An additional week without bees

Unfortunately, yesterday my wife took a phone call from Brushy Mountain Bee Farm (thats where I am getting my packages from).  It turns out that the bees will not be ready on the 21th.  I won’t get them until one week later (the 28th).  I looks like I will have to wait a bit longer to become a beekeeper.

My Equipment Comes In

In addition to the hives, I do need some basic equipment. I had put in an order at Betterbee, and it came in today! Here is what I got:

• A smoker (its bigger than I pictured, maybe I should have gotten the “Lil’ Pro” instead of the “Pro”)
• A pair of Beekeeping gloves (they go up above my elbows)
• A hive tool (for prying, scraping, etc)
• A bee brush (for brushing bees off comb, top-bars, etc. – not sure if I needed this, but it was cheap)
• 2 entrance feeders (for feeding sugar syrup to help the hives get started – I will put them at the back of the hive)

I had tried to estimate the size of the feeders, and was a bit off. The catalog said they were for 3/8″ entrances, so I cut the slots in the back of the hive 3/8″ thick. It turns out they are 1/2″ thick, so I will need to widen the slots. They are also 5″ wide (I had guessed 4″) so I will have to lengthen the slots too. Oh well, I guess the hives aren’t really done after all.

For protective clothing, I got a zippered jacket with a zip-on veil. The veil unzips and flips over behind your back when not needed. I also got an additional veil that doesn’t require a hat. This will be for backup or visitors (or if its really hot and the bees are nice to me). Its foldable and can fit in a backpack (so I could possible use it coming straight from school before going home). My daughter took a liking to the extra veil, and has decided its hers.

I’m sure I will figure out other stuff I need after I start, but I think this should cover the basics.

Bee space and a screened bottom

Top-bar hive can be constructed in many different ways. If you look through some of the top-bar links on the right, you will see that they come in all shapes and sizes. There is one dimension that you have to respect however, and that is bee space. Bees naturally build comb with a set distance between them, and they also like this distance between the comb and the wall of the hive. This is commonly called bee space, and usually between 1/4-3/8″. Beekeepers will also tell you that the bees have the final say in what bee space is. The top-bars need to follow this dimension or the bees will be apt to build comb across separate bars (making it hard to remove them and work the hive). The top-bars I built are 1 1/4″ and 1 1/2″ (for brood and honey comb). The different sizes are because bees will build different width of comb depending and what its for. Comb widths can vary from a little more than 3/4″ to a little more than 7/8″. The width of the top-bars takes this into account. They have room for the comb in the middle (hopefully on the comb guide), with 1/2 bee space on each side. This way when two top-bars are next to each other there will be the proper bee space between the combs. The only problem comes at the ends of the hive. A spacer is needed to keep the bee space right. Here is a graphic to illustrate :

This using brood comb top-bars as an example and assumes 7/8″ wide comb to keep the numbers nice. In reality, there is a little leeway I think due to varying comb width and bee space. We want to keep it pretty close though. If you remember, I had to rip the brood top-bars down from 1 1/2″ to 1 1/4″. This left me a strip that was ~1/8″ thick. If I use 16 brood comb top-bars (1 1/4″) and 14 honey comb top-bars (1 1/2″), there is exactly enough room in my hive to put one of these 1/8″ strips at each end of the hive. They aren’t exactly 3/16″ like in the diagram, but they are close and I have bunch of them (and a 1/8″ spacer should create a bee space between 1/4″ and 3/8″ which seems a nice middle ground). Hopefully the bees will agree with my math and make nice straight comb for me.

As I mentioned before, one of the last things I needed to do was to attach a screened bottom above the removable one. This is made of #8 hardware cloth (1/8″ squares, small enough that the bees won’t get through). The screened bottom serves a few purposes. First, it allows Varroa mites that the bees might groom off to fall out of the hive. Second, it provides nice ventilation so the bees don’t have to work so hard in the summer to keep the hive cool. The ventilation can also help with moisture problems. The #8 hardware cloth for the screened bottom can be a little hard to find. Its not always stocked at home improvement or hardware stores, and this was the case when I looked around. Luckily, I was able to get some from Busy Bee Apiaries which is quite close to me. They distribute many of the most common products from Brushy Mountain Bee Farm (where I am getting my bees). They charge the same price, and since they are close there’s no shipping. On top of that, the Tapps just seem like real nice people. I got 3′ of 36″ wide #8 hardware cloth. This gives me some extra if I need any small pieces in the future. I cut and folded the hardware cloth to fit and then stapled it in place with 1/2″ staples. The hive is now complete. I may still make follower boards, but they are optional accessories.

