Beekeeping

[ponytug]

That's great! Thanks for posting the photo.

All the best,

Peter

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

12 hours to cut the lumber for 6 more hives. I love being well stocked with parts. The lumber this time around was the best I've seen in 6 years of building these.

I need 3 myself.

I have commitments for 10 to be sold.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Finished up a few more hives. I changed the gable end design. Instead of a full opening with screen, I semi enclosed it. Looks better and will keep out some wind driven rain/snow.

These are for colonies that have been in non insulated hives all summer, and have been struggling with the heat. These insulated hives should help a lot.

 

[EddieWalker]

It might be fun to see how they have evolved. Do you have pictures of your first one? Then more pictures of each version as you learn more about designing them and what works best?

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

It might be fun to see how they have evolved. Do you have pictures of your first one? Then more pictures of each version as you learn more about designing them and what works best?

I have some from way back. The changes are small, or internal. Small like adding latches, adding cable lanyards to hold the lid open, making the lid 1" taller to accommodate insulation for winter.

Some internal parts were made thicker to assist in assembly and resist warping, since I often cut pieces months in advance.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

We used to get more artistic... But that takes too much time and energy at this point.

Now I fill all the staple holes with putty and sand before paint. I chamfer all of the corners. I sand the boxes between coats of paint to make them super smooth.

 

[redman135]

I was told that to reduce bee drift I should paint the boxes in different colors. I would assemble a batch of boxes and that batch would all be 1 color while the next batch would be a different color. I person who told me this was a commercial beekeeper.

Back in the day commercials would have rows of hives all the same color, so new foragers would leave the middle hives and get confused on return ,drift to the end of the row and as they were young they would be accepted into the hive, so the end hives would have more honey than the middle hives.

Locally the commercials have gone for palleted hives, short rows and irregular gaps and use a load strap to hold the hive togather. They can be knocked over if cattle rub on them, so holding the hive togather will prevent robbing and hold heat in (winter) and rain out. In winter this means you pickup a live hive, not a dead one.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I was told that to reduce bee drift I should paint the boxes in different colors. I would assemble a batch of boxes and that batch would all be 1 color while the next batch would be a different color. I person who told me this was a commercial beekeeper.

Back in the day commercials would have rows of hives all the same color, so new foragers would leave the middle hives and get confused on return ,drift to the end of the row and as they were young they would be accepted into the hive, so the end hives would have more honey than the middle hives.

Locally the commercials have gone for palleted hives, short rows and irregular gaps and use a load strap to hold the hive togather. They can be knocked over if cattle rub on them, so holding the hive togather will prevent robbing and hold heat in (winter) and rain out. In winter this means you pickup a live hive, not a dead one.

Once the hives are far enough apart, drift isn't an issue. We don't stack them nearly as close as the langstroth beeks do, so drift isn't an issue

 

[fishin coyote]

I could never set my hives up like your picture Clover. The local bear(s) would have a field day. I have to keep mine under lock and key.

I will say that your hives intrigue me. I’ve tried top bars in the past but wasn’t a fan of them.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I could never set my hives up like your picture Clover. The local bear(s) would have a field day. I have to keep mine under lock and key.
View attachment 3916055

I will say that your hives intrigue me. I’ve tried top bars in the past but wasn’t a fan of them.

Top bars are too shallow for a healthy winter cluster. These are 15" deep frames