Constructing your bee hive is like some enjoyment, especially if you are fond to do such things pertaining craftsmanship. If you are not sure about yourself, you can let a skilled carpentry to do it for you. The important thing here is that you’re well informed about how to construct it the right way to get the right bee hive construction.
There are two options on how you are going to do it, assuming you do it yourself. First you can purchase a knocked down bee hive and assemble it as instructed, or second you can start from scratch to make your own equipment and parts of the hive.
Whatever your option is, please bear in mind that you should refer the design, dimension and assembly method to a standard, which is more likely the Langstroth hive design. Doing this provides you with a flexibility in the future to interchange parts and even add other ready made parts where incompatibility will not be a problem.
The Langstroth movable frame bee hive has been thoughtfully designed which include all the practical factors such construction simplicity, easy to use, facilitate swift hive inspection, and interchangeability of frames. There are available Langstroth designs that you can purchase to be used as reference.
The following are an example on how you can assemble tow parts of your hive, the supers and frames.
General tips
A� It is suggested to using flat cedar or pine lumbers for all parts of the hive construction.
A� You can make a knot if it is needed but it should not be made at the edge of the lumbers or where you plan to make a handhold.
A� Consider the dryness of the lumber. If it is not completely dry you should provide some allowance for shrinkage.
A� Exception of materials to be used is for the hive top cover and the bottom board floor, where it should be made of plywood which is less affected by moist and temperature changes.
A� Wood pieces must be cut with precision following standard dimensions. The depth of a handhold should be precisely 16 mm or 5/8 inch.
A� Bee spaces should be exactly 8 mm or 5/16 inch. A bee space is the exact distance between combs in the hive.
Assembling the supers
Super is the structure that holds the frames. It has a standard outer length of 50.7 cm (20 inches) and a width of 41.8 cm (16.5 inches) where the depths may vary in three common dimensions:
A� Standard: 24 cm (9,5 inches), for brood and supers
A� Dadant:16.8 cm (6 5/8 inches), for brood and supers
A� Shallow: 14.7 cm (5 13/16 United Built Homes Aspen inches), only for supers
Recommended nails to nailing supers, the bottom board and top cover are the 50 mm (1 1/8 inches) long nails. If available you can use an electric staple gun for your ease. Screws are good substitutes for the nails if you wish maximum durability.
Assembly methods may vary, …