Construction: The End

I guess its not technically “the end”, I still have to attach the screen bottom of #8 hardware cloth, but that will be quick. It will just staple in.

Other than the hardware cloth screen, its all done though. I did promise to explain the details, so here they are.

The clean-out doors were painted at the same time as the hive bodies. I attached them with hinges, with small pilot holes pre-drilled for the screws. I used two hinges for each door (there is a door at each end of the hive). I probably could have used smaller hinges, but these will definitely be heavy enough. I also attached a hook and eye to latch the door closed.

The next thing I needed to do was attach a railing that the top-bars will sit on. If you remembe, I made this while cutting the ridge pole of the roof. They are small wedges with the sides at 20 degrees off vertical (with the top flat). These will attach to the inside of the hive sides and have a horizontal surface for the top-bars to sit on. I measured and if these are attached 1″ down from the top, there will be slightly more than 19″ between them. Since my top-bars are 19″, this will give me a little extra room, but not too much. I measured the 1″ down and made a guide line. I applied wood glue to the rail and put it in place. I held it in place with clamps while I attached it with 1/2″ staples. I think I have heard Norm Abram say in positions like this that the wood glue is the structural support with the nails (staples here) just there to hold it in place while the glue dries. He definitely know more about woodworking than me, but I figured I would err on the side of caution and added a good number of staples.

The last thing was to add the top-bars. I ended up fitting 17 brood bars (1 1/4″) and 13 honey bars (1 1/2″). I can change that up if needed, but the total is 30 bars. Being Easter, I also had a very cute daughter in her new Easter dress to give the final product a sense of scale.

Construction: Part 4

I generally don’t have much time during the week to work. I don’t want to run the table saw or other power tools at night and bother my neighbors. After coming home from work, eating dinner, and spending some time with my girls, I have at most an hour (usually less). I have been only doing a bit here and there and haven’t felt like posting it. I’m a little behind now, and have to catch up.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I still needed to finish the top-bars for the brood nest. I had finished 30 top-bars for honey storage (1 1/2″ wide), but the thinner brood bars needed to be cut down. They should be 1 1/4″ wide and are cut from the 1×2’s like the other bars. They therefor have to be ripped down before the comb guide is cut. I used a single feather board to hold the stock down to the table while I ran them through. Once they were cut to 1 1/4″, I then ran them through in the same way described earlier to form the comb guide.

At this point, I had to remove the legs. They would get in the way for inserting the brace at the ends, and I wanted to paint the hives without them (so I could paint even under where they attach). A couple of times, I have caught myself just in time before doing something dumb. This was another of those. Since I just drilled the bolt holes by eye, they are all slightly different. That means that each leg may only fit in one position. To save myself some hassle when I have to reassemble, I made sure to label each leg and the position it want on which hive.

With the legs off, I measured and cut braces to fit in each end. The edges are cut at 20 degrees, and they are glued and screwed in place. I made sure that had a little clearance above the removable bottom so any junk that falls through can slide out with the bottom. These braces also have a purpose besides just adding strength to the hive. They also provide a place where I can attach the #8 hardware cloth that will form the screened bottom. The hardware cloth comes in 36″ wide, and my hive is 41 1/2″ long on the inside. To save on how much I will need, I made the braces 3 1/2″ wide. That means that the hardware cloth will only have to cover a length of 34 1/2″. This way I can buy just 2 or 3 linear feet of the cloth for both hives.

I took a holiday yesterday, and so I had time to paint the hives. I picked up some paint from the “oops” pile at my local Lowes (the paint that was tinted incorrectly and such). They had some strange colors, but I found some nice exterior paint that was a light tan color. I figured it would work just fine and as able to get a gallon of Lowes top end paint for about 40% of the normal cost. It ended up that I didn’t need anywhere near a gallon (I put on two coats, and still didn’t even use a quarter of it).

