Need a hive stand? It’s good to know the approximate size of the footprint for your beehive. No the bees don’t seem to care but it can make hive inspections easier for you. Knowing the size of your hives is a practical skill. Searching for Standard Beekeeping Equipment The inside dimensions of a deep hive body should be about L-18 3/8″, W-14 3/4″ and D-9 5/8″. Using wood of a different thickness may throw off your inside measurements unless you make adjustments. Most hive plans and measurements are set for a board that is 3/4″ thick. Pine is the most common wood with Cypress being another good choice. The type of wood used to construct beehives does vary a bit depending on what is available in your area. If you assemble your own frames, be sure they are straight and square. It can be scraped away but if the spacing is off, the bees will build it right back. Having too much space between frames or between the frame and the outside of the box results in excess burr comb. When pushed together, the wider shoulders near the top bars are designed to give proper spacing between combs. These frames usually hold sheets of foundation to encourage the bees to produce straight comb. Inside the modern hive, Hoffman-style self-spacing frames fit snuggly. Self Spacing Frames Help Keep Comb Straight This is not the norm and most hobby beekeepers do not try to produce comb sections. The exact arrangement depends on the comb systems. They can purchase a 4 ¾” deep box to hold the special compartments. Special Section Comb Supersīeekeepers that produce comb sections use special containers with foundation. This gives a beekeeper the advantage of being able to exchange frames between both types of boxes. However, since this box only holds 8 frames instead of 10, the width is only 14”. The outside length of an 8 frame box is still 19 7/8”. In recent years, 8 frame Langstroth hives have grown in popularity. Some of the solid bottom boards are reversable, giving the beekeeper a choice of an opening 3/8” high or 7/8”. When building your own beekeeping equipment, the sides of the bottom board should be the proper height – about 3/8”. This enables the beekeeper to use standard entrance reducers when needed. In addition to serving as a base for the boxes to sit on, the bottom board serves another purpose. The side boards provide an entrance to the hive and extends a couple of inches past the hive body (22″ length). For years, a solid bottom was the standard and is still preferred by some beekeepers. The bottom board of a hive comes in several styles. However, most use 1 or 2 of the 9 5/8” hive bodies for the bees and smaller boxes for honey collection. The beekeeper may mix and match them as needed. The hive body (or deep measures) 9 5/8” high, a medium super is 6 5/8” and the shallow box measures 5 11/16” high.īear in mind that your local hives may have any combination of these boxes in use. While all maintain the standard outside width and length, there are 3 different depths (or heights) of boxes. There are not enough workers to patrol all this open space. Additional bee boxes can be added as the colony needs more space for brood or honey storage.Ī small colony should not be thrown into a large hive with many boxes on top. *You may notice slight variations among different references.įor a starter colony, it is common to begin with a single deep or hive body. The outside measurements of all Langstroth hive boxes is 16” wide by 19 7/8” long. Other’s only use the term for honey collection boxes. Some beekeepers call a box a super regardless of the size or purpose. Here all bee life takes place. Don’t get confused with the terminology. I used the same 3/4” dado set up and then adjusted the fence with a sacrifice board to get the correct spacing of 5/8”.Langstroth bee boxes often called “supers” are the heart of the hive. This is easily done with the dado blade and a sacrifice board. The next step is to add the dado along the top side of the short ends. This YouTube video dose a good job demonstrating. Then repeat the same as before, moving the cut space onto the spacer. We are spacing the board to “notch” the first cut, removing the corner. Place a 3/4” spacer between the block and but the board against it. Make sure that the edge that had the first cut, is the same edge with the first cut on the other end. To cut the other side of the board, rotate end for end. Repeat until the board has all the correctly spaced cuts. The first batch will start right up against the spacer block on the jig, which is spaced 3/4” away from the jig.Īfter each cut, place the cut out section on the spacer to make the next cut.
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