Week 25 - Conclusion

Learning to build a Beehive

I have discovered that learning to build a beehive is not as straightforward as maybe building a birdhouse for example; as a hive needs to be built to an exact standard. This is because bees are quite particular about their home structure, also a poorly constructed one causes problems for the beekeeper as well.

It is important to check for signs of a new Queen or disease to ensure the colony’s survival.  So, if the hive is not constructed properly, all kinds of problems could arise and make inspections more difficult and ultimately put the colony at risk.

Rather on focussing on how to design a radical new shape of hive, I did some research on existing models and it was apparent that there are four main types of hive that continue to be popular amongst beekeepers today; from the reasons stated in my blog, I opted for the British Standard hive to build.

Once I had chosen the design, it was straightforward enough to set out plans and measurements for the construction. However, despite my preparation, I still managed to overlook a few things and made mistakes. One mistake is that I didn't prepare any boards to be used for the floor of the crown board and for the roof. This was due to poor planning by myself as I forgot to order some, however I also believed by salvaging wood boards it would be more beneficial and environmentally friendly to recycle materials. Consequently, it became troublesome having to find a wooden board that would fit the exact size I wanted it to, and I then had to cut it down to the correct size which was difficult at times.

·    The biggest mistake on reflection, was having too big a gap to one side of the frames, as I explained in weeks 18 and 19 when I was building the brood box and super box. This mistake is explained further in week 24, where I didn't believe I needed to add the shelves, that hold the beehive frames. So, to reduce the gap I had to add two shelves on either side of the brood box and super box, but I then noticed that there was too large a gap on one side of the frame. So I had to add another shelf into the frame to reduce this - whilst also making sure that there was still a gap for the bees to move around it with ease. 

Fr  From my research, it was clearly important to understand that bees are very efficient in their use of space, they like to build nests in cavities and as the colony grows they fill up all the room they have. The only space they don’t fill is the space they need to circulate around the colony, this is called ‘bee space’ and is said to be anything from 6mm to 10mm. Anything smaller, the bees will plug the gap with propolis (bee glue) to keep the hive airtight, anything larger and the bees will build burr comb in the space. This is a wax comb which bees build in extra spaces and often at odd angles inside the hive; this is a nuisance for beekeepers because it bonds the hive parts together and makes inspections very difficult.

Therefore, the design of the hive is to ensure that the bees only build comb on the frames provided and not anywhere else. The objective being that the beekeeper has accessible honey and brood frames which can be easily removed and inspected. If I had left the gap and not reduced it, the bees would have simply filled this space with comb and then sealed the edge with propolis causing significant disruption whenever I needed to open up the hive and is also a waste of energy for the bees.

This underpins the importance of measurements being exact, particularly when using components from other hives, like having to add an extra super box during the Summer everything must fit exactly; just allowing the important bee space and nothing larger.

But, it also compromised my design by adding extra weight to the top of the hive and consequently putting further pressure on the base. One full super box can hold up to 40lbs of honey when full, so this also indicates the necessity of having a strong foundation and design.

Conclusion

Apart from the additional weight I didn't plan for, overall I am very happy with the construction of the hive and how it looks. I was pleased that lots of issues were identified during my practice runs before I started the actual build of my hive. If I was to make another hive, I would be aware of this prior to starting and would be my first consideration in trying to make the hive much lighter.

I would also make sure I had all the parts needed at hand without relying on ‘finding’ bits of wood/wire lying around and it is also important to ensure that all elements are clean/sterile with no potential contamination or varnishes used, that could be harmful to the bees.

I have also subsequently considered adapting the beehive roof to an eco-friendlier one, instead of using aluminium or felt, I wonder if I adapted it be a tray, instead of a flat roof, and planted it using coir, succulents and wildflowers - providing a valuable source of water and food for the bees. Initial concerns again would be the weight, particularly when removing it frequently during summer months for inspection. However, I think this idea has potential and could be especially useful for hives in more of an urban setting. 

I am looking forward to using the hive in my apiary and seeing how it performs over the coming year and whether any other potential issues arise.

On balance, I believe this has been a successful project as I have gained some valuable insights into the behaviour of bees purely through analysing the design features of a hive and have a better understanding of all it's components and now feel confident in making further boxes should I need to expand the hive further. I have learned valuable lessons from mistakes made and realise how important accuracy is, which will help me further down the line as a beekeeper.