Insulated Horizontal Hive Build Part 1: Cutting the Pieces (Making Sawdust)

[@robeccs]

Good teamwork..Lucky man!🐝 🍯🍻👍🏼👏🏼

[@randsbees]

I tell him that all the time! Ha ha! Seriously, Roy knows how to do a lot of things, and I try to keep him from making too many mistakes with his Dyslexia. I think we make a pretty good team. Thanks for watching!

[@horizontalbees]

We all have different tools but we can get the same results in the end. We enjoyed watching your video.

[@randsbees]

Thanks so much!

[@tomdamour4902]

I really like the way your explain step by step as you are going along. Thanks for making these wonderful videos.

[@randsbees]

Glad like them. Part 2 of this build series is being released tomorrow (2/25/22).

[@paulbrelin3116]

Well done, thanks, will check out vid 2 next.

[@randsbees]

Thanks for watching! Let us know if you build some hives.

[@Steve-pf2ph]

Another great video!! You 2 work well together and the production is great, it helps when you speed up sections and add titles of explanation and.especially all the tips you provide in the process. Thanks for the discussion on the Kreg, looks to be really worth and they're only about $39 if I'm looking at the same thing. What do you have underneath the plywood (some sort of foam)? What brand, size of dado stack do you have? Southern yellow pine 11/32 at Home Depot is $26.63 where I'm at. Looking forward to your next video in putting it all together:-). Thanks!!

[@randsbees]

Thanks so much! That Kreg Rip-cut setup is pretty inexpensive. We got ours at Lowes a while back and it was definitely less than $50. It doesn't fit every circular saw but works great on our Dewalt. We do have a piece of 1 1/2" foam insulation board underneath the plywood. Roy sets his saw to cut about 1/16" to 1/8" deeper than the thickness of the material he's cutting. The saw blade makes shallow cuts in that insulation board and not in our sawhorses. We are using a Harbor Freight Admiral dado stack (I think 8") that we bought specifically for building bee hives. It was relatively inexpensive but still had good reviews, and it's working well for us so far. We have actually finished the hives now and are planning on two more videos to complete the build. Stay tuned....

[@stephanlehmann9080]

well done, thumbs up !!!

[@randsbees]

Thanks so much! The next two parts have been filmed and are ready for editing. Stay tuned...

[@pauloconnell7668]

I like the blue "rip fence" you are using for breaking down the sheets of plywood. I would appreciate it if you would let me know the make and model and your evaluation of it. Do you know of a better one. Thanks, love your videos!

[@randsbees]

Roy really likes this Kreg setup. He has ripped plywood sheets on the table saw before he got this, and it was always pretty sketchy.

[@williamsummers6438]

The need for cutting and assembling this beehive lies at the extreme end of craft skills. A great deal more with a great deal less in both material and skills is gained by simply ordering some aerated insulated blocks to lay as a floor, stack them up to form the walls and then as a roof to form an external envelope to house the bees. Lasting progress is achieved by doing more with less.

[@randsbees]

Roy has seen one built the way you describe on KZbin and it should work ok. However, we already had the tools and skill set to build what we did. And we believe they will hold up better long-term especially against predators like skunks, raccoons and birds. The main goal is a safe and comfortable home for the bees. Let us know how it goes for you.

[@williamsummers6438]

@@randsbees I like the ambition of a "safe and comfortable home for bees" in a world fraught with the varroa mite. I suggest that you not only insulate it as you are doing, but test it with just top bee entries. It will be more humid which the varroa do not like. The humidity seems to be held in the ZEST hive with top entries, like a bucket of it. The insulation will also impact on the speed at which the pupa hatch. At 35C. they will hatch at 10-11 days. At 35C. they will hatch at 14-15 days. Above 37C. and below 29C. they die. One disadvantage of a lightweight insulation hive may be that it does not have a thermal weight to carry the heat of the day into the cool of the night and the cool of the night back into the heat of the day. I think that you are doing o.k. though with this design to make the bees a "safe and comfortable home for bees" by suppressing varroa's chance of thriving. You only have to tip the balance to less than varroa replacement value to see them collapse in numbers exponentially. The ZEST is free of it, except a few dead ones and no DWV.

[@Dragula74]

What thickness and type of plywood did you use? Great video!

[@randsbees]

We used 11/32" Plytanium plywood from Lowes. Thanks for watching!

[@pauloconnell7668]

Oops, asked too soon. Question answered a few minutes more into video. Thanks.

[@randsbees]

Good to know. Thanks for watching!

[@bobcat3905]

I'd really like to make a hive box but I don't know what the most popular type would be. Top Bar or Langstroth or?

[@randsbees]

We are really happy with the Layens horizontal hives, and they are working well for us. There are free build plans available on www.hortzontalhive.com . We don't have any experience with any other hive types. I believe that the Langstroth hives are the most commonly used ones in the US, especially for commercial beekeepers. But the Layens hives make more sense for us as backyard beekeepers - easy to build, easy to work the hive without disturbing the brood nest and majority of the bees, and no heavy boxes to add and remove in a high stack. Find the style that works for your application and get on it. Honeybees are amazing creatures and certainly add value to our lives!

[@bobcat3905]

Thanks, I appreciate the input. I suppose as we age that the Horizontal designs are more appreciated by some who still want to enjoy the hobby without all the lifting, and I agree with less disturbing of the colonies to perform inspections and maintenance. Thanks again!

[@simonmunn-yk2ou]

Dr Leo's construction mentions only use formaldehyd free plywood. I can't get formaldehyde free board in UK, what did you use?

[@randsbees]

Georgia-Pacific makes Plytanium Plywood, and that's what we used. It's formaldehyde free and believe it's what Dr. Leo uses. We're in the southeastern part of the US so its readily available to us. Roy suggested building your hive early in the year and let it sit out in the sun for a couple of months before you put bees in it. That gives it time to off-gas at least some of the formaldehyde if that's what you have available. We're not as "green" as Dr. Leo, but we try to do what we can.