Week 24 - What I have changed and what I would improve

In this blog post I will be talking about how different the hive is compared to the design I drew and what I have changed and for what reason and also what I would do differently if I made another hive.

First off is the floor, if you compare it to my original design, you can clearly see that I didn't include a wired floor in my plan but I have now included this. This is because at the time when I drew my design I was still unsure about what to do - whether I wanted it to be wooden or wire, so I just didn't include it. 

I also changed the hive entrance; in the design I had a block of wood that is different to the one in my hive. This is because I thought it would be to challenging to chip out a small piece of wood for the bees to enter and exit out of. So I found it easier just cutting the piece of wood in two, and it would allow more bees to get through the entrance.

Another thing that is mentioned in my plan is the hive tray, which is underneath the wire floor. The reason why I haven't made one is because it is not a necessity, (especially at this time of the year), as it's main purpose is to stop cold air from entering the hive in winter and to also collect any unwanted debris that falls through the floor so it doesn't lay on the floor and potentially attract predators. 

One thing I would change is to ensure that I have a floor already made ready to be used for the hive, this is because I didn't have any wire that I could find that had small enough gaps for the floor, so I had to double it over to make the gaps smaller. Also, it was very difficult to bend the wire and mould it into the floor and it took up too much time.

For the brood box the outer shell is basically the exact same as the design I planned out, including the frame and handles. But on the inside I didn't include the shelves that hold the beehive frames. This is simply because I forgot to include them as I didn't think they would be necessary. But when I wanted to add the beehive frames inside, I quickly realised there was no place for them to rest on, so I had to add them in!

One thing I would change is to make sure when building the brood box that all the frames can fit into the brood box. Although, for me they all fitted in without a problem, it was still very tight and perhaps a bit too snug? I had to replace one of the ends of the brood box because it was too short. This happened because the wood I was using was a little bit thicker than the my beehive I was measuring, so it ended up being too tight for the frames to fit in.

The super box is the same as the brood box in design, and again, I didn't incorporate the shelves that hold the beehive frames, into the design.

However, for the super box there isn't anything I would change, as I had learnt from my previous mistake and I ensured that all the frames fit into the super box perfectly.

The crown board that I made is exactly the same as the design and I didn't change anything about it.

But what I would change in the future is to use a board that isn't second hand. This is because the wood I used had a slight bend in it and the board doesn't sit perfectly level on the bottom of crown board. Although this isn't too much of a problem as there are still no gaps for the bees to escape from.

For the roof there are many things I changed form my original plan. The first difference is that the roof I made is slightly larger than the one I designed, this is because I hadn't taken into account that the wood I was using would be slightly thicker than I thought it was. So I had to make the roof slightly larger than I wanted it to be, so it could fit over the crown board.

Also, another thing that is different is that I didn't include the boards I have added into the hive and also the space I had for insulation. This is because I didn't take into account that the roof would fully rest over the crown board, which would result in it getting stuck. So I had to improvise and add two boards on to each side, increasing the height of where the roof would rest - so it wouldn't cover the crown board. 

Also, I didn't design a dedicated area for the insulation. This is because it didn't appear until  after I had added the boards, so with the extra space in-between the boards, I decided to utilise the opportunity by adding straw to insulate the hive and allow the bees to control the temperature better.

Another feature I would change is to choose a thin, light metal for the top of the roof instead of the roof felt I used. This is because the metal would last far longer than the felt ever will, also it would do a far better job at protecting the hive from getting damaged from falling objects. It would also be more weather proof than the felt and so would help the wood last far longer as it won't rot with the metal roof.