Thursday, May 3, 2012

Bee Box



Langstroth Hives

The hive we built and moved my mom's bees into today is called a Langstroth hive. The Langstroth hive was invented in 1852 so the honey could be harvested easily while disturbing the bees minimally. It also gave the bees one and a half inches of space to move around.
Frame of a Langstroth Hive

The Langstroth hive is the hive you would most likely see and is definitely the most common bee box. The way it is made, makes it easy to add more boxes to the hive. For this reason, a hive can consist from 1 to 10 boxes stacked on top of each other  with frames inside for the bees to put honey and brood in. 

Today we put together a kit of 4 boxes and 10 frames. My mom then put the swarm she caught yesterday* in the boxes.We assembled the frames, which fit together like a puzzle, with wood glue. We also fitted together the sides of the boxes and nailed and painted them.   



Assembling Frames



Painting Boxes


Eli
                   
[*Editor's note: Eli refers to the first of two swarms caught over a two-day period.  Grace's blog describes the second swarm.]

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