One of the healthiest treats in our world, without a doubt, is honey. After all, there is simply no other tasty product that has so many useful substances. And the hive is a kind of factory for the production of this delicacy, which must have everything necessary for the full existence of its inhabitants. That is why, before you start building a hive with your own hands, you need to carefully study all the nuances of insect life. To do this, it is worth studying special literature that talks about the existence of bees and their way of life.

A little about the structure of the hive

Every adult knows that the bee community exists according to a special regime, where each bee clearly knows its role and has its place in the house.

• The responsibilities of young bees include feeding the young, since they have more developed maxillary glands, which perfectly produce royal jelly.
• Middle-aged individuals are responsible for the cleanliness of their home.
• Older bees are engaged in the construction of honeycombs, as they have well-developed wax glands.
• There are also “flying” insects, their main purpose is to collect honey.
• But the duties of drones include fertilizing queen bees. But their life is quite short, because with the onset of autumn the males are driven out of the hive, where they die.

Each hive can be filled with several tens of thousands of bees, but only during the height of the summer season.

DIY hive

Hive boa constrictor

The bee house consists of several parts: the body, the magazine, the roof liner and other components. Each department has its own residents and performs certain functions. The best option for novice beekeepers would be a boa constrictor hive.

Frame

The most important part of the hive is the body, because absolutely all bees use it 12 months a year. A queen bee is constantly present here, laying eggs in the honeycombs built for her. In summer, the honeycombs are completely filled with not only eggs and larvae, but also honey. Basically, this part of the hive is located at the very bottom. It should retain heat well winter time, and in summer, on the contrary, it can be cool. That is why, to make the case, you need to use thermal insulating materials. Most often, PPS slabs serve as it.

The housing must contain nesting frames. Usually their number does not exceed 15 pieces, it all depends on the size and design of the hive. Frames are removable parts of a bee's home.

Nest frames

A bottom is attached to the body, which, depending on the model, can be removable. According to the hive design diagram, the frames should be suspended. The distance from the bottom to the frame should not be less than 2 cm. It makes it possible to freely carry out pre-season cleaning of the bee house.

Important! For more convenient access, the space under the frame can be increased to 5 cm. In addition, this will allow the beekeeper to feed the bees a little by placing a container with special food there.

Shop

This section of the hive is located on top of the body. It is in this part of the house that bees deposit honey. When making hives, you need to take into account that the dimensions of the magazine must correspond to the size of the body, and the number of frames must be the same. The extension must be warm, so it, like the body, is insulated.

Liner

The roof liner, or ceiling, serves to additionally protect the hive from rain and other precipitation, as well as to create a unique air cushion, with the help of which the house is supported optimal temperature air. However, beekeepers often use the roof liner as a roof. Then its surface is covered with iron.

Hive components

Honeycombs with beebread

Before you make a bee hive with your own hands, you need to know what parts should complement it. These parts of the bee house include honeycombs, diaphragm, separators, subframe roofing felt and other parts.

Frames intended for installation in the housing are made by professional hive manufacturers from natural wood. The thickness of each of them should not exceed 4 mm. To make it easier for bees to build honeycombs, you can stretch stainless wire or very thick fishing line around their perimeter. The shape of the frames can be varied, it depends on the type and design of the hive:

• horizontal, having a height less than the length;
• vertical with height greater than length;
• square.

Hives different types

Making hives with your own hands is quite labor-intensive work, requiring accuracy and perseverance, because it consists of quite a lot large quantity details. In addition to those described above, each hive has:

• Separators. They are designed to provide the required distance between the frames, which should be about 10 cm.
• Diaphragm (insert board). Its main purpose is to separate the uterine nest. Its dimensions must correspond to the body. It is located in the hive so that it divides it into 2 parts. Often it is installed in the case of dividing space in the house when there are 2 bee families in it.
• Stretcher. This is a sheet of roofing material that is treated with a special composition to eliminate odor. It is made to the size of the hull bottom. They insert it for the winter, and in the spring the quality of the bees' wintering is assessed based on its contents. It is removed at the beginning of the season and stored subject to certain rules.
• Dividing grid. It is installed so that the queen cannot move from one part of the house to another. The usual location is the gap between the magazine and the body. It can be plastic or wire, and the cells have dimensions into which worker bees can easily pass, but the queen bee and tinder, which are larger in size, remain in the nests.
• Folding hinges. They are a connecting element, the main function of which is to connect the magazine and the socket housing.
• Connecting tape. Serves for a more durable connection of all non-removable parts. The material for its manufacture is usually thin steel.