I stood the hives on end to paint them, giving them two coats with a light sanding in between. As is normal for hives, the interior is left unpainted. I did take some extra time though to make sure that the edges of the plywood were painted well. I think the exposed edges are the most likely place to take in water and damage the plywood if unpainted. I was able to finish all the painting yesterday.

Today, I finished some additional work and reassembled the hives. Everything on the outside is now completely done, with only a couple simple finishing touched for the inside. I forgot to take pictures though, so you will have to wait for tomorrow at least to see. I’ll also explain the things I finished today.

Carpenter Bees in spring

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that while I have lived in NC I don’t remember seeing any bumblebees, but that I do see Eastern Carpenter Bees (Xylocopa virginica). Starting a few days ago, I started seeing them a good bit around our house. For three days in a row I came home to find one by our front door. It would be methodically flying along the bottom of an overhang, following the line of the house. I assumed it was looking for a place to build a nest. Since the siding of our home is painted, it didn’t seem to find what it was looking for and would move on after a bit. I showed them to my 4 year old daughter, who found them interesting. None of this seemed out of the ordinary.

On Sat. I was outside behind out home working on the hives I am building. During the afternoon, I would see a carpenter bee about every 10-15 minutes. Usually they were doing the same thing I had seen before, cruising along the bottom of an overhang checking it out. Every once in a while, I would see a second carpenter bee fly up and the two would chase each other and wrestle a bit in the air. I figured they were either fighting or doing what birds and bees are famous for in spring. I was busy though, and didn’t stop to investigate. Besides, it was over quickly and then they were gone. They are bigger that honey bees by a lot, but they still move out of view pretty fast.

Later in the afternoon, my 4 year old wanted to take a walk around the BlueCross BlueShield Building that is near our home. It sits on a large, partially wooded lot and has a nice one mile trail around its property that my daughter likes to “explore”. The path leads behind the building where there are a couple of rows of wooden planters. When we got to this area, we were in for a sight. There were literally hundreds of carpenter bees buzzing around. They were not collecting nectar, but were mostly hovering and chasing each other. My brave little girl stood in the middle of all these big buzzing bugs with me for a few minutes, but then said that “They were getting to close” and she would rather leave. We went on, but I figured I would come back and observe a bit more and bring a camera. I don’t know too much about carpenter bees but it seemed like the equivalent of a honey bees drone congregation area, and I was intrigued.

When I came back with a camera they were still at it. They tended to group around the wooden planters, mostly at the corners. Each of the planters had ~15 or so carpenter bees buzzing around it. They mostly just hovered about 6-12″ of the ground, staying as motionless as possible. From the yellow patch on their forehead, you can tell that they are mostly drones (a comforting fact since I was surrounded by lots of them and drones can’t sting). If another drone came too close they would chase it away, sometimes attacking each other. Once they had chased the rival off, they would come back to roughly the same spot and hover again. When they chased each other around, they usually stayed face to face, with one of the drones flying backwards until one caved and left. Reasonably often they would come to blows and you could hear them bounce off each other. It was a bit strange to be watching some in front of you, only to hear some right behind you duking it out.

After watching for a bit, I realized that they were not all drones. Most were, and all the fighters staking out their little area were. Every once in a while a female would come by. After a careful and cautious inspection that involved laying on my back with the drone buzzing over me, I realized that there were nests under the edge of the planters. You could see a small pile of sawdust on the ground from their drilling into the wood. When I got close enough, I think you can even hear them drilling. They make a grinding/scratching noise inside the holes. The females seemed mostly to be trying to simply get into their home (or out). I even saw some of them carrying pollen. They had to run a gauntlet of drone who pestered them as they came and went however. Once they got to their nest though, the drones left them alone. The guys seemed afraid to follow them in. I did find a female outside her nest though and was able to snap a few picture while she groomed herself. She flew off shortly after I took the pictures. After watching for a good while, I actually came across a drone that found a receptive female.

My digital camera also takes videos so I tried to take some. It was hard to get something interesting. I could get video of drones hovering, but whenever they started to run a competitor off, I couldn’t follow fast enough. After a bunch of uninteresting (rather poor shaky) videos, I got one that was at interesting. I found a drone that was fulfilling his only purpose in life (assuming carpenter bees drones do as little as honey bee drones). The video got a bit compressed and grainier when I uploaded it to photobucket, but if you are not offended by such things you can watch it (I hope you don’t get motion sickness though).