I made up insulating hive cozy covers from 1" polystyrene and 1" kingspan sheet. The polystyrene isn't very robust so I made up a thin plywood overskin cover using 4mm side walls and a 9mm top. This all fits smoothly over my 14 x 12 brood boxes and cover boards, leaving the omf floor frames exposed. For weatherproofing I have coated the outside of the overcover with fibreglass mat and polyester resin. I hope this will serve two purposes, waterproofing and potentially give woodpecker resistance.
The kingspan version I made up to encase my double brood 14 x 12 which resulted from the late combining of a queenless hive with a bought in nuc. My intent being to get the combined colonies through the winter and hopefully spring will reveal all the bees congregated into one box and I can remove the other then run a normal hive using supers as required.
I have also been building plywood brood boxes and supers. I invested in a full sheet of 18mm wbp ply, cut it down into two strips of appropriate width then cut side panels for both a brood and super boxes. Using my table saw I cut softwood rails and assembled boxes from the parts but with bought in metal rails. During the next few weeks I plan to obtain frames and assemble them ready for delivery of the foundation order I gave to our Beekeeping Association at Wednesday evenings meeting.
The meeting included a very informative talk by SBI Ivor Flatman on bee parasites, diseases and treatments, followed by questions and answers.
The kingspan version I made up to encase my double brood 14 x 12 which resulted from the late combining of a queenless hive with a bought in nuc. My intent being to get the combined colonies through the winter and hopefully spring will reveal all the bees congregated into one box and I can remove the other then run a normal hive using supers as required.
I have also been building plywood brood boxes and supers. I invested in a full sheet of 18mm wbp ply, cut it down into two strips of appropriate width then cut side panels for both a brood and super boxes. Using my table saw I cut softwood rails and assembled boxes from the parts but with bought in metal rails. During the next few weeks I plan to obtain frames and assemble them ready for delivery of the foundation order I gave to our Beekeeping Association at Wednesday evenings meeting.
The meeting included a very informative talk by SBI Ivor Flatman on bee parasites, diseases and treatments, followed by questions and answers.