Diaphragm

How to make a boa hive with your own hands: drawings

Making hives with your own hands begins with preparing drawings and all necessary details. The first thing you need to do is the bottom of the hive. There are 2 types: removable and solid.

Removable bottoms, as a rule, are made for multi-hull hives. This bottom allows you to carry out faster spring work in the hive, as it is removed very quickly, freeing up space.

Important! The removable bottom must have universal dimensions and easily fit other hives in the apiary.

Non-removable bottoms have outlived their usefulness and are now used only in beds that contain more than 20 cells.

Before you build a hive, you need to create a drawing of it. This must be done painstakingly, carefully calculating everything required dimensions. The bottom of the hive needs to be drawn on paper, and only then the blank should be made.

Frame hives for bees

The technology for making frame bee houses has not undergone any changes in a hundred years. As before, only the front and back walls of the hive are insulated. This option is perfect for the Urals, Siberia and more northern regions of Russia. The voids between the inner and outer walls are filled with natural insulation, such as moss or sawdust.

Note! Before you make a hive with your own hands, you need to correctly calculate the thickness of its walls. After all, the air temperature inside the “room” will depend on this parameter.

Cheap polystyrene foam is also often used as insulation. Its advantages are obvious: it holds heat well, rodents do not like it, and it is very lightweight, which greatly simplifies assembly.

Do-it-yourself PU foam hive

Polyurethane foam has recently begun to be used in the production of beehives. It is much more expensive than expanded polystyrene, but its performance qualities are much higher.

Making hives from polyurethane foam at home is, in principle, not a difficult task. All prepared parts are connected using wood screws.

Polystyrene foam hive

How to Build a Cheap Bee Hive for a Kindergarten

Materials for making decorative beehive for pupils kindergarten there is a great variety. One of the most budget options is twine - the only option for making beehives for bees with your own hands, which does not require drawings.

To make a bee nest, you need to prepare:

• balloon;
• glue;
• leg-split;
• decorative details.

The balloon needs to be inflated and coated with glue (wallpaper glue is perfect). Then you need to wrap it with twine, but you need to do this so that there is a small window left. The next stage of work will be decorating the hive. To do this, you can use any materials you like, for example, pentagons cut from felt and artificial leather. To fill the hive, you can use padding polyester or foam rubber.

Not taking into account decorative hives, but having a large apiary, it will be rational to make bee houses with my own hands. After all, this can save quite a lot of money, which can be spent on purchasing bee colonies different breeds. But here you need to take care of the quality of the material and purchase necessary equipment. If you follow the drawings, everything will definitely work out!

Having decided to become a beekeeper and having decided on the breed of bees, you need to take care of creating comfortable conditions accommodation for insects. Families grow, swarm, and after some time they will have to be moved to new nests. Of course, you can buy ready-made structures, but they are not cheap, and buying used ones risks infecting the entire swarm. There is only one way out - to make a house yourself. This article will tell you how to make a hive for bees.

Before you make a beehive yourself, you need to decide on its type. People have been involved in beekeeping since ancient times. It is not surprising that there are many different types of hives available today.

Conventionally, all nests are divided into:

1. Vertical (beds). Characterized by an enlarged top due to extensions. The most common option is the Dadan hive and a multi-hull house.
2. Horizontal (risers). The extension with frames is carried out parallel to the surface. This includes sun loungers with 24 frames and Ukrainian designs with perpendicular frames.

Among all the varieties, the most popular are multi-hull structures, houses with 12, 10 frames and sunbeds.
Price depends on design features, socket size, material of manufacture. On average, a finished hive costs about 2000-4000 rubles, without frames. In addition to this, the beekeeper will have to purchase a wax refiner and a honey extractor. Therefore, homemade beehives are a more profitable option for an apiary.

