Beekeeping in itself also increases the productivity of household farming. A purchased hive without frames is not that expensive: up to 4 thousand rubles. But you need several of them. If you want to organize on a plot or dacha on our own and with minimal costs, you can make hives yourself. Other, more expensive equipment for beekeeping (,) can be rented, or the honeycombs can be sent for processing.

A hive is the home of a bee colony or several families. The amount of honey that you can collect from it is determined by many circumstances: the method of beekeeping, the density of honey plants around, the weather, the experience of the beekeeper. The design and manufacturing procedure of the hive plays an important role.

has existed for thousands of years. But only two centuries have passed since the hive design was invented, which made it possible to truly “domesticate” bees. At the same time, the bee colony did not die and was not weakened after collection. This (framework) was first proposed in 1814 by I.P. Prokopovich. A little later, he formulated the principle of building a house for a bee “superorganism”: each bee colony should receive a volume of living space that corresponds to its strength. And the hive must be designed so that this space can be expanded. In 1851 he proposed a hive with vertical frames. And this design still prevails in professional beekeeping.

It is very important for beginners to choose the correct proven type and accurately reproduce it according to the drawings. There are not many reliable designs that allow experienced beekeepers to collect 20 kg from one hive even in non-honey years. All these samples are presented below, with drawings and explanations. You can also easily learn how to make beehives from a video.

• The stand or bottom limits the structure at the top. It often has a sloping front wall on which bees perch. Sometimes there is another “false” bottom between the body and the bottom. It makes cleaning up garbage and other maintenance easier.
• The body is a box without a bottom. It contains frames, a permanent habitat for bee colonies. Sometimes vertical retractable partitions are installed in the building. Sometimes several buildings are placed on top of each other. If there are more than 3 of them, then such a hive is called multi-body.
• The magazine is a box, slightly smaller in height than the body. It does not have a tap hole and is located above the frames. The store is used to select honey. Between it and the body there is a separating mesh, which is called a separator. The cells in the separator mesh must be of such a size that the worker bee can freely pass through them, and the queen cannot leave the body and lay eggs below, in the filled honeycombs. Magazine with separator – distinctive feature hive designed for aggressive honey collection. Naturally, this technology is designed for honey years and strong bee colonies. If you just need to separate two families in one hive, then a blank board is used.
• The roof liner is a box section above all the bodies. Its function is to ensure the correct microclimate and air circulation in the hive. It can be with ventilation holes or blind. Often a feeder is placed in the roof liner or insulation is laid.
• The lid is, in fact, the roof of the hive, protecting it from precipitation. It is arranged pitched or flat. To make it easier to transport the hives, they are made flat. But single or double slopes are better ventilated.

Removable frames that slide into the body of the bee house are needed as a basis for building honeycombs. The honeycombs themselves are for brood, nesting and single (intended for reserves). If the colony has too much space, the worker bees' energy will be wasted on building unnecessary honeycombs. Therefore, it is so important to properly limit their living space. Frames for nesting cells are placed in the housing, and frames for single cells are located in the magazine. This way it will be possible to select honey without disturbing the bee colony.

Depending on the design of the frame, the hives are low-wide, square and narrow-high. The swarm “grows” vertically. Therefore, a narrow-high design more often than a low-wide design leads to the release of a nucleus (a new swarm). And spending honey reserves on it.

Most often, standard frames measuring 435X230 mm (for a nest) or half-frames measuring 435X145 mm (for a magazine) are used. Their empty opening is filled with galvanized wire with a diameter of 2 mm and wax sheets. These sheets with pressed bottoms will be the basis for the honeycombs being built. The frames slide from top to bottom into grooves and hang on hangers - extensions in the upper part.

The pitch with which the frames are located in the box is 37 - 38 mm. The width of the frame (shoulders) itself is slightly smaller - 36-37 mm. The difference is necessary so that the package of frames does not get stuck in the box due to thermal expansion and propolis gluing them together. This provides what is called “bee space.”

To successfully make a hive, you need to know that the structure of the frame, like the hive itself, significantly depends on the climate in which the apiary is located.

• In sharply continental and mountainous areas, it is necessary to make frames 36 mm wide and their pitch – 38 mm,
• In temperate continental areas - width 36 mm and pitch - 37 mm,
• Areas with minimal temperature changes (near the sea, in the steppe, etc.) - 37 mm, in increments of 37.5 mm.

There must also be a precisely set gap between the walls of the hive and the outer frames. It is 9.5 mm. If you make it large, they will fill the space with honeycombs, and if it is smaller, then the outer frame will be glued to the box with propolis. The distance between the bottom of the hive and bottom the frames should be 2 cm. The bees should move freely along the bottom, and air should flow from below. And even if this rule is observed, bee colonies need regular care so that the frames do not stick to the bottom.

In order to make high-quality and identical frames for hives with their own hands, beekeepers use special patterns. They are collected on nails. Making frames with my own hands justified. After all, even for a small apiary they are needed in hundreds.

Common types of hives

This is the oldest type of bee house with standard vertical type frames. Everything that was said above, for the most part, applied to these vertical type hives. In practice, in a “multi-story” hive like this, 3–5 buildings are always used, with 10 frames in each case. This simple design makes apiary work much easier. Both weak and strong families live in the hive. Strong ones provide sufficient honey collection.

A wooden Langstroth hive is best made from a flat, dry board up to 4 cm thick. Box dimensions - 462 mm x 400 mm x 240 mm. Each housing is equipped with 2 identical diaphragms made of thin boards or plywood. They should be the same in height as the frames, and in width - such that a bee cannot penetrate through them.

Sun lounger

The figure shows the structure of a simple wooden hive-lounger. This type (without a magazine, with an extended frame) is called Ukrainian. It looks like a chest in appearance and is often made with a hinged lid. This hive arrangement is suitable for warm climates with a large number of flowering honey plants. This is, in a way, “lazy” beekeeping.

In the next picture you can see the structure of a more complex sun lounger, with a store and for two families. There is certainly a diaphragm in it, bee colonies can develop upward and it is easy to observe.

The lounger is an excellent design for wintering. In professional beekeeping, it is used to save weak colonies in winter, and such a hive is easy to make with your own hands.

In the century before last, Charles Dadant developed his own hive design for areas not too rich in honey plants. This type is not suitable for commercial honey production. But the hive itself and beekeeping are quite simple, and fully meet the needs of a small farm.

This hive with 12 high frames (height 300 mm) can provide wintering for a pair of bee colonies. The uneven-height body and magazine make up one hive module. Modules can be installed one on top of another. Classic material for making Dadan hives - moisture resistant plywood or pine board.

Alpine hive of Delon

The inventor of this hive, Roger Delon, adapted this deck-shaped structure in order to exploit the enormous potential of alpine meadows. Flowering in the mountains is short-term, short-lived and violent, the distances between groups of honey plants are large. And daily temperature fluctuations are very large.

Delon decided that the design of a hive for mountain conditions should bring their life closer to the conditions of existence of wild bees. To do this, he developed a low wire frame onto which the foundation is stretched without metal threads. The Alpine hive itself consists of low (108 mm high) square buildings, which are stacked into high decks. You can arrange up to 12 boxes in one hive.

