Despite being given a "starter" hive by my club, I wished to maintain two colonies, as all the text books I read mentioned the benefits of two. Being able to compare, and swop brood across/eggs in an emergency if you damage the queen.
My local distributor stocks "seconds", which is hives which have a flaw or damage somehow. Either a knot in the wood, or a corner slightly chipped. Being a keen woodworker, this isn't something that worried me, and you get a good discount.
As I was starting out, I decided I needed 1 x brood box, 2 x supers, 1 x floor, 1 x excluder, 1 x cover board and a protective suit. I bought it all "in the flat" ready to glue up myself.
Out inthe workshop now, with the essentails, hammer, punch and some outdoor grade glue
Here, we can see everything piled up in the flat ready for assembly
I'm starting on one of the boxes here. I'm a firm believer in using plenty of glue!
Quick check to make sure the frames fit in, and it's all square!
After the boxes, quite a mammoth undertaking of making up all those frames. Given the amount of other woodworking equipment I have, there's no excuse for me not investing in a nail gun, but for some reason, I seem to be struggling on with a hammer still :?
Next thing is to make a stand. I use some bits and bobs I have lying around.
Finally it's ready to be stored outside, as I need the space in my workshop! You can see I haven't added the foundation yet, I'll wait a little longer till it's closer to being in use.
Finished!
Adam
Topic: How to....makeup a flatpack hive (Read 5949 times)