Up Above the Ground... Bees on Stilts

LandofSpike and BKJ1 have built a stand for the Beebox.

It needed one.

Because Beeboxes like to be raised above the ground.

There are several reasons for this:

a) Working at a Manageable Height

If the hive is positioned too low or too high it's going to be a difficult job hefting honey-laden supers and brood boxes.
Even day-to-day inspections are more arduous if the box is positioned incorrectly.

Ouch to beekeeper back problems.

b) Fresh air

Keeping the hive away from the ground helps to minimise problems with the damp and helps with the ventilation of the hive.

c) Creature Incursion

An elevated hive helps keep crawling insects, especially ants, at bay.

Setting the legs in a margarine tub of cooking oil is a good idea. The sea of oil is a good insect barrier.

CONSTRUCTION

Making the hive stand was a simple enough job.

LandofSpike made it 30" long x 20" wide.

He used 4" x 2" lumber to construct the hive stand and fixed it together with 5mm x 75mm screws.

LandofSpike's Secret Blueprints

The platform was designed so the base of the hive would be at 14" above the ground.

The back legs continued above the deck level to form an end stop for the rear of the hive.

At the front a landing board for the bees was fashioned from an offcut of 15mm planking and it was held in place by some strategically positioned supports.

Without landing board

And with landing board

Once completed the stand was given a couple of coats of garden wood preserver. 

The landing board was painted with the more bee-friendly Dulux Weathershield. 

A landing board isn't really necessary but it's nice to watch the bees crawling around on it rather than just darting efficiently into their front door.

Apparently they like a highly visible landing area so it was painted a highly visible Classic Cream colour.

Weatherproofed stand with hive and landing board

LandofSpike now has to do a little more work on the western borders of Spike Acres before it is fully transformed into the new BeesofSpike Apiary. It just needs a bit more screening along its eastern edge, some more grass and a bit of weatherproofing.

Then all we need is some Livestock.

Living in a Box... Some New Accommodation

It's all very well waxing lyrical about the splendour of being a beekeeper but at some point our beeless blogger does need to have some actual real-life contact with his own boxful of bees.

It does cost though.

So LandofSpike has eventually had to bite the bullet and release funds from his Empire's not particularly vast Reserves of Wealth.

Over the last few weeks Purchase Orders have been raised and orders have been placed.

Subsequently, the Post Room at Spike Towers has been kept busy receiving regular deliveries of Bee-related Equipment from a worthy array of suppliers.

It's very tempting to list all the exciting new arrivals but this post will put aside hive tools, bee brushes and smokers for the time being and deal with our Most Important Piece of New Kit...

The Hive has arrived.

It's rather smart.

It's from Finland and is called The Beebox.

It takes National frames and is made not of cedar but is lovingly crafted out of EPS.

Yes, that's Expanded Polystyrene. 

Not particularly traditional in this country, but hopefully functional, user-friendly and warm in the winter. And with any luck, the bees will love it.

LandofSpike and BKJ1 have spent some time piecing it together and painting it.

It comes flat-packed and slots easily together.

The unpainted Beebox

It currently comprises of (from the top down) a roof, an inner cover, a top feeder, 2 supers, a queen excluder, a brood box and a base with varroa mesh and tray. And a big strap to tie it down.

The Beebox has a cool entrance reducer

Modern Beekeeping recommended painting the Hive with Dulux Weathershield Smooth Masonry Paint. 

So it got several coats of the stuff in different colours for the different components.

LandofSpike thinks it looks pretty good.

How it all fits together

The boys have also been constructing a big stack of frames.

The delightfully and cunningly designed Hoffman ones.

Ten full size frames for the brood box and ten smaller frames for each super.

Frame components

Completed frame

It's a goodly task once you get your rhythm and is extremely satisfying.

BKJ1 was particularly good at it.

LandofSpike will spend some time on frames and frame making in a later post.

The Beebox, painted, but still masked up

So with the Hive now looking box-tastic the next task is to make a stand to keep it well above the ground.

LandofSpike will be lovingly handcrafting this himself.

Anyone who has seen his previous attempts at woodworking will have some idea of exactly just how magnificent this will be...

A Box for the Bees and a Day of Sunshine

Finally, some Sunshine... 

And over at Apiary Central this morning the honeybees are hard at it, foraging for all their worth.

It must be a big relief for them after being cooped up for the entirety of, what is surely, one of the rottenest Aprils on record.

Inside the hive, the last month has panned out something like this...

Worker 1:  "Is it still raining?"

Worker 2:  "I'll go and look."

Worker 2 trawls off to the entrance. A minute later she returns.

Worker 1: "Well?"

Worker 2: "It's still rainin' innit. And it's flippin'  baltic... I hates England."

Worker 1: "Fancy some fondant?"

Worker 2: "OK."

They trudge off to further deplete their stores.

Meanwhile, back at Spike Towers, there's been a bit of shilly-shallying on the choice of hive in which to home the bees.

LandofSpike had always assumed that some version of the vertical hive would be the automatic choice, but an excellently informative session about hive types with BeeGuru1 presented him with a seemingly infinite variety of hives to choose from.
As well as the practicalities of the kit, choice of hive is also guided by philosophy. Oh yes.
Your approach, be it Traditional, Modern or Bio-dynamic, will directly inform which hives will be the best fit for where your head's at.

LandofSpike will cover hive types and philosophies in a later post but for now the best way forward was to keep an open mind and decide what might best suit the particular needs of our first year with bees.

Surprisingly, LandofSpike found himself increasingly favouring a simple, rectangular horizontal hive. 

The Tanzanian Top Bar Hive to be precise.
It's, more or less, the modern day equivalent of a hollow log on legs with bees inside.

A lovely piece of Biodynamic-friendly kit which would look just grand in the grounds of Spike Towers and would, no doubt, give the bees a lot of pleasure.

Despite my initial preconceptions this was starting to look like a real contender.

However, some time later that day and after more consultation, it transpired that the Tanzanian Top Bar Hive isn't sold in the UK.

There are plenty of excellently detailed plans telling you how to build one though.

LandofSpike can certainly build a box but isn't sure that he should be building his own bee-specific box in his novice year.

There are enough unknowns without adding "Good-Intentioned-But-Not-Quite-Right-Hive" to the list.

So it's back to a vertical model and, at the moment, even though those Thermo Hives look tasty, it looks like LandofSpike might go for an EPS Langstroth.

A nice, off the peg, cheerfully budget-conscious Beebox.

It seems to have the seal of approval from BeekeeperJuniors1&2, although they also liked the Thermo Hives and the Top Bar with equal enthusiasm.

And it'll require a lick of paint. 

Just the thing to lure Mrs LandofSpike, the esteemed Colourist and Artist of Note, into the Land of Bees.