Bee hive boxes how to#

I have found the queen excluder to be very helpful for other reasons and even used it to make a two queen hive system one year. The most common use is to prevent the queen from laying eggs inside the honey super. This is a handy piece of equipment to have. Queen Excluder – This is a flat rack made of metal or plastic, with holes large enough to allow the worker bees to get through and small enough to exclude the bigger queen bee. Wired Wax Foundation For Deep Super Frames For the 2 deep supers recommended in the northeast, you would need a total of 20 frames with the foundation. Each super in a 10 frame hive needs 10 frames with or without foundation. Some beekeepers may choose not to use foundation at all, but this requires a slightly different frame setup not described here. The bees use the foundation as a model to build their own wax onto. Foundation is made from wax, wax with wire, plastic or a combination. They are made from wood or plastic and usually have foundation in the middle. The four pieces that make one hive box or super.ĭeep Super Frames (with foundation) – These are the heart of the hive. For the setup described here, you need 2 Deep Supers with 10 frames each to house the brood chamber. Some people use an 8 frame hive box which would require 8 frames per super. Each super holds 10 frames inside it that the bees build wax onto. Slatted Rack – Position on the hive with the wide board toward the front and the slats on top.ĭeep Super – This is a large size hive box. If you can afford it, this is a great piece of equipment to have. The bees also are not as inclined to build ladder comb at the bottom of the frames when using this rack. Since the brood is raised up a bit and protected a little more from incoming winds, the queen will tend to lay eggs all the way to the bottom of the frame more often than without one. By raising the brood chamber up higher, the slatted rack allows the bees to get fresh air into the hive easier to cool the hive down in the summer. It gives the bees more room between the entrance and the brood chamber. Slatted Rack – This is an optional piece of equipment that is used to help with ventilation and hive congestion. However a determined mouse can chew right through it, so a metal mouse guard is preferred. It is used for various reasons including protecting the colony from robbers, for weak hives starting out and sometimes as a mouse guard. Screened Bottom Board – The white sticky board can be removed.Įntrance Reducer– This is a small piece of wood which fits between the bottom board and the first deep super. I really like the screened bottom board for pest management. I have both types, but you only need one. The screened bottom board also aids in hive ventilation. Beekeepers use sticky boards for Varroa Mite Counts (as seen here). It comes with a removable insert called the sticky board. The screened bottom board simply has a screen on the bottom. The solid bottom board and the screened bottom board. You can see it here.īottom Board– There are two basic bottom boards that beekeeper’s use. This can be as simple as a few cinder blocks with wood on top. You should use something to keep your hive off the ground, even if you use a hive stand. If you choose to use a hive stand it goes on the very bottom. Hive Stand (not pictured) – This is the bottom part of the hive that has an angled landing board for the bees. Extra honey and wax which is not needed by the bees can be kept by the lucky beekeeper. Wax and Honey they make after this is completed goes inside the honey supers. In order to sustain the bees throughout the cold winter, they need to have the equivalent of 2 deep supers of wax, honey and brood (baby bees) just to survive. In New England, the beekeeping season is short and the winters are long. This is the hive setup I will describe here. A common configuration is made using deep supers for the brood chambers and the medium supers or shallow supers for the honey. Within those hive components there are many different options to choose from. The bottom board, the supers, the frames and the cover(s). There are four basic components to a beehive. The picture above shows the configuration that I use for my hives.

I’m going to talk about the most common type of hive, which is called the 10 frame Langstroth beehive. There are many different types of beehives and hive configurations that beekeepers use. Prepare Samples For Bee Disease Diagnosis or Pesticide AnalysisĪ beginner beekeeper’s guide to the parts of a beehive.

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Bee hive boxes how to#

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