Beekeeping and caring for such a device are quite complex. Labor costs for maintaining mountain hives are 3 or 4 times higher than for the Dadan design. And making such a hive for mountainous areas with your own hands is not so easy.

In addition to these main types, there are less common hives of Ozerov, Varre, Khomich, etc., each of which is “tailored” to certain beekeeping conditions.

Tree - classic material for building hives. Coniferous species are most suitable: spruce, fir, cedar, etc. Deciduous species are poplar, linden, aspen. All these types of wood have low thermal conductivity, which is very important for a hive. The boards should not have wormholes, cracks, or knots. Plywood, especially moisture-resistant plywood, is an excellent material for a hive. It is drier than the wood in the product and has no worse thermal insulation properties if the walls are insulated with sheet polystyrene foam.

You can also make a hive from polystyrene foam. It must be painted to protect it from external destructive factors. Recently, materials such as polycarbonate or... The so-called Finnish polystyrene foam hive seems very easy to make for beekeepers. It has negligible heat loss, is lightweight and inexpensive. But it is unwise to fasten PPS with self-tapping screws, and it is impossible to mold it in non-factory conditions. It cannot be mechanically cleaned. And if you remove a stuck frame, you can damage the walls.

How to make a beehive with your own hands: step by step

Wooden or plywood: drawing of a frame hive

Take the boards with an overlap of 1 cm in each direction. They should all be perfectly dried, non-resinous, and aged for at least a year.

Using one of the proposed drawings, it is easy to calculate the amount of materials and cut out all the blanks. Then:

• To fasten the side walls, edges are cut out on them using a circular saw. The walls are also fastened with self-tapping screws or nails. There should be no gaps in the assembled product.
• At the top and bottom you need to choose folds that provide a tight assembly of the hives on the outside and a place to support the frames on the inside. If you don’t have a milling machine, you can cut the folds with a sherhebel - a folding plane.
• The recommended depth of the internal rebate is 17 mm, and the height is 11 mm.
• The bottom must be covered with galvanized metal. Fastening - with self-tapping screws. You can make it double-sided: make a frame from three bars, and make a groove in it around the perimeter for a retractable bottom.
• How to make frames is described above. The best raw material for them is spruce.
• It is good to make a feeder for the hive. It is usually placed on a false bottom or wall. A tap hole needs to be cut on the front wall of the housing. Most often it is round in diameter - 2.5 cm.
• The roof should be heavy enough to cover the hive tightly. You can also cover it with galvanized metal.
• All boxes must be fitted carefully. A galvanized anti-tick mesh should be provided.
• Some hives are equipped with a heating device with a power of up to 10 W. It is advisable to attach carrying handles to the side walls.

There are a lot of videos on the Internet showing how to make beehives with your own hands. With the help of them and the given drawings of multi-body and frame hives, this work will not be difficult.

Sooner or later, every beekeeper is faced with the need to expand his farm, because bee colonies grow, swarming occurs, etc. Good way out from the situation - to make a hive with your own hands.

Of course, to quickly solve the problem, you can buy the missing hive. But prices for new “housing” are high. Buying a used one is cheaper, but, firstly, you still need to find the right type of hive, secondly, it is not known how long the old house will last and, thirdly, there is a potential threat to the bees - you never know what the insects might be suffering from in their the previous owner.

Basic Requirements

The hive should serve not only nice home for insects, but also to accommodate the beekeeper, give him the opportunity to work calmly and effectively help the bee colony.

Practice shows that during construction it is important to take into account the following rules:

1. Maximum simplicity of the device. This reduces the cost of hives and allows the beekeeper to make, repair, etc. themselves.
2. Capacity sufficient for the normal functioning of bees.
3. The ability to reduce or increase the size of the nest in accordance with the strength of the family (a weak family cannot cope with heating a large nest).
4. Providing warmth inside the hive.
5. Creating the necessary conditions for work that allow you to quickly inspect and disassemble the nest without crushing a single bee or damaging a single honeycomb. To do this, the hive must open from the top, and the frames must be easily removed through the top, without touching each other or the walls of the house. Otherwise, the bees will glue them together with propolis, and then they will not be able to be removed without shocks and tremors. And this, as a rule, greatly irritates insects.
6. Convenient location of the entrance. So that nothing complicates the work of bees during flight, it should be located at the very bottom. This will make it easier for insects to remove litter and keep the home clean; working individuals will be able to immediately land on empty foundation and leave the prey they brought on it.
7. The ability to adjust the size of the entrance so that if bees from another family attack, it can be narrowed or closed.
8. Lightweight, compact and uncluttered. There should be no protruding parts.
9. Convenient for cleaning bottoms. Detachable bottoms allow this work to be done quickly and easily.
10. Good ventilation. Access to fresh air is important for insects, so the frames inside the hive should be positioned edge-on to the entrance (the so-called “cold drift”).
11. Proper conditions for brood - the honeycomb frames should not be narrow or small.
12. The store should be located closer to the baby so that the bees do not have to throw the worm.

In a small apiary, it is advisable to keep hives of the same type and size with standard frames. This will make their maintenance easier and will make it possible not to get confused with different frames, stores, etc.

Where to start

Let's consider how to make a single-wall vertical hive, the so-called “riser”, that is most suitable for beginner beekeepers to master, with 12 standard frames (300x435 mm) and 12 half-frames (145x435 mm) with a square body (450x450 mm) and a magazine extension. After this, you can safely take on deck chairs, multi-hulls and other more complex structures.

Selection of materials

Recently, when apiaries are being built, building materials that are non-traditional for beekeeping are increasingly being used - polystyrene foam, different types plastic (expanded polystyrene, technopor, etc.), bituminized paper boards, chipboard and others. Wood continues to be the best material. Soft, porous and light wood species are optimal for making a bee house ( pine, poplar, linden, spruce, alder, willow, aspen) – they retain heat better and are easy to process.

Hardwoods (oak, maple, hornbeam, etc.) do not store heat and quickly let in cold.

The material must be of good quality: straight-layered, without cracks, rot or knots. Moisture content – ​​no more than 15% (achieved after 2-3 years of aging in a barn, under a canopy). Freshly sawn boards have a humidity level of 40% or higher, so they must first be dried by keeping them in a warm, dry room for 20-30 days.

Necessary tool

An important component of success is the availability of a workplace and tools. Ideal option– a carpentry workbench for processing wooden parts and assembling them. It can be replaced by a platform or trestles with a board and additional equipment– clamps.

To work, you will first need ordinary carpentry tools:

• saws for cutting boards and workpieces;
• tools for planing (plane, jointer, etc.);
• tools for chiseling and stripping (chisels and chisels);
• drill, screwdriver and drill bits.

You will also need a hammer, axe, mallet, pliers, level, measuring tape, ruler, pliers, etc.

IN big win there will be apiary owners who have acquired their own professional equipment - a circular saw, jointer or planer, Bulgarian. On beekeepers forums you can see numerous photos and stories about devices that make the process of making hives easier and simpler.

Making a hive

The entire structure consists of individual parts (stand, bottom, body with frames, magazine with half-frames, liner, roof), and the parts, in turn, are made up of parts. To make a hive correctly, it is extremely important to maintain accurate measurements. Typically, production begins with the preparation of parts for the walls of the housing. For beekeepers who consider it advisable to first “get their teeth into” and master the basic techniques of working with wood, it is better to get down to business by approaching the less responsible part - processing store parts.

