10-18-2021 Planning Commission Packet

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The Exterior i • A hive stand will keep the hive 4-6" off the ground so the colony stays dry. Hive stands that enclose the entire perimeter of the bottom board create dead air space underneath the hive that helps insulate the colony in the winter. The hive stand should be made of treated wood or be well painted to avoid rotting. Cement blocks or bricks also make a good hive stand. • Bottom boards provide the floor for the hive with space for bees to enter and exit. • An entrance reducer allows you to make the hive entrance smaller or larger as needed. The entrance is diminished when installing a new package or preparing a colony for winter; it is widened during summer. • 10-frame Langstroth deep hive bodies (9 5/8") are used as brood chambers, where the nurse bees will raise the new bees and honey is stored for winter. We recommend drilling a 1" hole (centered 3" above bottom edge) on the front side of each deep hive body. Use metal rabbets where the frames hang inside the box to protect the wood from scraping. If you are worried about lifting heavy boxes (deeps full of honey can be up to 90 Ib) you can use medium (6 5/8") boxes for hive bodies. You will just need to use more boxes so you have the same volume. Visit Z.umn.edu/Medium for more information. While less common, 8-frame Langstroth equipment can also work well and is lighter to lift. If you are worried about hive weight, a beekeeping partner can help move heavy boxes.Another strategy is to remove individual honey frames, move the box, then put the frames back in once the box is moved. • An inner cover is used to provide a bee space above the frames so the bees do not"propolize" (glue) the cover down. • A telescoping cover is the final cover for the colony. It telescopes over the top so it doesn't slide off. It usually has a metal top to keep out the rain. • You will need corks to plug the 1" holes in the hive bodies during some periods of the season. Keep hive bodies corked if there are no bees occupying the box or the frames of foundation have not been drawn out with wax comb yet. If you have corks lying around that are smaller than 1", drill the holes in the boxes to fit those corks. 410 The Interior • To begin, you will need 10 frames (9 1/8") for each 10-frame deep hive body. If you purchase frames that require assembly, we recommend self-spacing frames with grooved top and bottom bars.As the bees fill the frames with wax comb, you may later switch to 9 frames per box.Assembled frames are available, but they can cost a little more than unassembled frames. One benefit of purchasing assembled frames is that any frames that break during assembly, which can happen, will be at the expense of the supplier. • You will need foundation for each frame in the hive. The bees will build comb without foundation but the foundation encourages them to build comb in the middle of the frame, acts as supporting material, and reduces the amount of beeswax the bees need to produce. Some of the first foundation was made of solid beeswax, and then wire was added to give the comb support. This support allowed the wax comb in the frames to survive the honey extracting machines without damage. Next, foundation was made of thin plastic and beeswax was added to both sides with the imprint of hexagonal cells pressed into the wax. Now most foundation is made of thick plastic that has the base of the hexagonal cell formed in it, and it is sprayed with a light coat of beeswax (Figure 22). We have found that this coating of beeswax on the plastic foundation is important to the bees. If there is insufficient wax, the bees can be reluctant to build comb on it. Foundation can come in light or dark colors. Eggs are easier to spot on the darker foundation. • Some beekeepers prefer to have the bees build "natural" comb, meaning comb with no foundation. The problem with natural comb is it is not very strong when held in a horizontal position. If you want to be able to turn the frame sideways or upside down (to look for eggs or see the other side of the frame) you will have to add some support. This support is one of the important purposes of the foundation. You can add support without using foundation by adding three 1/8"wood dowels from the top bar to the bottom bar of the frames, and the bees will build comb around them. The other purpose of the foundation is to encourage the bees to build comb within the frame, instead of across frames. To encourage bees to build comb within a frame without using foundation, you can fill the groove in the top bar with beeswax or popsicle sticks. Another method is to make the top bar of the frame v-shaped at the bottom so the bees follow the line when building comb. Beekeeping in Northern Climates 21