Since I had access to the university wood shop, I decided to go ahead and cut the parts for four hives. I have two hives of bees on order and I’m going to put out some swarm traps to try and catch a swarm, so four hives will give me some wiggle room.
The SketchUp file shows the cut list for four hives. I used:
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•8 2x4x8
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•9 1x12x8
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•4 1x6x8
The 1x12x8’s are “utility” grade and of really poor quality but they were cheap. I bought the higher quality 2x4 as these will form the legs.
I mostly used the table saw and radial arm saw and was able to make all the cuts in about 5 hours. I still have to make the rabbet and dado cuts on the hive body parts. Here is a pic of all the cut wood minus the hive bodies. The top bars have a shallow kerf cut down their length that will be filled with bees wax for comb building guides.
And a tidier stack minus the roof and leg parts. Top bars, follower boards, and cleats are left.
Here is the start of the roof frames.
I’m using rigid blue insulation to the top of the roof to ward off summer heat and conserve winter warmth. The top is made from corrugated plastic sign making material. It is white to reflect heat, has some insulating properties, and is totally water proof. It’s just not very rigid, we’ll see how it holds up to the weather. It is sold in 2’x3’ sheets which fit perfectly on the roof frame.
Corrugated plastic roof.
I drilled all the legs for 2.5” 1/4-20 bolts. I used a stop on the drill press to make all the holes in the same location. The legs are designed to be removable for transport and I wanted them interchangeable to avoid reassembly confusion.
Well, that’s all that is completed to this point.