Magazine extension

The design principle of the magazine is the same as the body, although its walls are half as low.

In the diagram: 1, 3 – front and rear walls with frame folds; 2, 4 – side walls; 5 – recess for carrying; 6 – demonstration of corner mates.

Dimensions of parts for the 12-frame magazine extension:

The step-by-step procedure is as follows:

• cut boards to size. The planed surface can be checked using a metal ruler - apply it to the treated surface with an edge diagonally, across and along, and look at the clearance. If there are distortions, cracks will be visible;
• trim parts to the specified parameters (530 and 492 mm);
• select from the entire length of the inner side of the walls the frame folds (11x20 mm), the lower folds (19x21 mm), and from the outside - the upper folds (10x20 mm);
• make upper folds of 10x20 mm (outside) on the side walls, lower folds of 10x21 mm on the inside;
• Cut a notch on the side walls for removal/carrying.

After folding is completed, the next step is to prepare for the “knitting” of the magazine walls. To do this, it is necessary to select the end quarters in its front and rear walls across the wood fibers along the end edges.

All the parts are ready and now you can start assembling. The boards are jointed at the corners in quarters and fastened with 2-3 nails or self-tapping screws (0.8-0.9 cm) at each corner. Many beekeepers coat the surfaces to be joined with glue (PVA, liquid nails, etc.) before assembly. It should be assembled carefully, without distortion. The internal dimensions of the store should be 450x450 mm in length and width.

All stages of the process of manufacturing and assembling a magazine extension can be found in detail in the presented video:

Frame

The body is constructed from 4 walls: the front (with an upper entrance 0.8–10 cm long, 1 cm high), the rear and two side ones. Inside the case, along the upper edge of the front and rear walls, you should select a frame fold (20x11 mm), as well as upper and lower folds in the same way as was done in the magazine extension. The folds will eliminate through gaps and create better connection with the body of other parts of the hive. The nest parts are tied in the corners into end folds, which are selected in the front and rear walls. To prevent flowing rainwater from entering the nest, a chamfer (5x5 mm) is made along the entire length of the edge of the outer upper fold.

In the diagram: 1 – front wall: a – upper part; b – lower part; 2 – side walls: a – upper part; b – lower part; 3 – rear wall: a – upper part; b – lower part.

Body parts:

Name	Quantity (pieces)
		length	width	thickness
Front and back walls:
Upper part	2	550/530	225/220	45/40
Bottom part	2	550/530	115/110	45/40
Side walls:
Upper part	2	512/492	115/110	45/40
Bottom part	2	512/492	225/220	45/40

The manufacture of the body includes three stages:

Construction of shields. The finished walls should be 32 cm high. Such wide boards are rare, so the base is usually assembled in the form of panels consisting of two boards - a wide one and a narrower one, connected along the length into a ridge and tongue. The joints in adjacent walls should be spaced apart so that the wide boards overlap the ridges and tongues of the adjacent walls. This will further strengthen the strength of the nest.

The work order is as follows:

• cut and plane parts to size;
• select tongues in the upper parts (14 by 10 mm);
• select ridges in the lower ones (14 by 10 mm);
• glue the shields together. Lubricate surfaces with ridges and tongues with glue (PVA, liquid nails, etc.), connect the workpieces in pairs, press the glued surfaces with a clamp and place in a warm place to dry.

Preparation of shields. After drying, the boards are planed and trimmed according to specified sizes, select folds (by analogy with a store).

Fastening shields into the body. Everything is done in the same order as when assembling the store. The walls of the housing are fastened at the corners with nails (screws) 80-90 mm long (6 pieces per corner).

In the presented video you can get acquainted with how a glued shield is made without the need to remove the ridge:

Liner and roof

A roof liner (insulation extension) is installed on top of the body or magazine. Ceiling boards are laid inside it, an insulation pad, fertilizer, etc. are placed. The roof completes the structure.

Parts for the roof liner and roof:

Name	Quantity (pieces)	Dimensions of raw workpieces/machined parts (mm)
		length	width	thickness
Liner
Front, back and side walls (top)	4	552/532	105/100	25/20
Ceiling boards	6	508/488	85/80	20/15
Corner dowel	8	50/40	6/diameter	6/5
Roof
Front wall	1	595/575	165/160	25/20
Rear wall	1	595/575	85/80	25/20
Side walls	2	600/580	165/160	25/20
Front rotating support bar	2	147/142	75/70	25/20
Rear longitudinal support bar	1	555/535	23/20	25/20
Rear vertical support bar	2	55/50	23/20	25/20
Ventilation flaps	6	70/65	55/50	15/10
Corner dowel	8	50/40	6/diameter	6/5
Roofing board	11	685/665	105/100	20/15
Edge board	2	685/665	55/50	20/15

The roof liner is constructed from 4 pieces of the same size. To make them you need to do the following work:

• process and trim parts to the required dimensions;
• cut straight tenons (20x20x20 mm) at the ends of the workpieces;
• lubricate the spikes and eyes of the spikes with glue, then assemble the structure and dry it;
• Drill holes with a drill (45 mm long, less than 5 mm in diameter) in the corners in the middle of the tenon at each corner, grease the dowels with glue and hammer them into the sockets. This operation will increase the strength of the structure;
• cut the boards for the ceiling according to size. They are placed above the frames of the nest or magazine extension (if one is used).

The roof is made pitched. Its design includes piping and roofing. The slope is made from the front wall to the back. The roof is covered with planks, and roofing iron or any other waterproof covering is placed on top. The roof construction process includes three stages:

1. Making strapping. The front wall should be twice as high as the back wall to create a slope along the top edge (about 7 degrees). To obtain such a slope in the blanks for the side walls, you need to saw off one corner obliquely, along a line from the middle of their rear end edge to the top of the front edge. To ventilate the axillary space in the front and rear walls, you should cut 4 ventilation slots (200 mm long, 3 mm high) with an outward slope or drill holes with a diameter of 30-40 mm in the sidewalls. Assembling the harness is similar to assembling the liner - using straight spikes (20x20x20 mm) and dowels.
2. Processing and fastening of support bars and ventilation dampers. It is necessary to nail the longitudinal support bar to the rear wall of the frame from the inside at a distance of 10 mm from its lower edge. Attach additional vertical support bars in the corners, close above the longitudinal beam. Movable rotating support strips are attached to the sidewalls inside the frame in the corners near the front wall with screws. They can be installed both vertically and horizontally, depending on which the roof of the roof can have not only an inclined, but also a horizontal position. Round ventilation holes should be gridded from the inside using small nails or paper clips with an iron mesh with small cells (no more than 3 mm). From the outside, the holes are covered with rotating oval flaps.
3. Roof construction, roof covering. To prevent rainwater from flowing into the hive, you should make sure that the two-layer roof protrudes slightly beyond the frame - up to 4 cm. The base (first layer) is made of six boards. Each of them is attached with 4 nails to the front and back walls of the frame; the outer boards are also nailed to the side walls. A second layer is laid on top of the bottom layer, the outer one is roofing material or another layer of boards.

