be used as a source for drinking water.
2. The Foundation floor can be bolted to a variety of mechanical structures to prevent the hive from being tipped over by hurricanes, tornadoes, bears, vandals, thieves, etc.
3. On top of the Foundation sits the Vestibule. A stainless-steel Pan w/vertical cover for the pan opening is for water (humidity control), or glass bead (thermal mass). The pan slides in and out of the Vestibule through an outside opening, and rests on two rails inside the Vestibule. 
4. Bees enter and egress the Vestibule through two 3/8" Entrance/Exit Slots. Murder Hornets, mice and the like can’t fit through the slots.  A Lower Screen made of perforated stainless steel is the platform the bees use to transition from the slots to the bottom opening in the lowest frame box in the stack. Hive debris drops through the perforations into the pan, below, which is inaccessible to the bees.
5. Both Entrances/Exits can be partially or completely blocked off with 5/8" cylindrical foam rubber so the colony can be moved to a new location, and to control airflow/draft into the hive.
6. Two 50-Watt Plate Heaters slide into place on the underside of the Pan, heating it and the contents of the pan through conduction. There is zero chance of fire inside the Vestibule, since the Plate Heaters are made of fire-extinguishing material. 
7. The Fortress Beehive features a Radiant Floor Heating System with thermal mass (glass bead), which provides space heating and mite/hive beetle eradication, as well as humidity control when filled with distilled water. 
8. The stock Fortress Beehive includes standard two Deep and two Medium 10-frame boxes. An 8-frame Fortress is an option.
9. The Fortress incorporates a Feeder Box that can be placed anywhere in the frame box stack. Both liquid and solid feed can be used in the Feeder Box. 
10. The Feeder Box also serves as a Hive Draft Baffle or Ventilation Fan Box to control the ventilation rate through the hive, and is infinitely adjustable by the bees, themselves, and the beekeeper.
11. The Upper Screen (like the Lower Screen) can be installed anywhere below or above a frame box, so bees are limited in their use of boxes above them. The Upper Screen also keeps bees from entering the Roof cavity.
12. The 5-Watt Fan has a Thermostat that turns the Fan on when a maximum temperature in the hive occurs and turns the Fan off when the temperature drops 5-degrees. A Fan Speed Switch is set for 1 of 4 speeds. A C02 Sensor to control the Fan is optional.
13. Four Side Shields surround the frame boxes. One side of the powder-coated 1/32” stainless-steel Shields is white; the other side is black. When heat from the sun is wanted in the hive, the black side faces out and vice versa.
14. The Side Shields prevent bears from clawing the frame boxes, weather from degrading them and water and light from entering the hive.
15. Four Corner Guards capture the Side Shields and keep them and the frame boxes aligned. They also give the hive stack rigidity and prevent bears from chewing the box corners.
16. The Roof captures and surrounds the Corner Guards, Side Shields and frame boxes as the Roof is lowered down over and around them. The Roof is pitched in one direction, so condensation automatically exits the hive through the Lower Roof Vent. The Upper Roof Vent allows excess heat, C02, humidity and “stale” air to exit the hive. Both Vents are shielded to keep rain out. Flying insects can't get in through the Vent holes.
17. The hive stack is held together, vertically, by sliding two Lock Straps over four Weld Eyes: one on both sides of the Roof and Foundation. Therefore, the Roof connects directly to the Foundation, so the hive can’t be pulled apart. Four hidden-shackle Master locks prevent the Lock Straps from being removed without a key.
18. There are four female NPT (threaded) Test Ports - one on both sides of the Roof and Vestibule - for thermometers and other instrumentation for measuring CO2, O2 and Humidity, and plugs are inserted when instruments are not in use.
19. A weather-tight Control Box incorporates the System Thermostat, Mode Switch, Timer, and Mode Lights. These components are set so/indicate if space-heating or mite eradication mode is enabled.
20. A 10-watt Solar Panel connects to the top of the Roof with zip ties and electrically connects to a USB cable that plugs into a corresponding panel-mount USB female connector on the side of the Roof. The Fan and its Thermostat cables connect to the panel-mount USB Connector inside the Roof.