DIY Projects for the Self-Sufficient Homeowner: 25 Ways to Build a Self-Reliant Lifestyle by Betsy Matheson Page B
Authors: Betsy Matheson
Tags: Non-Fiction
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build a traditional stacking-box style beehive in which the bees expend most of their energy filling the premade combs with sweet honey. If it’s beeswax you seek, make a top-bar hive like the one shown on the following pages.
5 Ways to Keep Your Bees safe & Healthy
1. Avoid using insecticides in your garden —Many are long-lasting and toxic to bees.
2. Buy seeds that are not treated with insecticides —Some coated seeds may cause the entire plant to become toxic to bees. Check seed packets carefully.
3. Mix your own potting soil and compost —Some composts and potting mixes sold at garden centers contain insecticide that is highly toxic to bees and other insects, and will eventually pollute all of your soil. Make your own compost, and mix with natural additives for potting plants.
4. Plant bee-friendly flowers —Buy wildflower seed mix and plant in uncultivated areas to create small sections of wild, natural habitat for your bees.
5. Provide a home for bees —Whether you’re a blossoming beekeeper or not, it’s easy to provide a home for bees! Provide a simple box as a place for feral bees to nest, or start your own hive.
In many ways, tending bees is like growing food. There is an initial flurry of activity in spring, followed by ongoing maintenance in the summer and then harvest in the fall. There is prep work you’ll need to complete before you begin and there is a learning curve—you’ll need to spend more time with your bees in the beginning until you learn how it’s done. Beekeeping is not necessarily an expensive hobby, but with higher-end operations, purchasing the hive, some blue ribbon bees, and all the necessary equipment can require a significant financial investment.
Keeping bees will help you have a better garden, more fruits and vegetables, and honey in the kitchen—even beeswax candles, skin creams, and other natural cosmetics. And, by building a top-bar beehive, you’re creating a safe home and enabling one of our earth’s most necessary and miraculous species to thrive.
This simple top-bar beehive design is a warm and safe home for bees that is easily adjustable to accommodate a growing hive. This design also greatly simplifies the inspection process and minimizes the amount of equipment needed to keep and maintain bees.
Building a Top-bar Beehive
CUTTING LIST
TOOLS & MATERIALS
Lumber (1 × 2, 1 × 3, 2 × 4, 1 × 12)
Carpenter’s square
Pencil
Circular saw or table saw
Socket wrench
Exterior-grade construction adhesive
Caulk gun
Clamps
Drill
Tape measure
Hammer
Handsaw
1-1/4", 2", 2-1/2" deck screws
Stainless-steel mesh
Rooting nails or narrow crown staples
Eye protection
1" holesaw
3/8 × 2" galv. lag bolts with washers and nuts
Molten beeswax
How to Build a Top Bar Beehive
1 Lay out cutting lines for the insert panels on a piece of 1 × 12 cedar stock. The trapezoid-shaped panels (sometimes called followers) are meant to slide back and forth within the hive cavity, much like a file folder divider. This allows the beekeeper to subdivide the hive space as the honeycombs accumulate. The shape should be 15" wide along the top and 5" wide along the bottom (See diagram, page 127 ).
2 Cut the insert panels to size and shape and then attach a top cap to the top edge of each panel. The 1 × 2 caps, installed with the flat surface down, should overhang the panels by 1" at each end. Use exterior-rated wood glue and 2" deck screws driven through pilot holes to attach the tops. Also cut 20 top bars from the same 1 × 25. Use a router or table saw to cut a 1/4 × 1/4" groove in the bottom of each top bar (inset). The bees use these grooves to create purchase for their hanging honeycombs.
3 Secure the two insert panels upside down on a flat worksurface and use them to register the side panels so you can trace the panel locations onto the end panels. Center the end panels against the ends of the side panels, making sure the
5 Ways to Keep Your Bees safe & Healthy
1. Avoid using insecticides in your garden —Many are long-lasting and toxic to bees.
2. Buy seeds that are not treated with insecticides —Some coated seeds may cause the entire plant to become toxic to bees. Check seed packets carefully.
3. Mix your own potting soil and compost —Some composts and potting mixes sold at garden centers contain insecticide that is highly toxic to bees and other insects, and will eventually pollute all of your soil. Make your own compost, and mix with natural additives for potting plants.
4. Plant bee-friendly flowers —Buy wildflower seed mix and plant in uncultivated areas to create small sections of wild, natural habitat for your bees.
5. Provide a home for bees —Whether you’re a blossoming beekeeper or not, it’s easy to provide a home for bees! Provide a simple box as a place for feral bees to nest, or start your own hive.
In many ways, tending bees is like growing food. There is an initial flurry of activity in spring, followed by ongoing maintenance in the summer and then harvest in the fall. There is prep work you’ll need to complete before you begin and there is a learning curve—you’ll need to spend more time with your bees in the beginning until you learn how it’s done. Beekeeping is not necessarily an expensive hobby, but with higher-end operations, purchasing the hive, some blue ribbon bees, and all the necessary equipment can require a significant financial investment.
Keeping bees will help you have a better garden, more fruits and vegetables, and honey in the kitchen—even beeswax candles, skin creams, and other natural cosmetics. And, by building a top-bar beehive, you’re creating a safe home and enabling one of our earth’s most necessary and miraculous species to thrive.
This simple top-bar beehive design is a warm and safe home for bees that is easily adjustable to accommodate a growing hive. This design also greatly simplifies the inspection process and minimizes the amount of equipment needed to keep and maintain bees.
Building a Top-bar Beehive
CUTTING LIST
TOOLS & MATERIALS
Lumber (1 × 2, 1 × 3, 2 × 4, 1 × 12)
Carpenter’s square
Pencil
Circular saw or table saw
Socket wrench
Exterior-grade construction adhesive
Caulk gun
Clamps
Drill
Tape measure
Hammer
Handsaw
1-1/4", 2", 2-1/2" deck screws
Stainless-steel mesh
Rooting nails or narrow crown staples
Eye protection
1" holesaw
3/8 × 2" galv. lag bolts with washers and nuts
Molten beeswax
How to Build a Top Bar Beehive
1 Lay out cutting lines for the insert panels on a piece of 1 × 12 cedar stock. The trapezoid-shaped panels (sometimes called followers) are meant to slide back and forth within the hive cavity, much like a file folder divider. This allows the beekeeper to subdivide the hive space as the honeycombs accumulate. The shape should be 15" wide along the top and 5" wide along the bottom (See diagram, page 127 ).
2 Cut the insert panels to size and shape and then attach a top cap to the top edge of each panel. The 1 × 2 caps, installed with the flat surface down, should overhang the panels by 1" at each end. Use exterior-rated wood glue and 2" deck screws driven through pilot holes to attach the tops. Also cut 20 top bars from the same 1 × 25. Use a router or table saw to cut a 1/4 × 1/4" groove in the bottom of each top bar (inset). The bees use these grooves to create purchase for their hanging honeycombs.
3 Secure the two insert panels upside down on a flat worksurface and use them to register the side panels so you can trace the panel locations onto the end panels. Center the end panels against the ends of the side panels, making sure the
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