In the diagram: A – general view with the front wall and part of the roof removed; B – internal view roofs from below, where 1, 2 are the front and rear walls of the frame with ventilation slots; 3 – side walls of the harness with round ventilation holes; 4 – front rotating support bars; 5 – rear longitudinal horizontal support bar; 6 – rear vertical support bars; 7 – ventilation dampers; 8 – roof.

From next video You can get an idea about the use of aluminum sheets as roofing material:

Detachable bottom and landing board

The donye is constructed from strapping bars tied into spikes and flooring.

Dimensions of parts for the detachable floor and landing board:

Name of parts	Number of parts (pieces)	Dimensions of raw workpieces/machined parts (mm)
		length	width	thickness
Rear strap	1	550/530	95/90	45/40
Side strapping	2	550/530	95/90	45/40
Front strap	1	550/530	33/30	45/40
Flooring: back, middle and front piece	3	490/470	180/174	35/30
Corner dowel	6	50/40	6/diameter	6/5
Arrival board	1	550/530	85/80	25/20-10

Building a beehive tray with your own hands involves three stages:

1. Construction of the harness. You need to cut four bars according to the specified parameters and make straight tenons at the ends: 40x40x10 mm. The dimensions of the upper and lower tenons on the rear bar and the extreme tenons on the front bar are different - 20 mm. Connect the bars into tenons using glue and dowels and dry. The internal dimensions of the resulting box should be 450x450 mm. For better fastening of the flooring, it is advisable to select tongues (10x10 mm) in the side and rear bars on the inside.
2. Construction of flooring. Three flooring boards are connected with glue to form a tongue and groove board (10x10 mm). After joining, clamp it with a clamp. After drying in the board, you need to select the end folds (20 by 10 mm) and get the ridges (10 by 10 mm). On the front board of the shield, you need to chamfer half of its width (at the front its thickness should decrease to 20 mm).
3. Bottom assembly. The glued shield must be pushed into the grooves made in the strapping.

When tying the outer (bottom and top) surfaces, it is recommended to choose folds - 20 by 10 mm for a more reliable installation of the bottom under the socket. Along the edges of the base of the folds, chamfer (5x5 mm) to drain water.

In the drawing: 1 – rear bar; 2 – side bars; 3 – front bar; 4 – dowel; 5, 6 – shield boards; 7 – arrival board.

The landing board (530 by 80 mm) is detachable. Its surface has a slope; for this, a chamfer is removed. As a result, the leading edge is 10 mm, the trailing edge is 20 mm. The board is attached to the floor with wire dowels: it is necessary to drill parallel holes in the board and the panel so that the dowels fit freely into the sockets.

After assembly new hive needs to be painted. The wooden body is painted on the outside, the bottom and roof - on all sides.

Video

An experienced beekeeper shares tips on choosing materials and tools that will be useful to you when building your first hive in the following video:

We also invite you to learn more about the features of painting, which will help not only protect bee houses from negative atmospheric influences, but will also delight you with its color for several years:

An avid gardener, beekeeper and gardener, partial to dogs and cats and other pets. Spends spring, summer and autumn at the dacha and experiments in the garden beds. Loves to communicate with “advanced” summer residents and find something new and useful for himself. Collects best ways preparations and recipes for preparing dishes from products grown with your own hands. He is happy to share his discoveries and secrets with readers.

Oklahoma farmer Carl Burns developed unusual variety multi-colored corn, called Rainbow Corn (“rainbow”). The grains on each cob are of different colors and shades: brown, pink, purple, blue, green, etc. This result was achieved through many years of selection of the most colored regular varieties and their crossings.

One of the most convenient methods for preparing a harvest of vegetables, fruits and berries is freezing. Some believe that freezing causes loss of nutrients and useful properties plant products. As a result of the research, scientists have found that there is practically no decrease in nutritional value when frozen.

You need to collect medicinal flowers and inflorescences at the very beginning of the flowering period, when the content of nutrients in them is highest. Flowers are supposed to be picked by hand, tearing off the rough stalks. Dry the collected flowers and herbs, scattering thin layer, in a cool room at natural temperature without access to direct sunlight.

Tomatoes have no natural protection against late blight. If late blight attacks, any tomatoes (and potatoes too) die, no matter what is said in the description of the varieties (“variety resistant to late blight” is just a marketing ploy).

It is believed that some vegetables and fruits (cucumbers, stem celery, all varieties of cabbage, peppers, apples) have “negative calorie content,” that is, more calories are consumed during digestion than they contain. In fact, only 10-20% of the calories received from food are consumed in the digestive process.

Humus is rotted manure or bird droppings. It is prepared like this: the manure is piled up in a heap or pile, layered with sawdust, peat and garden soil. The pile is covered with film to stabilize temperature and humidity (this is necessary to increase the activity of microorganisms). The fertilizer “ripens” within 2-5 years - depending on external conditions and the composition of the feedstock. The output is a loose, homogeneous mass with a pleasant smell of fresh earth.

From varietal tomatoes you can get “your own” seeds for sowing next year (if you really like the variety). But it is useless to do this with hybrids: you will get seeds, but they will carry the hereditary material not of the plant from which they were taken, but of its numerous “ancestors”.

The homeland of pepper is America, but the main breeding work on developing sweet varieties was carried out, in particular, by Ferenc Horvath (Hungary) in the 20s. XX century in Europe, mainly in the Balkans. Pepper came to Russia from Bulgaria, which is why it received its usual name - “Bulgarian”.

Making hives for your bees is a very exciting activity! But in order for the bees to appreciate your work, it must be done according to certain rules and from materials suitable for this purpose. Let's figure out together how to make a warm, dry, and bee-friendly hive.

Every self-respecting beekeeper should know how to make a bee hive with your own hands. After all, the moment will come when you want to build a house for your “wards”.

There are quite a lot of types of hives: lounger, double-body, with a semi-frame magazine, Dadanovsky, multi-body, Altai and others. Each of them will have its own disadvantages and advantages. The beekeeper independently decides which one to give preference to and which one to make himself.

The classic version of the hive, known to every beekeeper, is a 20-frame body with two compartments, a magazine and a lid. In appearance, this design looks like an oblong shaped box, with a large and thick bottom and a thick roof.

Before you start making a future hive for bees with your own hands, you should familiarize yourself with components designs and know what is intended for what.

Almost every version of hives (many certainly) contains the following elements:

1. Frame. It is a kind of box consisting of the walls of the hive. Case dimensions may vary and depend on the specific model. There are also configurations with a large number of cases that are stacked on top of each other. A mandatory attribute of any building is a taphole or several tapholes.
2. Store extension. It is not a mandatory part, but is present in many hives. Looks like a shortened case model. The main goal is to preserve honey during the harvest period, as well as to provide honey to a weak family that is not able to collect much harvest.
3. Liner. Located between the roof and the upper body with frames. Has the same purpose as the store. Serves to create better living conditions for bees, as well as to install a feeder and insulate the house for winter.
4. Bottom. It may or may not be removable. Each configuration has its own positive aspects. So, if a removable one allows you to more quickly and efficiently care for bees, then the second option creates additional area for insects, a kind of landing platform.
5. Ceiling. It consists of planks that cover the nest in the upper part of the hive. Some hive models use canvas instead of a ceiling.
6. Roof of the hive. The main purpose is protection from precipitation and natural phenomena that negatively affect the life of the nest. It can be absolutely anything: flat, flat, two- and single-slope. The flat roof is convenient for transportation.
7. Framework. They can be nested or sectional. So, the first ones are used for creating honeycombs by bees, and the second ones are used for storing honey in honeycombs.
8. Feeder. It is used to organize feeding or, if necessary, to treat bees.
9. Plug-in board. Serves to narrow the free space. Adjusted based on the strengths of a particular family.

