Andrea’s new hive

Oct 31, 2020

Andrea’s log hive was not functional any more. It was time to replace it. As swarms move spontaneously in her part of Holly Springs, another hive hung in a tree of her garden made perfect sense. I did not want it to be too long, but larger and shorter than a Maggie hive for example. This can be done if the boards are larger than 12″. I used a board of 15-1/2″, which was just long enough for the back and made the front in the shape of a barrel.

Andrea’s log hive (ref. previous article on Andrea’s log hive on this site) could not be used by the bees any more. We took it down the tree and realized how porous it was. As I tried to salvage it, the core broke in parts.

The brood chamber contains 41 liters and is made of red cedar. It is glued and pressed. The exterior shell is round in the front with straight sides connecting to the straight back.

The bottom is tucked inside the exterior shell and a proof access allows to peep and reach inside the brood chamber. The bottom board is covered with a 4″ piece of foam.

The brood chamber is secured to the exterior shell with boards in the front and in the back. The pressure of the the walls is sufficient to secure the position of the inner chamber onto the outer shell without any screws.

A layer of insulation is added between the two shells and covers the top board of the brood chamber.

A large roof completes the build. The entrance holes, one at the bottom and one at the top third of the brood chamber, are drilled through the walls and board separating the two shells.

Andrea’s hive is finished.