Knowing how to set up a bee hive is the first and most crucial step in starting a bee sanctuary.
The beehive represents the heart of your work. Inside the hive, all activity ceases when the queen leaves. The hive is where the bees dwell, the eggs hatch and honey-making occurs.
Establishing a hive is the same as establishing a bee farm. For your hive to reach its full production potential, there are a few things that you need to do first.
The first thing is to make sure that the hive is stable. Where you’ll house the beehives, the ground has to be leveled. If there is a high wind, this will prevent the hive from leaning over or going the wrong way up.
After setting up the hive, brush on a light coat of oil to prevent the wood from warping due to dampness. Stay out of direct sunlight since it could cause the wood of the hive to warp.
How to make a bee hive
Materials for Building a Beehive:
- Wood with the right measurement
- Tools for cutting the wood
- Any high-quality, light latex exterior paint
- Good wood glue, nails and a hammer
- Directions or plans with correct measurements
Never use pressure-treated wood. Chemically treated wood is extremely dangerous for honeybees.
Hives for honey bees feature a wide variety of materials. In the US, pine wood, which is commonly used. Another common option is cypress wood, despite its higher price and limited availability.
For this reason, plywood is not a good beehive material. Some beekeepers occasionally make temporary swarm catch boxes out of plywood.
Steps to Making a Beehive
- Hive stand:
The hive stand is separate from the remainder of the hive. Its main function is to keep the beehive off the ground and safe from decay, termites and wet conditions.
Put the hive on some cinder blocks to make a quick and easy stand. The ideal height for a stand supporting a beehive is over one meter.
Keep in mind that you can add more beehive boxes if necessary. Your bee colony can produce more honey if you give them more room in the hive.
- Assembling the inner cover and bottom board:
The bottom board is the hive’s foundation and the bees’ point of entry. Construct the bottom board’s walls first.
Two 1-by-3-inch boards can be combined with a groove cut in the middle using the Dado stack. The hive’s bottom board is slid into the groove at the bottom.
After cutting grooves into the sides, you can drill screws into the connecting pieces to secure them to the backboard.
Wood glue is then applied to the bottom board’s outer frame grooves. Insert the bottom board and secure it by screwing it to the wall on all four corners.
Although it is at the opposite end of the beehive from the bottom board, the inner cover has the same structural makeup.
To construct the inside cover of your hive, you will need to build it in the same manner as the bottom board. To provide enough airflow, drill a hole down the center of the surface of the cover.
- Build the hive body and honey super:
In the hive body and the honey super, frames serve as the bees’ homes and honey storage. Start building the hive’s walls by sizing the 1-by-10-inch planks to fit as side walls.
The boards need a groove called a “rabbet” cut into the top of them, but this groove must be open on both ends. The queen excluder will be held in place by a lip made from the wood rabbets. Use wood glue and screws to attach the four walls.
- Exterior cover
The outer cover shields your hive from the elements and resembles a box lid. It stays on top of the hive.
Cover it with the same bottom board material you used to build it. The sides of the outer cover will not have dado grooves cut into them, though. The 1-by-10-inch planks will be glued and drilled directly onto the walls to create a roof.
Put an aluminum sheet over the wooden lid to protect it from the elements. Cut aluminum sheets to size with tin snips. Next, use construction adhesive to adhere the tin to the outside cover and a hammer to flatten it.
- Add an entrance reducer
A reducer for the hive entrance is the next step. The entrance reduction is a smaller entry large enough for honeybees but not rodents.
Reduce the size of the doorway by chopping off a little piece of aluminum. After that, using screws or nails, fasten it to the main body of the hive.
- Install frames
Depending on the size of the hive body and honey super, most hives have between eight and ten frames. The precise amount of time must elapse between each frame.
If you leave too much room between the frames, the bees will build an extra honeycomb to fill it in. However, the bees will patch the gaps between the frames with propolis if you arrange them too closely together. Applying this guideline during frame installation will help you avoid a difficult scenario later.
- Add some bees to the hive
Putting bees in your hive is the final step. Your beehives can be stocked in one of two ways. You can buy a colony from another beekeeper or bring in a swarm from the wild.
Getting your first hive up and running is as simple as purchasing bees. You can contact a nearby beekeeping group or go online to find suppliers. You can get a nucleus hive or a package of bees, depending on your preference.
A queen bee, some worker bees, and some nectar and pollen are the standard contents of a bee package. There will be an edible partition separating the queen bee from the other bees in the colony.
As the worker bees consume the barrier, they acclimate to their new queen. You can avoid the acclimatization period by purchasing a nucleus hive.
A nucleus hive already has a queen, worker bees, brood and honeycomb frames. New beekeepers who want to give their hives a head start may find these hives ideal. You can also stock your hive by capturing wild bees.
How many acres are needed per bee hive?
There’s no answer to how many beehives one can place per acre. Climate, location, and other factors all play a role. In most cases, this is true. But most beekeepers advocate for somewhere between two and five beehives per acre.
Having more than that might be difficult to manage and cause honey production issues. Honey yields below this level might not justify the trouble.
A local beekeeper should be consulted before beginning a hive. This is because the number of hives required per acre varies depending on climate and other factors.
There will be more beehives in the neighborhood if more people show interest in keeping bees as a hobby.
How far should an apiary be from your house?
You shouldn’t place the hives too close to homes, especially when keeping bees in a residential area. Keep yourself and your neighbors’ safe and allow bees to fly above buildings. However, how close to a house can you place an aviary?
To be safe, leave at least 25 feet of space around the hive’s entrance and another 4 feet in all other directions.
For a peaceful colony, this should be sufficient. But you’ll need additional room if your colony is aggressive. The more room between the hive’s entrance and the entrance to the human colony, the better.
How far apart should beehives be placed?
Since bee colonies have little to no detrimental effect on each other when close together, they do not need a lot of room between them.
A beehive’s average width and height are 22 and 16 inches, respectively. At least 5 feet of clearance is ideal around each beehive. A separation of at least three feet is ideal between hives.
The difference between a beehive and an apiary?
Apiaries, sometimes known as “bee yards,” are locations that house honey bees. A beekeeper’s apiary can be as diverse as an educational or commercial apiary.
A beehive is a home for a colony of honeybees, and an apiary is a facility for keeping bees and their hives.
Can bees survive without a beekeeper?
Even though they were once ‘kept’ by a beekeeper, wild honey bee colonies can survive the winter without human help.
Create a “bee bath” in your yard by filling a small container with water and sloping the edges to assist bees in drinking and staying hydrated.
Be careful to put some marbles or stones in with the water so the bees have a landing spot while they drink.
Conclusion
Having bees around can provide a lot of happiness; of course, there’s honey. The initial setup may be challenging, but the benefits will be worth the effort.
Whether you maintain bees in the city or the country in your garden, you’ll grow fond of the fluffy little fliers.
Give yourself and your bees plenty of room to work in, and keep some water nearby to help keep your bees hydrated and cool. Keeping your neighbors happy can make your life much easier.