All hives can be divided into several types:

• square (the size of the frames in width and height is the same);
• low-wide (length slightly exceeds width);
• narrow-high (the height is much greater than the width).

The most common materials for creating hives

Classic hives are wooden structures that beekeepers made with their own hands back in the days of the birth of beekeeping and the domestication of bees. This option brings insects as close as possible to their real and natural habitats.

But progress does not stand still, and today the question: “How and from what to make a hive with your own hands?” – there are many answers. Fortunately, craftsmen have come up with a lot of different diagrams and drawings, and modern construction supermarkets offer a lot of ideas for using materials.

Tree. This material is rightfully recognized as the most ancient. Not so long ago, almost everything that could be built and made was made of wood. The best option There will be a deciduous tree - linden, aspen. The smell of this wood is very pleasant and the honey will not have any specific characteristics. In addition, in the summer moisture will not collect in the hive. Disadvantage: in winter you need to be well insulated.

Wood has recently been used to create hives. coniferous species– pine, spruce, fir. This is a budget option if you treat wood as building material for the hive. Moreover, it is different good performance heat conservation, which guarantees a good winter with little insulation. The disadvantages include the accumulation of moisture inside the hive and the acquisition of a specific pine smell by the honey, especially in new buildings.

Plywood. A material characterized by durability and environmental friendliness. If the outer part of the structure is coated with an acrylic paint composition and the house is insulated with polystyrene foam, then the properties of the material will be many times greater than that of wood.

In such a hive the bees will be dry and comfortable if quality material is selected and used correctly. Plywood is afraid of moisture and requires constant maintenance.

Expanded polystyrene. One of the modern materials used in the manufacture of hives. It compares favorably with others by its low cost and the absence of the need for additional insulation of the structure during the cold season.

The disadvantages are: fragility and brittleness of the structure (compared to plywood and wood). If the material is of dubious quality, the quality of honey may deteriorate.

Foam plastic. It would seem that what you can use the remains of packaging from a large household appliances. Not every experienced beekeeper thinks of this non-standard solution, as used when building a hive with your own hands. This is the most budget option you can think of. The advantages include very light weight (even with filled frames it will not exceed 14 kg), good thermal insulation properties.

The disadvantages definitely include fragility, as well as the need for mandatory painting in order to protect it from exposure to ultraviolet radiation harmful to foam plastic.

Polyurethane– material used for insulating facades. It has good thermal conductivity properties, does not allow moisture to pass through or accumulate, is not subject to rotting and decomposition, and is not a medium for the development of fungus and bacteria. The good news may be that bees, mice and birds do not like to chew holes in such structures. One of the disadvantages is flammability, which also applies to wooden structures. If you want to make a hive from polyurethane, be sure to consider ventilation, since the material itself does not allow air to pass through.

Before you start making a hive with your own hands, carefully study the characteristics of each material. We offer you two options. Budget foam and classic wood.

What should a hive be like?

Of course, warm, dry and comfortable for insects! And this is regardless of what material you use.

Proper ventilation is important when making beehives with your own hands. If this is not done, the bees may die due to improper living conditions or leave their place of residence in search of a new, more convenient and comfortable one.

It is very good if, when building, you think of a design that will allow you to modify the hives and increase or decrease them as necessary.

When creating a preliminary drawing on paper, it is worth considering the following factors:

1. The size of the hive will depend on the required number of frames inside and their size.
2. The width is determined as the product of the number of frames and the number of 37.5 cm.
3. When calculating the length, the same parameter is taken into account (the distance between the two side bars). So, most often the length will be equal to the sum of the length of the frame and another 14 mm.
4. The height of your hive should be equal to the number that includes the sum of the height of the folds and the installed frames.

Making your own hive from foam plastic

Using polystyrene foam to make a bee house is the cheapest option.

The advantages include the following facts:

1. Complete absence of heat conduction. In cold weather it will be warm here, and in hot weather it will be cool and cozy.
2. Resistance to rotting and warping.
3. Easy to operate and maintain. Repair is carried out by replacing the part with a new one. If necessary, the design can be quickly modified, built on or removed.
4. Light weight. The average weight of a foam house is about a kilogram. A suitable option for nomadic beekeepers.
5. Moisture and condensation are not absorbed and do not remain on the walls; it flows down.
6. Bees are more productive during the honey collection period, and in winter they consume less food.

Significant disadvantages of this version of the hive include the fear of direct sunlight and the need to make the structure heavier to avoid tipping over. Particular attention must be paid to proper ventilation, otherwise the bees may die in winter or escape in summer.

To make it you will need:

• foam sheets;
• fine-grain sandpaper;
• self-tapping screws (5 cm);
• paint on water based;
• glue or nails (liquid) for gluing parts;
• ruler;
• paint roller;
• screwdriver or screwdriver;
• circular saw and stationery knife.

Step by step instructions

How to make a beehive with your own hands step by step:

1. It is better to purchase polystyrene foam in construction stores. There are several configurations: 20, 30 mm and 50 mm.
2. Draw on sheets of paper necessary design and only then transfer it onto the foam using a felt-tip pen and ruler.
3. To cut out the component parts, use a circular saw, a hacksaw or a utility knife.
4. Sand the edges with sandpaper.
5. The sides of the future walls must be fastened by overlapping (cut quarters at the joints and drive tightly into each other), fixing the elements with liquid nails.
6. To consolidate the result, it is better to go around the perimeter with self-tapping screws (no more than one per 10-15 cm).
7. If the body is multi-level, then the levels should be tightly packed on top of each other.

When making the bottom, it is better to use galvanized sheet metal, in which the necessary holes for ventilation are made in advance. It would be better if the tray is removable. The bottom is attached to the body using self-tapping screws.

To make the roof, you can use the same foam plastic, but since the structure is light, do not forget about weighting it.

Classic version

To make a bee hive with your own hands from traditional wood, you should acquire a set of carpentry tools, as well as boards with a moisture content ranging from 15-16%.

The number of boards will be different for everyone, since the bodies can be made differently. It is best to borrow a drawing of a hive from those who have previously created such structures and are actively using them.

Be sure to adhere to the basic parameters of the main elements - this will simplify operation.

Such a hive must contain the following elements: insert boards (2 pieces), canvas or ceiling boards, burlap insulation.

The approximate design and basic measurements are indicated in the following drawing of beehives:

Multi-body rebated hive

This hive has fully justified itself during its existence (about one and a half hundred years). Its design has not undergone significant changes over the years, but its manufacturing has become much simpler.
A multi-body hive is a structure consisting of several identically designed bodies, a removable (sometimes not) bottom, a lid, a ceiling, magazine extensions and, of course, a dividing grid. If desired, the overall design can be slightly modified and supplemented.


The figure above shows a case that looks like a box with the following internal dimensions: W = 37.5 cm, D = 45 cm, H = 24 cm. About 10 standard frames (43.5 by 23 cm) can easily fit into this design.

