Season 2 is starting and I have more equipment to build. In the dead of winter nothing is happening at the hives, so it's a good time to put together all those new hive boxes and frames. I usually buy locally at Ruhl Bee Supply but I wanted to try out Kelley Bees. In this video I review both suppliers and the difference in quality I see in the woodenware.
TL;DR - I'm very impressed with the quality of Kelley Bees, but the shipping cost is a deal-breaker. Ruhl Bees disappoints me every time I go there, but for now they'll stay my supplier.
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In this video I build 1 box without a jig. But I prefer the ease the jig provides. This jig design comes from Michael Bush. I rapidly assemble the jig and build up 3 boxes. Unfortunately the follower boards in my jig are just a tiny bit tight which makes getting the boxes out of the jig a little problematic. I need to see what I can do to give them some more space...
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I have a non-standard (from what I've seen) way of assembling frames, but I think it has a few advantages.
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Be on the lookout for Kelley Bees around Thanksgiving. A couple of years ago I caught some free shipping from them. Great company I use them often. I live 2 hours from em.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you going to apply to the outside of your boxes to protect them from weather?
Some outdoor latex paint as with my other boxes, but I'll be switching the color so I can introduce some more color variations among the hives where I have multiple hives in close proximity in a single location.
DeleteSpeaking of paint - you don't paint the edges of your boxes. Why not? I would have figured since those areas get beat up over time from prying they might benefit from some protection.
ReplyDeleteI painted my first set of boxes on the edges, but found they stuck together too much. Even before the bees started applying propolis. So I scraped all the paint off the edges. The paint seems to get in the way for me and doesn't provide much additional protection. But your paint may be different. You can try it and see how you like it.
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