A friend sent me a link to another local Austin beekeeper’s blog, and one of his posts was about the Venus Hive he just purchased. The video he took is below.
It certainly is a cool looking hive, and I’ll definitely be following his blog to see how it works out. My only concern would be the size of some of the frames in the main brood section if you ever needed to get them out to inspect.
Urban Beekeeping in Austin, Texas 
Thanks for your presentation on the Venus Hive. Nice Architecture.
I take it there are no forms or foundation used with the Venus Hive, and the Honey Bees make their own comb, similar to Top Bar Hives?
The Top Feeder, I took notice you enjoy the top feeder by Brushy Mountain. I recollect that design incorporates floaters to prevent the Bees from Drowning?
The Venus Hive top feeder did not appear to have floaters…..have you had drowning bees?
How did you start the hive? Package or a type of Nuc?
Are you planning to add another Honey Super for next year’s Nectar Flows, thus having 2 supers for honey?
Thanks again for your presentation…..glad I crossed your blog..
David Koehn
Catching A Buzz…..Bee Company
Black Lake, New Mexico
Thanks for the questions David, but I am personally not using a Venus Hive. This post was about another Austin beekeeper at http://web.me.com/jackmills/Site/Blog/Blog.html who is trying this out this year and I linked his video.