The following structure is created from such buildings:

In our climatic latitudes, the width of the body is 37.5, and not 37 cm, as is customary in warmer countries with a dry climate. Under the influence high humidity the frames swell and change somewhat. In this case, it simply becomes difficult to remove them from the case. Also, during use, propolis builds up, which also leads to problems when removing frames. Some beekeepers even increase the body to 38 cm for the purpose of further ease of operation.

To create one such body with your own hands, you need to take boards in the overall structure, which should be at least 3-5 mm larger than the required dimensions of the future parts of the hive. It is necessary to take into account the reserve that will be needed during processing. There should be a 1 cm overlap of material in each direction for trimming. All boards must be well dried before use, must be non-resinous, and aged for at least a year.

On two walls (front and back) at the top edge there should be folds for inserting frames measuring 11 by 17 mm. The depth of 17 mm allows the frames to fit into the case so that another case can be placed on top.

At a distance of 7 cm from the top edge, holes should be made in the central part of the outer side for ease of holding and carrying the structure.

Next, you need to make an additional entrance, which will serve as a source of additional ventilation for the hive. It is drilled on the front wall under the sink. It is usually round in shape with a diameter of about 2.5 cm.

Each such body is tightly connected to each other, without the use of folds. This design is considered more convenient to use and easier to manufacture.

During the operation of a multi-tiered hive with a rebated structure, when moving and removing the housings, disturbed bees run to the lower part and often get stuck in the rebated recesses.
When the body is replaced in its original place, the bees remaining in the folds will be crushed. Very often the uterus is there too. This is an absolute disadvantage of this design. That is why beekeepers almost all over the world abandoned them in favor of a foldless hive.

Manufacturing of multi-body hive extensions

A honey super, or store in other words, is a structure that allows you to acquire full-fledged honey combs at the end of the season, and also does not allow the queen to work in this structure.

The standard frame dimensions for this extension are 43.5 x 14.5 cm.
This part of the general hive is made in the same way as the body. It differs only in lower height due to the fact that half-frames are used. Making a frame for this extension is not difficult. Most often, the standard sample is split in half.

For convenience, some beekeepers make a viewing window in the extension.
A beekeeper should have several stores in his arsenal.

Making a roof

The thickness of the boards for the roof is standard - 2 cm. From boards of this size, the design of the shield required according to the parameters is assembled, after which, to prevent rotting, the outer part is covered with a sheet of tin.
Some beekeepers prefer to install this mesh structure into the roof:


This is done to ensure that additional ventilation is created for the bees when transporting them. Also, this design will be convenient if it is necessary to isolate your families for some time from the outside world and flights for nectar.

Hive bottom

The bottom is best made removable and double-sided. To do this, you need to take three bars with dimensions: 57x6.5x3.5 cm - those that will be on the sides, and 44.5x6.5x3.5 - the one that will be installed in the back. In each block, at a distance of 2 cm from the top edge, it is necessary to make a groove 3.5 cm wide and 1 cm deep. The bars are assembled into a single structure in the shape of the letter “P”. Grooves are made for installing the floor.

General design the bottom provides a more protruding front part (5 cm), forming a landing board.
There is also a dividing bottom design, which is used in the case of two-queen keeping of bees in one hive.

Ceiling

Represents a continuous wooden structure dimensions 52 by 44 cm. Consists of a shield and a rim. The rim is made of wooden slats 3.5 cm wide and 1.5 cm thick. The shield is made of boards 1 cm thick and with total dimensions of 47 by 39.5 cm. A hole should be made in the middle part to create better ventilation for the nest or installation feeders during feeding.


The ceiling has two different sides: smooth and the one with a rim protruding 0.5 cm. Installation on the body is carried out on the part without a rim, while on the protruding side some space is created that allows insects to move freely.
If such a design will be used as a delimiter between families, then the hole is lined with a fine mesh or a wooden insert is installed in it.

Stand

It looks like a box and is the same size as the external parameters of the bottom. The side edges are made at an angle of 45 degrees and together with the bottom form a good landing board. These same sides should have recesses measuring 2.5 by 9 cm in the middle part. Their main purpose is to be able to lift the hive above the stand or conveniently insert crepe for further transportation. Additional ventilation also occurs through these holes. To increase the service life of the structure, cover it with bitumen dissolved in gasoline. Toxic vapors will quickly evaporate, and the bitumen itself will densely saturate the boards, which will increase resistance to moisture.

Dividing grid

A design such as a dividing grid can also be made independently. Its main purpose is to isolate the queen for some time from the main nest, and also to separate the housings with brood and honey. Its dimensions must match the internal dimensions of the case. It is installed on bars. To create it, it is better to use a wire structure.

Framework

You can also not buy frames, but make them yourself. So, standard sizes frames in the hive design described above look like this:


The side bar of the upper part, increased to 3.7 cm, allows you to firmly fix the frames inside the hive and prevent them from moving. The bottom strips are completely the same size as the side ones.

I hope this instruction will save you from the question of how to make a beehive with your own hands step by step, thank you for your attention! Share this information.

When you decide to take up beekeeping, you will inevitably be faced with choosing a hive system. Well, having decided, you need to decide whether to purchase ready-made housing for bees or make them yourself. Independent production will significantly increase the profitability of beekeeping. One thing to keep in mind before making beehives for bees with your own hands is that the drawings are of paramount importance.

Hive systems and their assembly diagrams

Since the invention of the first collapsible frame hive by Ukrainian beekeeper Pyotr Ivanovich Prokopovich in 1814, many different modifications have been invented. We will look at the most successful hive systems that are most widespread. It should be noted that there is no universal solution. Each beekeeper who selects hives takes into account the following factors:

Today, using the capabilities of the Internet makes it easier to make beehives with your own hands. Dimensions, drawings, and online videos are publicly available on the World Wide Web. You can find everything: what the hive should consist of, characteristics, what devices are used for manufacturing, step-by-step production.

Dadan-Blatt's invention

The hive was created by a Frenchman, in the USA - Charles Dadant. After his death, the Swiss Blatt improved the project. The classic design has one nesting body with internal dimensions of 450 mm width and 450 mm depth - a Dadan hive with 12 frames. The drawing is shown below.

Above the nesting compartment there are two extensions for the half-frame, then the roof liner and the roof.

The frame of the lower case is 300 mm high and 435 mm wide (without hangers). These sizes allow the bees to fit the brood with a strip of honey on top. This is important for the life of a family during non-graceless periods. The lower Dadanovsky building is capable of accommodating the nest of a strong family. It holds enough food for wintering outside.

Sunbeds

The 300 frame is popular in the post-Soviet space. In addition to ten and twelve frame Dadan hives, it is used in common beds with 16, 20 or 24 frames. In these structures, the development of the bee community occurs in the horizontal plane. To protect empty space or unoccupied frames, a screen board is used, which is rearranged depending on the strength of the family.

The figure shows a twenty-frame version of the design.

The beehive with 24 frames has an identical look. A drawing whose dimensions will be increased by 137 mm in length will fit 4 more frames.

As mentioned above, the 300 frame holds enough food for wintering, however, it is not ideal for mid-latitudes. When the club reaches the top bar, the bees become stressed. Movement along the frames in winter is a necessary measure.