There are different hive systems. Such structures are manufactured according to standard designs. Every standard project hives for bees are developed by design institutes and are intended for maintaining a swarm of bees in various climatic zones.

The following types of hives are distinguished:

• Single-hull with removable bottom and 2 extensions.
• Lounger with extension for 16 frames.
• Double-hull with detachable bottom.
• Single body with 2 magazine extensions.
• Lounger with extension for 20 frames.
• Multihull.
• Double body with 2 extensions.

What does a hive consist of?

To make a nest for a bee family with your own hands, you need to understand what a bee hive consists of and what assembly schemes exist. Structurally, the house consists of a body, bottom, lid, frames and magazine extensions.

The body is the main element. It accommodates honeycomb frames. It looks quite simple in appearance: a box without a bottom or top, equipped with special holders for frames. On the front wall there is an entrance - a hole in the hive for bees through which they fly in and out. The shape can be slit-like or round. The size is adjustable with earbuds. The tap hole is closed with a valve.

The bottom of the body is covered with a bottom. It can be tightly attached and removable. A magazine extension is designed for installing half-frames. It is approximately half lower than the hive body. Often used during mass honey collection. Sometimes several magazines are placed on the body.

Frames are divided into nested and sectional. The first ones are used for building honeycombs by bees. The latter are used to obtain cellular honey.

The nest should have in-hive drinkers for bees and feeders. The feeder is intended for treatment with sugar syrup in the fall. There are in-hive and overhead feeders.

The shape of hives is square, low-wide and narrow-high. In principle, the structure of a bee hive is quite simple, so anyone can make a nest for a swarm. Moreover, today there are many ready-made diagrams and drawings according to which hives are created. You can find them on the Internet, they are freely available. To do this, you need to enter the appropriate phrase into the search, for example, “10 frame hives for bees - drawing,” and a lot of resources with diagrams will appear before your eyes.

What materials are suitable for making hives?

Hives are created from different materials: wood, plywood, polyurethane, polystyrene foam, polyurethane foam.

Each of them has its positive and negative aspects. Let's take a closer look at them.

Tree

Classic nests are wooden. Insects really like this material because it brings them closer to their natural habitat. Linden is the type of tree that beehives are most often made from. Aspen will also work. The smell of deciduous wood is pleasant and honey produced in such a house will not have any specific characteristics. Another advantage is that moisture will not accumulate in the structure. The only drawback of a wooden nest is that it needs to be insulated for the winter.

Recently, coniferous trees have also often been used for hives. For example, spruce, pine, fir. They are distinguished by high heat saving rates and are cheaper than hardwood. Among the disadvantages are the accumulation of moisture in the house and the fact that honey acquires a specific smell of pine needles.

Plywood

This material is characterized by environmental friendliness and durability. Plywood construction, covered acrylic paint and insulated with polystyrene foam, it is many times superior to wood in some respects. But such a house has poor moisture resistance and needs constant care.

Polyurethane foam

The main advantage of houses made of polyurethane foam (PPU) is lightness. The house turns out to be very warm and the bees develop faster in it. Keeping bees in hives made of polyurethane foam has many advantages. The honeycombs in such a house are reliably protected from moths. There is no need to fold dry goods.

Expanded polystyrene

This is one of modern materials for the production of hives. Has a low cost. A house made of polystyrene foam does not need insulation. Disadvantages include the fragility and fragility of the structure. Wood and plywood are more reliable in this regard. If the quality of the material is low, the quality of the honey will also deteriorate.

What are the dimensions of a bee's nest?

To build a good quality house for a family of honey workers, it is necessary to correctly calculate the size of the structural parts. The size of bee hives depends on the size of the colony and the type of structure.

But there are universal values ​​that apply to all types of bee nests:

1. The distance between the mediastinums of the 2 frames, which are located adjacent, is 3.75 cm.
2. The diameter of the street is 1.25 cm.
3. The distance between the bottom and the bottom bar of the frame is 2 cm.
4. When installing an additional housing, the distance between the lower bars of the magazine frames and the upper bars of the nesting frames should be 1 cm.
5. The distance between the back and front walls of the nest and the side bars of the frames is 0.75 cm.

