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How to Make a Super Bee Hive

Beekeeping has been both a hobby and a profession for more than a thousand years. Amateur apiary enthusiasts dive in to the hobby and spend hundreds of dollars to purchase the hive kit, safety equipment, frames and the bees themselves. Building your own bee hive, including the "super" -- which is the area where the frames that hold the honey hang -- is a tricky process. Measurements must be precise and the woodworking must fit tight to prevent leakage and predator insects from entering the hive.

Things You'll Need

Bee Hive kit:
Outer Cover
Inner Cover
Shallow Super
Dadant Honey Super
Deep Hive Body
Bottom Board
8 - Cinder Blocks
White Latex Paint

Instructions

- 1
  Select the right sized kit to build. Supers typically come in three sizes: the Standard, which is 9 ½ inches deep, the Dadant, which is 6 5/8 inches deep and the Shallow, which is 5 13/16 inches deep. Some hive kits have the option of adding different sized supers to build larger hives. Larger hives help prevent swarming when the bee population increases. If your honeybees swarm, they will leave the area to look for a larger hive.
- 2
  Select the right wood. A kit beehive will use untreated wood. Pretreated wood can at best taint the honey being made and at worst can kill every bee in the hive. Untreated pine is a soft wood that is easy to work with and inexpensive enough to build a large hive with a super.
- 3
  Verify the measurements of the cut pieces of wood. There is a natural phenomenon of bees, discovered and explained by L. L. Langstroth, inventor of the modern hive box, known as "bee space." Bees will not build comb in spaces of ¼ inch to 3/8 inch. Smaller spaces prompt the bees to glue the space up and larger spaces prompt them to build comb in it. Both make removal of the frames difficult without destroying the hive completely. Frames must be at least ¼ inch from the side of the box but no more than 3/8 inch. This same "bee space" must be maintained between boxes, covers and frames.
- 4
  Set the bottom board onto a stand or a few cinder blocks to make sure the hive is up off the ground. The supers should be at waist height to make honey gathering easier.
- 5
  Place the deep hive body box on top of the bottom board. There will be a noticeable gap on the bottom board; this is where the bees will fly into the hive. The edges on all the other three sides should fit snugly into the bottom board.
- 6
  Remove the supers from the kit. Your kit may have as few as one or as many as three supers in it. Set these supers on top of each other. Align the edges to make sure they don't leave gaps in any area.
- 7
  Set the inner cover over the top super and then lay the outer cover over that one.
- 8
  Paint the outside of the hive with a white latex paint. This will help keep the wood protected from moisture without the after effects of the sealant that would injure the bees. Let the paint dry for 24 hours and apply a second coat. Let the second coat dry for 24 hours. Do not paint the inside surfaces.

Animals & Science