An interesting solution was the Ukrainian sun lounger. In it, the frame described above is turned vertically, that is, 300 mm wide and 435 mm high. The narrow-high format allows the bee club to move as if in a hollow tree trunk - from bottom to top (see diagram).

The most spacious is the Vladimir lounger. It is designed for 32 frames 435 by 450 mm. The walls of the hive are framed - two sheets of plywood with polystyrene foam between them. The large volume allows you to support several families at the same time through solid partitions, with the possibility of combining them into the main one.

The advantages of all sun loungers include:

• accessibility of the nest for the beekeeper;
• no need to replace housings;
• ideal for a beginner or an amateur observing all the processes in a bee colony;
• suitable for operations with frequent reformatting of the nest (obtaining royal jelly, removing queens).

The main disadvantages are the bulkiness of the design, the need for frame work that takes a lot of time. In this regard, these hives are not suitable for commercial beekeeping, but rather for household use.

Hive Ruta

Modern technology for the industrial keeping of bees is not possible without the use of a multi-hull hive. The most common system in the world is the root system..

The frame differs from Dadanov’s in height, it is 230 mm. This size made it possible to reduce the weight of the filled case. This solved the problem of the beekeeper's labor costs for working with each individual frame. It became possible to substitute or take away an entire building. There are enough of 4 of them per season, but you can’t limit yourself to this number. It is more practical to make the bottom removable. The design is suitable for transportation during migration.

Disadvantages of the hive: there is little space for food for wintering in one building. The solution is to substitute subsidies or winter on two buildings.

Some beekeepers, for example, A.N. Kuznetsov, create universal hives that allow you to work with Dadanov and Rutov frames.

Cebro uses a 300 frame in his multi-body hive, but its design is very bulky and completely stationary.

Horned

The bee house got its unique name from the pins protruding from the body. The protrusions are needed to fix the structure. This type includes a firewood hive, in which all elements are simplified as much as possible. Will be required minimum costs on homemade production a structure called a horned hive. The drawings are presented below.

Making such a hive is quite simple.

One case contains 8 frames with a height of 145 mm. A metal mesh is also used in the bottom of the hole for the tap hole across the entire width. The design allows you to install it on top of the hive if necessary.

The advantages of the system include its light weight, possibility of transportation, low production budget. However, we note that thin walls will require insulation measures to be taken during wintering. At the peak of colony development, the hive becomes too tall.

Cassette

An ideal solution for beekeepers with limited mobility. The cassette hive eliminates the need to rearrange heavy buildings. They are inside the column. Housings designed in such a way that they can be pulled out on slides onto a mobile stand.

Frameless hives

There is a category of beekeepers who keep bees without commercial intent. Some of them consider any interference in the life of a bee colony harmful. And there are also people who want to keep bees, but do not plan to delve into the intricacies of beekeeping.

For the above categories, a frameless hive is most suitable. Keeping bees in such dwellings is as close as possible to natural conditions. The beekeeper does not need deep knowledge of the biology of the bee colony.

Varre

In hives of this type, wooden slats serve as the basis of the combs. As author Emil Varre said, his system does not require the use of frames, wire, or foundation. Inspections are kept to a minimum. Another feature is the high attic roof, which is filled with heat-insulating and moisture-absorbing material (sawdust, straw, fallen leaves).

Shapkin's Hive

Can be used with or without frames. The hive was invented by the Russian popularizer of contactless beekeeping V.F. Shapkin. At its core, it is a collapsible side.

The walls of the buildings are based on a frame made of wooden blocks. There is a plastic layer on the outside, plywood sheathing on the inside, and foam plastic between them. The combined bottom helps to successfully combat flares.

Manufacturing nuances

It is not necessary to copy completely finished drawing hive. You can combine successful devices of different designs, for example, use a high bottom using German technology. The same decision is radically changed by small nuances - whether or not to make holes for tap holes in the housings, use a blind or mesh bottom, etc.

The most popular material for making hives is undoubtedly wood. It is important to consider its moisture content before constructing the evidence. According to GOST, it should not exceed 15%. If the moisture content is high, the structure will inevitably move and the dimensions of the board will change.

One of the most important aspects proper breeding of bees - providing a dry and warm place to keep them. To do this, you can buy ready-made bee houses. However, the problem is that used bee hives can be contaminated, and new ones are quite expensive. An alternative option could be self-production hives.

Moreover, there is nothing particularly complicated about it. Almost any beekeeper, even a beginner, with a little effort and effort, can easily make a hive with his own hands. You just need to carefully study the drawings existing structures and choose the best one for your insects suitable option taking into account the climate zone and the expected size of the future family.

Types of hives

People have been engaged in beekeeping for several centuries, and during this time a large number of beehive designs for bees have been invented. However, the entire variety of species can be divided into the following 5 groups:

• single-hull;
• multi-body cassette;
• sunbed;
• Alpine;
• Asiatic.

The simplest do-it-yourself single-hull hive is an ordinary wooden box with a removable top cover, inside which frames for honey collection are installed.

In case of increasing the productivity of the bee colony, additional wooden cassettes with frames can be installed on top, above the box. For additional protection from precipitation, the box is sometimes covered with a gable roof.

Multihull The cassette design resembles a cabinet with drawers without a bottom, in which honey collecting frames are installed. Each such box has a separate entrance, and all retractable compartments are separated from each other. This option is very popular in the USA and Canada.

Bee hive "lounger"- This is a horizontal design with 2 or 3 combined compartments, the dimensions of which can be changed by moving the dividing partitions. Convenient for permanent installation, but takes up a lot of space.

Alpine the design is very similar to the multi-body cassette model. The main difference is the reduced size, the absence of dividing partitions between the compartments and the presence of one wide entrance.

Main feature Asian hives is the absence of honey collection frames. Instead, crosses or cross bars are installed inside. The accumulation of honeycombs occurs from top to bottom. They are very convenient and provide simple honey collection, but are not very productive.

In our climate zone, to set up a stationary apiary, hives with two compartments with 20 frames are often used. Often, beginners prefer to use hives with 12 frames, which are lighter and more convenient to use, but have less internal volume and interfere with the growth of the bee colony.

Materials for making hives

Initially, beekeepers collected honey from wild bees in the hollows of forest trees. Then someone came up with the idea of ​​making log decks and installing them near their home. Modern Hive is a simplified and, more importantly, lightweight version of the deck. Therefore, wood is considered the best material for making beehives. Bees feel very comfortable in wooden houses.

Linden is considered the best type of wood for making hives. It absorbs less moisture and contains virtually no wood resins.

However, the thermal insulation properties of this tree are low and hives made from linden must be additionally insulated for the winter. In addition, linden boards are more expensive than other, more common types of wood.

Hives made of pine and spruce are much cheaper and retain heat better. But the pine smell and ability to absorb moisture make hives made from these types of wood not comfortable enough. The main advantages of houses made of pine and spruce are: low cost And good ability keep warm.

Plywood

Easy to process and durable material for bee houses, which, however, does not withstand moisture, and therefore its outer surface must be primed and painted.

To retain heat, the inner surface of the plywood hive is covered with polystyrene foam. Plywood structures are strong and lightweight, but require annual maintenance to ensure protection from moisture.

