Been working on three cedar hives, well 6 hives total but I already mentioned the pine and cottonwood hives. These three cedar hives start as 1.5 inches of 2×12 pine and then get a cedar bottom board and cedar siding. The lid has one inch of foam insulation and then has cedar inner lining inside the lid. And yes, this time of year is tough to work with 1/4″ cedar because the mornings can be 95% humidity and the afternoons are closer to 35% with a temperature swing of about 30 degrees.
We were discussing mating nucs one day on Texas Friendly Beekeepers and I thought why not make one out of a long hive. I know there are other that have done it but I never had. Well one of the members saw the comment and had me do it. One of these boxes is going to be a mating nuc with 5 compartments. It has an entrance on each end and then three on the front. With the entrance gates they can be closed as needed and the dividers all slide so they can raise fewer colonies if needed. I definitely need to make one of these for myself…maybe more than one!
The last two pictures have the cover boards with the shims.