How to make a Dadanovsky hive?

Dadan's hive holds from 10 to 12 frames. Frames can be purchased ready-made. It is possible to make frames for bees with your own hands. The nesting body is created in the shape of a cube; coniferous wood is usually used; willow and linden are also suitable. All parts are produced according to recommended sizes and drawings. The cracks are sealed with putty.

First you need to carefully process the wood. Then cut the grooves that connect the walls of the housings. Planks measuring 1.8 x 0.4 cm are made. To connect the boards into 1 shield, use adhesive compositions. All parts are assembled together using nails and glue. When the hive is ready, it is painted. Afterwards, tap holes and small holes for ventilation are drilled.

How to paint a hive?

It’s not difficult to make a hive according to a ready-made design, but difficulties often arise with painting. Many beekeepers wonder what paint is best to paint a bee hive and what color.

Painting imparts reliability to the structure, protects it from moisture, rot, prevents the wood from drying out, and also makes the house look more attractive.

Color selection

Let's consider what color experienced beekeepers recommend painting bee hives. In fact, insects are color blind. Therefore, in order for them to identify their home, the hive needs to be painted in different shades. Blue, white, light blue and yellow colors will make the nest brighter and more noticeable.

Some beekeepers do not paint their hives at all, believing that honey workers will be able to survive the winter anyway. This is wrong, because wood is subject to negative influences environment. Moisture seeping through the cracks causes the formation of mold and rot, and this harms insects.

Paint selection

Let's consider what paint is best to paint bee hives. Usually they use either oil or acrylic. The first is preferable because it dries quickly and does not emit unpleasant odor after drying. The composition is ideal for outside structures.

Acrylic paint is characterized by its immunity to ultraviolet radiation and is easy to apply. Does not interfere with ventilation, it can be washed. Brightness lasts up to 10 years.

When thinking about what to paint bee hives with, you can choose silver paint. Apply it to the roof of the house and to the back wall. This protects the structure from overheating.

How are you preparing for winter?

At the beginning of autumn, the hives begin to prepare for winter. It is important to properly insulate the house. in a multi-hull hive it is somewhat more difficult than in other types of houses. The procedure requires taking into account a number of features. All 4 walls need to be insulated.

Weak colonies are transferred to a winter hut for bees, in which the insects live until spring. Such a structure is erected from local building materials. Reed slabs, plates, adobe, limestone, and slabs are suitable. All materials must be treated with antiseptic agents.

Constructions made of adobe are the best option, since they hold throughout the winter normal humidity and temperature. Cement blocks should not be used. This material is cold.

The room temperature should be from 0 to +3 degrees. It is advisable to install electric heating with automatic thermoregulation. If a temperature regulator is used in winter for bees, the temperature should be set at the entrance level no higher than +6 degrees. Air humidity should be 75-85%.

Once the decision is made to breed bees, you need to purchase several colonies and take care of their housing. The swarm is growing rapidly and as a result, new houses are needed. You can buy them, or you can make them yourself. Before starting work, you need to know all the details of how to make a beehive for bees yourself. There are many types of hives and each has its own pros and cons. Before making a hive with your own hands, the drawings are initially carefully studied.

Types of hives

Making hives with your own hands is not a difficult task. Before you begin, you need to understand that evidence differs in size, design and material.
By design, the hive is divided into:

• collapsible;
• non-separable.

Today, non-dismountable hives have become less popular. Most beekeepers use homemade frame bee evidence.
Frame houses are divided into:

• vertical;
• horizontal.

Horizontal or lounger, is a single-hull structure with possible expansion in different directions. Due to their ease of use, these clues are suitable for inexperienced beekeepers. There is one drawback - they are large and heavy. The vertical structure consists of several buildings. Plus - lightweight and easy to move.
These two forms have more than one section and are separated by a partition, which allows you to change the volume in different directions.

The most famous designs

Dadanovsky hive

One of the popular designs that is installed in many apiaries. It received its love because of its ease of use and spaciousness. It can be made with your own hands from wood, and it consists of 12 frames, which can be supplemented as desired. IN summer period and after increasing the colony, the hive can be expanded with additional buildings.