Expanded polystyrene and foam plastic

These materials have become quite widely used for the manufacture of hives in recent years. They are easy to process, and therefore making a hive from them is much easier than from any other material.

Constructions made of polystyrene foam and expanded polystyrene are very light, dry and warm. Bees feel quite comfortable in such houses. The low cost of materials makes them accessible to most beekeepers.

The disadvantages include low strength and fragility of the structure, which requires very careful handling. In addition, polystyrene foam and expanded polystyrene are susceptible to exposure to ultraviolet rays and are destroyed over time. Therefore, to protect from solar radiation, hives made of these materials must be painted.

Polyurethane

Another modern material, which does not rot, is moisture resistant, is not afraid of ultraviolet radiation, is easy to process, retains heat well and has a low specific gravity. Polyurethane is not damaged by mice, birds and insects. Hives made from it are light and comfortable. Disadvantages include its flammability, inability to pass air and high cost.

Requirements for hive design

The main requirements for the design of bee hives are that they must provide a dry, well-ventilated and warm environment for the bees. When developing your own design that differs from standard options, some features should be taken into account. As practical experience shows, design dimensions should include the following:

• the width of the top bar on the frame is 25 mm;
• between the axes of adjacent frames there should be 37.5 mm;
• the width of streets or passages for bees is 12.5 mm;
• between the side slats of the frames and the walls of the hive no more than 7.5 mm;
• from the top of the frame to the lower body and from the lower bar to the upper body there should be no less than 8 and no more than 10 mm;
• the distance from the bottom bar of the frame to the bottom of the hive body is within 20-40 mm.

These insects are especially good at distinguishing yellow, orange and blue shades, as well as white. The roof must be painted white to reduce its heating by the sun's rays. Before painting, the surface is treated with drying oil or primer.

When using thin walls for the winter, they are insulated with reed or straw mats. You can use other insulation materials, but this option with mats is the cheapest. Compliance with these conditions will ensure the normal development of the bee colony and simple maintenance of the hive.

One of the simplest and, at the same time, effective designs for making beehives with your own hands is the “horned” hive. This model got its name due to the presence of connecting pins protruding from the corners of the body. It was invented by Mikhail Polivoda, who decided to develop a multi-tiered sectional hive that was as easy to manufacture as possible.

Each individual section consists of 4 boards, 155 mm wide and 22 mm thick, knocked together into a frame. To connect the sections to each other, 22x27 mm bars are fixed in the corner parts of the body, protruding 22 mm in the upper part and not reaching the edge by 17 mm in the lower part.

When the housings are installed on top of each other, these bars connect them, creating a strong monolithic structure. The remaining gap between the bars is intended to allow disassembly using a chisel or other tool. The internal dimensions of the case are 450x300 mm.

The tightness of the joints between the connected bodies is ensured by the selection of end folds along the edges of the boards. In order to simplify the work, instead of folds inside the body, you can nail parallel bars on which the shoulders of the body frame will rest. In this case, the structure will become somewhat heavier, and internal dimensions will be determined by the distance between these bars.

The quality of board processing is not critical. The main condition is the absence of strong roughness. The same can be said about the thickness of the board. It is important that only the internal dimensions are maintained.

The bottom is made of metal mesh with a 3x3 or 4x4 mm cell, stretched over a frame body made of boards 100 mm wide. On one of the narrow sides there is a wide taphole with a height of 22 mm. A lid with a continuous layer of boards is used as a ceiling.

In winter, for insulation, it is covered with polystyrene foam or polystyrene foam glued to a sheet of tin. After manufacturing, all sections must be primed and painted with colored paints.

The working capacity of such a “horned” hive is designed for the installation of 8 Dadan or magazine frames. The structure, assembled from several sections, is installed on a wooden platform slightly raised above the ground. The wall thickness of 25 mm provides additional insulation in the winter season.

Advantages of a “horned” hive

Most beekeepers admit that Mikhail Polivoda developed a very simple and successful design, noting that:

• making a beehive has become easier;
• any dry wood can be used as a material;
• Even wood waste can be used as bars;
• production does not require complex tools;
• the weight of the case is light, which makes it possible to move it to a new location without much difficulty;
• you can use store-bought frames or make them yourself;
• the design is inexpensive and accessible even to novice beekeepers.

As a result, the solution is practical and very comfortable to use.

Instructions for making and assembling a classic hive

Thanks to its simple and intuitive design, classic version Until recently, it was considered the Dadanovsky hive. Its design consists of:

• several housings for installing frames;
• two stores;
• ceiling;
• liner;
• roofs;
• insert board;
• 10 or 12 frames.

Mandatory additional accessories included in the kit include a feeder, a drinking bowl and entrance barriers in the form of conical wooden plugs.

Before you make a hive with your own hands, you need to select and purchase necessary materials, for which you can use dry linden, aspen, pine or spruce boards with a thickness of 30-40 mm, and for the lid and roof liner - with a thickness of 15 mm. The surface of the boards must be carefully processed on at least one side and at the ends. Anytime wooden part No more than 3 knots are allowed.

The material you can use is polystyrene foam, foam grade no lower than 40, or polyurethane. To assemble the structure, you need PVA glue or other waterproof glue with a strength of at least 20 kg/cm 2, as well as nails with a length of 10, 40 and 60 mm. The roof is covered with a layer of roofing felt or other waterproofing material. At the final stage you will need drying oil, paints and brushes.

Manufacturing of the body and magazine

For the manufacture of cases and magazines, existing boards are cut into lengths of 530 and 340 mm. Along the long ends of the boards, tongues and ridges with a width of 15 mm are selected. Shields are assembled from the prepared sections using a tongue-and-groove adhesive joint. To create the possibility of hanging frames, a fold of 11 mm wide and 20 mm deep is selected in the front and rear walls.

Along the inner edge of the side walls, it is necessary to remove a fold 16 mm wide and 10 mm deep, and along the outer side, remove a chamfer of 5x5 mm. Thanks to the presence of this fold, the magazine will be installed on the body, and the chamfer will ensure reliable removal of moisture from the walls during rain.

A fold of 24 mm wide and 10 mm high is made along the lower edge of the body and magazine. The dimensions of the shield for the side wall are 490x340 mm. IN corner connections they fit into the folds of the front and back walls.

Making a roof

The roof structure consists of a roof and a retaining frame. The roof is assembled from boards 10-15 mm thick or plywood 8-10 mm thick is used. For waterproofing, it is covered with two layers of roofing felt or waterproofing material. It is even better to use sheet aluminum or galvanized iron.

To hold the roof in a fixed position, 20x20 mm wooden slats are nailed along the perimeter of the frame. It is necessary to drill ventilation holes in the end walls and close them metal mesh with a cell of 3x3 mm.

Bottom assembly

The bottom of Dadanovsky hives is detachable. The shield is assembled from boards 40 mm thick with glue into a 10x20 mm tongue and groove. The outer strapping is made from a wooden block when connected into a tenon. A fold is selected along the top edge to allow installation of a magazine. The dimensions of the bottom must correspond to the dimensions of the body.

In conclusion

As you can see, the technology for making beehives with your own hands is not so complicated and is quite accessible. To do this, you just need to have some carpentry and joinery skills, as well as desire. As a result, you will save a decent amount, which can be used for other important things.