Ordered My Bees



The bottom has a screen covering it
or we can close it up with the hinged
board during the winter.



     Now I did it.  I really am going to be a beekeeper.  .......so much odds and ends equipment to get. (as in protective clothing) The bees will be coming sometime in April.   I ordered them because my husband just finished building me a top bar beehive.  It only took him a couple of hours out of his perch fishing time.  He says it is my Valentine's Day present :-)  --- I'm thinking some roses will show up too.

      I wanted a top bar hive because a regular hive gets so heavy when it is full of honey that I wouldn't be able to lift it myself.  I guarantee you that even though he lovingly, and willingly built the hive, my husband will NOT help with working the hive. :-)  A top bar hive I've heard, does not produce as much honey as a regular hive but does give you more beeswax.  The bees actually build the honeycomb from a bar on the top that you can lift out to harvest the honey.  I'll only be lifting "sections" of the honey harvest at a time.  The sides of the hive are at an angle to discourage the bees from attaching the comb to the sides and preventing you from being able to lift it out.  I'd love to use the beeswax in homemade lip balms, hand salve, and candles  --- something else new to learn! 



The whole top gets covered with these smaller boards.
These two will be at the ends so the bees can't build right
up to the end.  The rest of the boards are at my brother-
in-laws to get a strip sawed down the middle of them. It
will be the starting point for the comb to be built.

      Getting the bees never was about a lot of honey, don't get me wrong, we will use it, but getting the bees is all about pollination for me.  Wanting the bees starts with having a garden and orchard.  I'm always interested in what grows a better garden.

     There is lots of information on top bar beehives on the Internet.  We got the building instructions from a couple different sites.  The hive is built with untreated wood.  The inside will stay untreated for the bees health, but the outside has to get painted  ---- hhmmm how fancy should I get?