diy materials

[luap321]

im not to sure what im building yet but it will probley be a 14x12 brood box from 1" pine or the side of an old bureau thats dark wood
then im hoping it would be ok to use fencing off cuts from a pile a friend has ,that i would think i could find older good wood so its not freshly treated and make a stand and maybe use gravel boards or decking to make the square sides of the roof and ply top and may be if a single stand national type with landing ramp made from gate palings .
Would this wood be ok or should it be avoided ? ,is it ok if painted ?

 

[Wilco]

1'' will give more insulation but is a lot thicker than normal so you'll either end up with a larger footprint or less internal space, which might cause issues as you need the bee space.

Pine or cedar are probably better than old hardwoods from a weight perspective. Paint is unlikely to be a major problem depending on the type.

 

[luap321]

1'' will give more insulation but is a lot thicker than normal so you'll either end up with a larger footprint or less internal space, which might cause issues as you need the bee space.

Pine or cedar are probably better than old hardwoods from a weight perspective. Paint is unlikely to be a major problem depending on the type.

yes i was going to make a floor and 14x12 brood and plain a chanfer so water did not sit on the lip keeping the proper size inside and then use normal supers ,i had thought if a did the same chamfer on the base it would be flexible to take a standard size brood box as well ,i could reduce the weight by cutting 3 1/2" around the boards to make them look like panels in the middle ( my saw cuts 31/2" depth) but i like the idea of better insulation on the brood box and as it dose not get moved as much as a super the weight should not matter to much
also thinking out loud if hard wood was more dense than pine or cedar i wounder if holds cold more

 

[Kali]

Scaffold boards pretty much exact width of a national brood... I've made several hives from scaffold boards .... never bother with supers anymore , does anyone ??

 

[luap321]

Scaffold boards pretty much exact width of a national brood... I've made several hives from scaffold boards .... never bother with supers anymore , does anyone ??

sorry i dont quit under stand how do you get your honey with out supers and where do your bees but there honey
im a bit new to this and cant quit get my head round it

 

[Kali]

The BBKA does an amazing beekeeping for beginners book on amazon for roughly £10 ....
As a new starter I'd advise heading for something like that ( Neutral and standard) ..
Otherwise you'll end up with beeks confusing you all over the place...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The BBKA does an amazing beekeeping for beginners book on amazon for roughly £10 ....

Save your money to spend on a decent book like the Haynes beekeeping manual

 

[Wilco]

sorry i dont quit under stand how do you get your honey with out supers and where do your bees but there honey
im a bit new to this and cant quit get my head round it

Bees don't care what size the box is, they'll still store honey above brood. Many people only use a single size box system, such as only using deeps (brood boxes).

 

[Erichalfbee]

sorry i dont quit under stand how do you get your honey with out supers and where do your bees but there honey

Kali uses brood size boxes as supers

 

[luap321]

hi i had read it that he didnt use supers and it was the new thing and no one uses suppers now ,i was thinking every hive i have seen has them, except top bar hives .i can see the advantage and disadvantage bit of a young mans hive or should i say someone in there prime , you have the extra weight but may be a 1/3 less to check as individual units
i have standard supers as at a push i think i can add a batten ,or 2 to keep them in the middle and use them with my wbc

 

[Kali]

Save your money to spend on a decent book like the Haynes beekeeping manual

Haynes ...

 

[Kali]

hi i had read it that he didnt use supers and it was the new thing and no one uses suppers now ,i was thinking every hive i have seen has them, except top bar hives .i can see the advantage and disadvantage bit of a young mans hive or should i say someone in there prime , you have the extra weight but may be a 1/3 less to check as individual units
i have standard supers as at a push i think i can add a batten ,or 2 to keep them in the middle and use them with my wbc

I'm 50 lol .... bloody heavy your right .... but I'm 50 ... I'm not dead yet

 

[luap321]

I'm 50 lol .... bloody heavy your right .... but I'm 50 ... I'm not dead yet

im 52 but have aparoma so i get puffed out easy and take time to adjust to temperature change slow and steady wins for me if i use a braker-bar to undo a tight bolt like a wheel bearing that might be me done for the day and the next to recover until now i would of always gone for extra effort ,1/2 the time

 

[Rory Fields]

im not to sure what im building yet but it will probley be a 14x12 brood box from 1" pine or the side of an old bureau thats dark wood
then im hoping it would be ok to use fencing off cuts from a pile a friend has ,that i would think i could find older good wood so its not freshly treated and make a stand and maybe use gravel boards or decking to make the square sides of the roof and ply top and may be if a single stand national type with landing ramp made from gate palings .
Would this wood be ok or should it be avoided ? ,is it ok if painted ?

I've made some of my own brood boxes from pine but even at 6'3 and quite strong, the weight difference between that and cedar is enough to put me off using pine ever again. Added to which, it needs maintenance like painting every other year - you can buy hives in the flat in the winter sales cheaper than making them in most cases.

 

[Xander]

Haynes ...

Indeed, Haynes do a beekeeping manual it's not a wind up.
It's a really good book, easy to follow and answers most of the questions you're likely to ask as you go through your first season .
It's on Amazon for not much money, well worth purchasing.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Indeed, Haynes do a beekeeping manual it's not a wind up.
It's a really good book, easy to follow and answers most of the questions you're likely to ask as you go through your first season .
It's on Amazon for not much money, well worth purchasing.

And is not packed full of myth, incorrect and outdated information like the BBKA one

 

[luap321]

i used to love a haynes manual but got a bit down hearted with them when the went over to auto data style and now you buy a manual for one piece of information and when you get home and look it up it says take it to an expert when it may be something commonly done at home by slightly more advanced people and good search on the internet
i was given this Leaflets, Guides & Videos » APHA - National Bee Unit - BeeBase link by JamezF
it seem good but i suppose haynes may have hive types as well which i have info on types but if haynes gave sizes may be worth it (easier to look on paper than comparing 2 types on computer)

 

[Erichalfbee]

when you get home and look it up it says take it to an expert

That works pretty well for beekeeping.

 

[North End Bees]

hi i had read it that he didnt use supers and it was the new thing and no one uses suppers now

A 'super' just means a box on top for the bees to store honey.
Most people use standard supers but, depending on preferred ways of working, some use the same size box all the way up.
That can be all deeps if you're fairly strong or all shallows if you want.
The Rose method has its devotees.

Re terminology, if for example you had a stack of 4 deeps with the broodnest in the bottom two and honey in the top two, that would be a double brood with 2 supers.