Alpine

A multi-body hive built in the likeness of a hollow. Gained great popularity due to its similarity with natural conditions residence of wild bees.

This structure is ideal for places with limited space. It has no partitions or holes for ventilation. Fresh air enters the hive through the entrance.

Ruta

This dwelling is suitable for honey plants in warm regions, since due to regular rearrangements of buildings, the thermal effect inside the dwelling is disrupted. Ruta contains 6 cases of 10 frames each.

Cassette

These hives have become popular due to the emergence of new bee diseases. This design has thin partitions, and therefore the swarm creates a microclimate for itself.

Important! Built from natural material, impregnated with wax.

An ideal solution for inexperienced beekeepers. You can quickly make it yourself. They consist of 20 frames and insulated side walls, so honey plants survive perfectly winter cold. The Ukrainian sun lounger is easy to maintain.

Multi-body beehive, non-rebated

The hive is thin-walled, wall thickness 20 mm. Suitable for regions with warm climates. The house has a lot of advantages - the buildings are light, easy to build with your own hands, and very practical.

How to make evidence with your own hands step by step

The operating principle is the same for all types. Before you make a bee hive with your own hands, you need to know the exact dimensions. 20-frame horizontal beehive for bees, step-by-step instructions:

1. We cut parts from a board four cm wide. These parts will serve as the front and back walls of the hive. Side ones, cut from a board three cm long.
2. We assemble the structure so that all the walls except the front are in contact with the bottom, and the front rises one and a half cm from the bottom. This distance will serve as a taphole from below in the future. The corners are butted into quarters and secured with nails.
3. We make the floor from a board 3.5 cm thick. The bottom should look like a shield.
4. The ceilings are built from boards: L-47.8 cm, thickness - 1 cm.
5. We construct the roof. It can be made flat, pitched or gable. This is the only part that can be upholstered with metal sheet.
6. For northern regions, the lounger must be insulated on both sides.

DIY beehive for 20 frames

The lounger consists of a bottom, a roof and walls. The frame is built from panels. Dimensions of the front part: 87x37. The height of the back wall is 87x34. The length of the side panels is 44x49 cm. Bottom size: 84x54.5, thickness 3.5 cm.
You can make bee evidence with your own hands from:

• plywood;
• foam;

The ease of construction with your own hands lies in the fact that polystyrene foam is inexpensive and reliable. Building from this material is simple and profitable. Before you build a bee hive with your own hands, you need to know the dimensions. The size of future hives can be very diverse, it depends on the number of frames that will be there. To find out the width, you need to multiply the number of frames by 3.75. Length is calculated: frame length plus 1.4. The height is calculated: add the height of the frame to the height of the folds.

Step-by-step instruction:

1. Initially, you should decide on the size and begin construction in stages.
2. We apply stencils of the future house onto a sheet of foam plastic.
3. We cut out the future walls and clean the corners with sandpaper.
4. To fasten all the parts, we cut out the quarters and use nails and screws for connections.
5. The bottom is made of galvanized sheet metal.
6. The roof must be flat or pitched. After the roof is fastened, it is weighted down.
7. The entrances are standard.

After completing the construction of the hive, it is necessary to make frames. They consist of: upper, lower and side bars. Made from dried, natural material.
Dimensions according to GOST:

• top and sides – B-2.5 cm
• top rail – H-2 cm;
• bottom rail – B - from 1.5 to 2.5 cm;
• H – 1 cm;
• Dimensions depend on the type of hive; dimensions according to GOST are 43.5x30.
  (H-height; B-width; L-length)

Frame diagram

Frame

The central part of the hive is a four-walled box. There is a bee's nest in it. As the bee colony grows, the bodies can be stacked on top of each other. Based on the number of buildings, houses are divided into: single, double-building and multi-building (3 or more). The wall thickness should be 35 mm. This size will help the swarm to survive the winter well. The number of frames in the case can be from 16 to 24.

