More on making a bait hive from our extra Warre box

I've got some pictures of the construction of our bait hive a few posts back. Here's a video talking about preparing the hive to put out and using our beeswax "polish" to seal/waterproof the outside of the hive.

Finishing the Beehive



After we took the pre-cut parts for the beehive home, there was more that the kids could help with.

This is me and James stapling the felt in place and screwing together some of the extra boxes. Noah and little sister Mary got to help out with this as well.

This is a close up of the toggle we made to keep the windows in place. We used a small piece of the lath that was cut narrowring for the top bars. I think I made the toggle 2.5 or 3 inches long and just screwed it in place.

This is what I decided to use for sealing the hive. If we had used cedar to make the hive, this wouldn't have been necessary. However, as ceder was more than 3 times as expensive as pine, we had to seal it. I was originally going to make a linseed oil and beeswax paint, a-la McCartney Taylor, but I thought that might be too messy (and not to mention hot... burning hazard!) to use with little kids helping out. I found this recipe on you tube instead for a beeswax "polish." for lack of a better term. It's equal parts (we usex 8oz each) of beeswax, linseed oil, and turpentine. Now, I know the linseed oil is "boiled" which means there are addatives in it that might not be the best for the bees. Also, I'm not sure the how the turpentine affects the bees either, but all it is is distilled pine resin. I still decided to go this route, however, for a couple reasons. First, it's only going to be on the outside of the hive. Second, the turpentine will evaporate. And third, it just seemed so much easier. In the future, I might find somewhere to order raw linseed oil, but for now, this is what we did.

I made a "water bath" to melt the beeswax in, then added the linseed oil and turpentine. It was liquid at first, so you had to let it sit until the next day. Then it turned into a semi-solid polish that we could rub in with old rags (cut up t-shirt).

Here are James (top) and Noah (bottom) "polishing" the hive to make it waterproof.

The next big task was to make the beeswax starter strip on the top bars. I liked what McCartney Taylor did with the beeswax and cotton string, but thought his technique (using a soldering iron to melt the wax, could be simplified).0

Instead, I cut the string to length...

... dropped it into a jar of melted wax...

... and took it out with a pliers. Then I held one end down with a screwdriver and streatched it out into a straight line with the pliers. The beeswax hardened quickly, so it wasn't too hard to get it to stick into place on the top bars. Some tips, though, DON'T put more than one string into the wax at at time. They WILL fray. Also,  the wax will hardened almost instantaneously on the metal pliers, so you need to really push it down on the other end with the screwdriver so you can get the pliers unstuck.

All in all, it was a good technique, however. I got four boxed done (32 top bars) in less than an hour. Here are the results.

The last thing that needed to be done was to staple the burlap on to the quilt...

... and fill it with sawdust we saved from hive construction.

Here's our finished product! We let the whole thing sit for about two weeks for the polish to soak in before we moved it outside.

Here we are at Grandpa's leveling some left over cement landscaping blocks to set the hive on. I think we did this about two or three days before "bee day."

I'm going to bed now. I'll try to put up more pictures tomorrow. I've still got to show you how I made the jar feeder and also a bait trap out of a spare box. After that I'll try to figure out how to do some simple video editing and put up some videos from "bee day." Until then... Goodbye!

A random hodgepodge

Wanted to write another update before we started building the hive on Saturday, just to go over a few things.

First, I found out that Mann Lake, Ltd. was still taking orders though the end of this week. I guess that answers my question on whether or not to purchase packaged bees or trap a swarm! I did end up purchases a 3lb package and now am feeling some mixed emotions. I was excited about the possibility of testing out my swarm trapping abilities, but this will probably be better in the end. My 8 and 6 year old boys would have been very disappointed if we made it the whole summer without getting any bees through our trapping efforts! I'm a little frustrated that I have to drive 3.5 hours one way to pick them up though (I live in the Twin Cities Metro Area and have to pick them up north of Brainerd, MN)! But that's my fault for ordering late. Plus I don't know what the pick up day will be yet. Probably the first or second Saturday in May. I'm hoping the first, then we'd have them in time to take pictures before my boys' science fair. Plus I work the second Saturday at 3pm, which would make for a LONG day, driving early in the morning to get them in time to get home, install them, and get to work...

Second, I also ordered a bee suit for me, a smoker, a hive tool, and some beeswax from eBay. I'm using the wax for a little starter strip on the top bars, as well to help seal the hive (see point four below). I also need to figure out a less expensive bee suit option for my dad and two boys. McCartney Taylor (Learning Beekeeping) has some good ideas about that. I'll explain more (also in point four below).

Third, here's a link to the plans we're using to make the Warre Hive. We're going to make a few modifications, however. We're making at least two of the four boxes with windows, and I like the look of the windows and the simpler construction on the hives as seen at Bee Thinking. Also, we MIGHT try to do something similar to their screened bottom with removable board to keep track of Varroa mites. We'll see how construction goes on Saturday. We're going to make the hive out of high quality pine from Menard's because the red cedar is about 3 times more expensive. We'll seal the hive with a combination of linseed oil and beeswax. Hopefully we'll have it all done and set up by the time the bees get here!

Finally, I wanted to mention McCartney Taylor's excellent resource on top bar hives (Learning Beekeeping) . I mentioned his book Swarm Traps and Bait Hives in my last post, and I would highly recommend browsing through his You Tube videos (Out of a Blue Sky). This is one of the first resources I found when beginning my research on top bar hives, and still one of the best. Almost makes me feel bad that I decided to tray the Warre Hive instead of the Kenyan style. Only issue I have with the information he provides is that it all is in relation to beekeeping in Texas. Not all of it translates to this northern climate, which is part of the reason I started this blog. Of special interest today are his videos on using beeswax for starter strips on the top bars and sealing the hive with linseed oil and beeswax. Also his video on inexpensive bee suits. I'll probably go that route for an extra suit for my dad to use when we're both there (he can use mine if he wants to get into the hive and I'm not around) and for my boys (I don't want to purchase actual suits as they're still a bit young to do hive maintenance and they're growing so fast). If you didn't watch the video, he basically recommends to use a wide brimmed hat with a mosquito net over it, and then to purchase a disposable, plastic painter's coverall (found them for about $7 on eBay). Won't necessarily protect you from stings if the bees really want to, but should be sufficient coverage for someone just standing nearby observing.

Hope this info helps someone out there. Pictures will be up after we make the beehive on Saturday!