The parts prepared for the body are connected with nails or PVA glue. A cut is made in the lower part of the front wall: B-4cm, H-1cm. This slot will serve as the entrance and exit for the swarm. Also, at the bottom of the case, a hole is drilled for ventilation. The finished body is treated on the outside with a water-repellent material and painted white.

Important! It is necessary to make recesses on the sides of the case, 7mm below the top of the case. They will serve as handles for convenient transportation from place to place.

Roof

The roof is made from boards 2 cm thick. From the prepared boards we make a structure in the form of a shield and, to prevent the board from rotting, we cover it with a tin sheet.

Important! When building a hive, tin sheets are used only to cover the roof; they are not used to cover the walls.

Most beekeepers install a mesh on the top of the hive for additional ventilation when transporting bee houses. It is also necessary to isolate the swarm from the outside world.

Bottom

For regions with cold climates, the bottom is made of two layers of boards with insulating backfill. IN southern regions no insulation is required, therefore it is made from a single board.

The bottom is made of bars. At three side bars standard sizes– 57x6.5x3.5. The bars that will be installed in the rear are 44.5x6.5x3.5. In each block, at a distance of 2 cm from the top edge, it is necessary to make puzzles. After all the parts are cut out, we begin assembling the parts of the structure. The bottom should be assembled with the letter “P”. Grooves are necessary for installing the floor. The landing board is made from a protruding beam of 5 cm, the front beam of the bottom.
The bottom, for convenience, should be removable and double-sided.

1. Left side wall. 2. Front top bar. 3. Arrival board (let gate). 4. An inclined board arranged into a tap hole. 5. Front lower block of the tap hole. 6. A block for fixing the bottom mesh. 7. Grid. 8. Middle bar of the rear wall. 9. Bottom bar of the rear wall. 10. Upper bar of the rear wall. 11. Bottom flooring. 12. Summer liner.

Sample tools

Before you start making a hive, you need to prepare the following tools:

• wooden hammer;
• awl;
• wire;
• pliers;
• nails and screws;
• measuring tape;
• hammer drill, welding machine and Bulgarian;
• board 32x18, 12 mm plywood;
• insulation;
• a metal sheet;
• PVA, paint, brushes.

Blueprints

It is more convenient to use ready-made drawings.

Due to the large number of frames and bodies, it will be difficult for a novice beekeeper to make a multi-body hive.

This type of hive is a large, long box. The floor and roof fit tightly to the structure itself. Drawings of the manufactured structure:

When constructing a multi-hull house, you must follow several rules:

1. The bottom can be made any way. The removable bottom makes caring for insects much easier.
2. It is better to make the hive roof flat for more convenient transportation.
3. Frames must have side slats and have side bars.
4. For a family of bees, you need to make a feeder from a nomadic net.
5. The roof is assembled after the entire structure has been assembled and after the insulation stage.
   The house should be warm, comfortable and airtight. Otherwise, the swarm will be sick, will not survive the winter cold and will not produce honey well.

Video

Every beekeeper knows that natural shelters serve as a refuge for wild bees, which, for example, can be a hollow tree. But if you decide to start breeding these hard-working insects, then you will have to make every effort to ensure satisfactory working and rest conditions. And this presents a number of difficulties. Of course, there is no shortage of such information; beekeeping books describe in detail the entire process of organizing a hive, but this article is intended to convey to the reader in the most simplified and structured manner all the information necessary for correct selection and installation of the hive.

Types of hives

Before you start building a hive for bees, you need to clearly understand what type of hive you have decided to build. There are many various types houses for bees, each of which has its own pros and cons. Detailed description each type is not the purpose of this article, since this information is available in any sources on beekeeping. In this regard, it should be noted that the main types of hives are vertical (riser) and horizontal (bed).

vertical hive

The vertical one is a two- or three-tier structure containing up to ten frames in each tier. An increase in the volume of the structure is achieved by installing additional buildings or stores.

horizontal hive

Horizontal hives are shaped like elongated horizontal boxes, which can be expanded by additionally installing new housings on the side.

How to make a beehive with your own hands?

So, it’s time to answer the questions: “How to make a beehive with your own hands?” and “What is needed for this?” Let's start from the very beginning.

If you are determined to please your bee dynasty with new comfortable apartments, then you should clearly know that the hive is designed to provide:

Firstly, reliable protection from temperature changes and any changes in meteorological conditions, since bees are extremely fastidious insects.

Secondly, the home should be equipped with side and ceiling insulation, which also protects bees from changes in the meteorological situation, namely, in winter from excessively low temperatures, and in summer from excessively high temperatures.

Thirdly, the hive must be spacious and allow for possible expansion of the structure, taking into account the increase in the number of members of the bee family, as well as food reserves.

And finally, each beekeeper must create a hive that is convenient in all respects, not only for bees, but also for his own maintenance. The hive must be durable and wear-resistant, well ventilated, and also have strong fastenings and interchangeable parts, which makes the design convenient in case of movement or maintenance.

materials we need

To make hives you will need the following materials: boards various widths made from soft wood. They must be well dried and free from unnecessary irregularities and roughness. Choose even boards, with a width half a centimeter greater than the width of the hive walls. This is necessary for reserve in case of stripping parts.

Also, it is necessary to prepare nails of the proper diameter that will not damage the integrity of the material. We must not forget that in order to maintain optimal appearance The hive is painted after two to three years.

hive dimensions

Determining the size of the hive is an extremely important moment, since this is the basic rule for the construction of hives. There are universal sizes suitable for hives of any design.

1. The distance between the mediastinum of two adjacent frames is 37.5 mm.

2.Passages for bees, called streets - 12.5 mm. If you decide to install a second housing, the distance between the upper bars of the nesting frames and the lower bars should be 10 mm.

4. The distance from the front and back walls of the hive to the side bars of the frames is 7.5 mm.

5. Between the bottom bar of the nesting frame and the bottom - 20 mm.

If you have mastered the basic dimensions of the hive, then you can easily cope with the calculations of additional quantities that will be required in the process of preparing the hive.

components of the hive

Anyone who decides to make a hive with their own hands needs to know that its structure includes the following components:

manufacturing technique

To make a roof you will need 20 mm wide boards or plywood, which is used in two layers. First of all, you need to take care of the strapping. Its dimensions are 455*455 mm. To make it, you will need boards 15 cm wide. The perimeter of the strapping is complemented by strips that prevent the lid from slipping. A lid coated with oil paint is installed on top.

Canvas is not mandatory element hive and is used during maintenance. It is a piece of burlap used to close the holes that form in the lid.

The dimensions of the insulating pad should not greatly exceed the dimensions of the hive and amount to 455 * 455 mm. It is made in the form of a pillow filled with moss or dry grass.

The main design solution for the bottom is to make it in the form of a simple bottom, which is indented from the border of the frame by 20 mm. It must match the size of the hive and be nailed to the hive. There are designs in which the bottom remains unattached.

For the manufacture of walls, boards measuring 20 mm are used. They must be tightly fitted at all distances and tightly fastened with tongues.

Another essential element of bee apartments is the diaphragm. It is designed to separate the bee nest from empty space. To make it, you will need ten-millimeter plywood, to which the sides are attached. It should be a mobile element of the hive. Which is easy to take out and put in.

The frames are made of slats, the material for which is birch or aspen.

hive assembly

Before assembling the hive, you need to prepare four walls, the dimensions and drawings of which are presented below. Then the front wall is connected to the side ones, and then the back wall of the hive is attached. The next step is to hang two nesting frames on the sides of the hive. After this, the floor is attached to the lower edge, or a mesh is inserted to replace it.

Don't forget about the entrance, which is cut out on the front surface of the hive. The assembled hive is placed on the floor. A pillow and insulating canvas are placed on top, which will support the desired temperature regime in the hive and covered with a lid.

DIY polystyrene foam hive

If you decide to use a polystyrene foam hive, you should familiarize yourself with its pros and cons. Of course there are more advantages, but there are also disadvantages. The advantages are good thermal insulation, lightness, and fairly simple manufacturing. Disadvantages are associated with the tendency of the hive walls to damage, as well as with the penetration of light into the cracks between the walls. All shortcomings can be compensated for by good maintainability and low manufacturing costs.

Having such a goal of how to build a bee hive with your own hands, you need to figure out what it will be like. The fact is that there are several types of these buildings; the choice of a particular one should be based on many factors.

Almost any beginning beekeeper is faced with the problem of expanding his apiary for bees. And here he will have two options: buy new hives, or make them himself. The first option is faster, and the second is definitely cheaper, which is why people often lean towards it.

First of all, the climatic conditions for bees are important, as well as the type of apiary: positional or mobile. The type of bee family, the characteristics of honey collection, the experience of the beekeeper and other characteristics are also taken into account.

It is worth immediately clarifying that different constructive solutions and there are quite a lot of structural features of houses for bees. But the most popular are the following three hives.

Sun lounger

Advantages

The bee bed is perfect for mobile apiaries, as it does not require any installation after moving it to the honey plants. The peculiarity of its design allows you to breed several bee families in one hive. It will be enough just to install partitions. Besides this design It is very easy to insulate for bees, which is ideal for maintaining your own apiary in cold regions of the country.

Flaws

However, along with such advantages, this bee hive, designed with your own hands, turns out to be heavy. In order to lift it, you often have to use loading devices. Along with this, it turns out to be quite large, which requires a lot of space during wintering, as well as transportation.

Characteristic

A homemade bee bed is a single-hull structure, the internal volume of which allows you to place from two dozen to two dozen frames. Its width is four and a half, and its length is 7.86 or 9.36 centimeters, respectively. Their bottom is not removable, so it is nailed tightly. It is worth noting that some beekeepers use a trick, placing two bee families in one bed, separating them with just one partition. This allows you not to use it until summer and autumn period half of the heavy hives.

Multi-section

Advantages

Making homemade Dadan and Rut hives is great solution to prevent swarming. Such housing for bees allows you to support really many families and does not require special preparation. winter period. In addition, given the dimensions of the buildings, you can count on honey collection of varying strength.

Flaws

However, along with these advantages, before you make a hive of this type at home, you should be prepared for the fact that it turns out to be large and demanding of care. Therefore, you have to perform additional actions when moving it.

Characteristic

A double-hull hive consists of only a pair of boxes or, as they are commonly called, buildings. Their internal clearance is 4.5 by 4.5 centimeters, with a height of 3.2 centimeters. The first housing is located on the removable bottom, the second is placed on top and covered with a lid. Each of these buildings can accommodate a dozen frames inside itself, and there are twenty-four of them in the hive. This structural feature allows you to use only one compartment, resorting to the second only when strengthening the bee family.

Shop

Advantages

A store-bought frame hive does not have such obvious disadvantages with weight. It is relatively light and easy to maintain, does not require much space for transportation to honey collection, or placement in the winter hut. Considering the fact that the volume of such a structure is small, it is good to use it in northern regions countries, as it perfectly retains heat inside.

Flaws

There is only one drawback of this design, but it is very obvious. Due to its small dimensions, it will not be possible to breed strong families of bees in the hive, since they simply do not have enough space inside for reproduction. The consequence of this can be either swarming or a decrease in the strength of insect families.

Characteristic

The store hive has only one building, in which the bee family is located. Its dimensions fully correspond to the dimensions of a two-hull hive. Extensions are added to collect honey. The frames used here are standard, while the half-frames are half as long in height.

How will we make it and from what materials?

In any case, before building a bee hive at home, you need to stock up on building materials.

Tools

These are carpentry tools, which you cannot do without when working with wood, and boards for prefabricated structures. You can plan them yourself, or order them from the nearest sawmill.

Tree

It is better to choose a tree from soft species, preferably coniferous. Preference is given to pine and spruce, but linden, poplar, cedar, or willow can also be used. It is extremely important that all parts are of strictly standardized sizes, as this will allow damaged components to be replaced. As for foundation, it must be stocked in advance; Usually the calculation is half a kilogram per bee colony.

Manufacturing

Now about how to build a hive for bees. First of all, you need a drawing of the desired homemade design. It is much easier to work with than focusing solely on the assembly description. After all, even the smartest book on the topic “make a hive yourself” will not give such an idea of ​​the situation as an accessible and intelligible drawing. You can also use video materials to build the current structure.

Video