advise on a beeshed

[newportbuzz]

looks like a whole rain forest that has gone into your shed

i learnt my tree felling in the sahara.


On a serious note its expected to take about 4 cubic meters of pine. my neighbour is thining his forest. still some of them are quite big. but i dont want it blowing away or anything

 

[mbc]

Great photo's. Well done so far

 

[MartinL]

Yes, slope the roof the other way so that when it rains it doesn't pour straight down across the front of the hives.

I put a gutter on mine!

 

[newportbuzz]

don't tell the pallet makers.

 

[newportbuzz]

add to all that an old shed roof i got for free. and i am half way there.

 

[newportbuzz]

been buzy. got the roof finished now just to paint it to make it last and finish off the walls. install some lights and im sure theres something else.
ohh and everyone needs a hammock

 

[Dishmop]

the main thing that i have noticed is how far back from the front the owners put their hives as much as 2 ft in one case.

Helps keep the frost off..

I used to keep vans in a barn which had no doors and even in the coldest weather there was no frost on the screens...

 

[victor meldrew]

Helps keep the frost off..

I used to keep vans in a barn which had no doors and even in the coldest weather there was no frost on the screens...

Car ports work in the same fashion
VM

 

[newportbuzz]

its even starting to look like a shed now. the hive stands are made from the same pallets that the walls are. the bees seem to fly out the front of the shed and have very little interest if i am working away behind them.
the glavanised is painted outside and i am going to paint the inside white to allow more light to travel. i have a bit of wiring to do to get some lights for inspections. i have left enough of an overhang at the back of the shed to allow for some nucs to be placed there.

so all in all i am happy with progress so far.
any comments or sugestions welcome.

 

[tonybloke]

Fantastic job of recycling!!
I've been following this thread, and have found it interesting.
If you really want some advice, now that it's all standing up nicely, I would insert small diagonal braces in each corner in the front section, then remove the large cross braces as they'd no longer be needed. this will give you all round access.

just my 2pworth!!

 

[madasafish]

Do you need planning permission?

And around here the winds would strip the roofing sheets off in a flash... I hope your site is well protected because a gust under the sheet edge and you have flying corrugated sheets - highly dangerous..

 

[mbc]

Do you need planning permission?

And around here the winds would strip the roofing sheets off in a flash... I hope your site is well protected because a gust under the sheet edge and you have flying corrugated sheets - highly dangerous..

from the piccie it looks like the sheets are seriously bolted right through the beams, very solid, good work newportbuzz.

 

[newportbuzz]

Fantastic job of recycling!!
I've been following this thread, and have found it interesting.
If you really want some advice, now that it's all standing up nicely, I would insert small diagonal braces in each corner in the front section, then remove the large cross braces as they'd no longer be needed. this will give you all round access.

just my 2pworth!!

thats not a bad idea. ill have to look it over in the morning to see if it will work well. i dont want to change the strength of it. If you look closely you will see that the whole structure is actually held up on 8 concrete blocks so its not actually attached to the ground in any way other than gravity. so i am worried about keeping it very structuraly sound.

thanks for the sugestion

 

[newportbuzz]

Do you need planning permission?

And around here the winds would strip the roofing sheets off in a flash... I hope your site is well protected because a gust under the sheet edge and you have flying corrugated sheets - highly dangerous..

fair point on the sheets the site is quite sheltered as the hill behind the shed provides an huge windblock for our main winds.
the sheets are held with 6" nails with rubber washers and there are a few more braces to put in the roof to provide a few more nailing points to secure any loose edges. I intend to lash the roof in any case as the sheet is quite old and even a small bit of sheet flying could cause serious damage.
As for the planing i dont think this falls under that. It would be a shame if it does as then it will have to come down.

 

[Skyhook]

fair point on the sheets the site is quite sheltered as the hill behind the shed provides an huge windblock for our main winds.
the sheets are held with 6" nails with rubber washers and there are a few more braces to put in the roof to provide a few more nailing points to secure any loose edges. I intend to lash the roof in any case as the sheet is quite old and even a small bit of sheet flying could cause serious damage.
As for the planing i dont think this falls under that. It would be a shame if it does as then it will have to come down.

Are yougoing to turf it like your woodshed? That help hold the wriggly tin down!

 

[newportbuzz]

Are yougoing to turf it like your woodshed? That help hold the wriggly tin down!

i am still not sure. i have left the roof beams a bit weak for that and would have to add an second support halfway from the front wall to the back wall to half the span. i have toyed with the idea of cement washing the roof to give about 1/2" of cement. similar to how they ust to do the old slate roofs.

 

[Beanwood]

I've been toying with the idea of a bee shed, then found this thread.

Newportbuzz - how has it faired during the wind and rain we've been having - has it made life much more bearable, and would you do anything differently?

 

[newportbuzz]

sorry for late reply got myself hitched so things got in the way of the comp.

shed is very handy. gotta say the build up in there has been very pleasant there are diferences between how the bees behave inside the shed and those outside. notable they fly later in the morning than hives outside . i think this is because the shed absorbs some of the extremes in temp allowing the hives inside to think its colder than it is.

yeilds have been similar inside and out.

the major bonuses for me so far have been the ability to work in the dark. nothing beats being able to fill an apidea at 1am with light.

the radio is a bonus aswell. as i can listen while working on the bees. i put in a hammock to watch the bees from and this is a great sucess.

the storage is very handy with all my spare kit close to hand

i have a soil floor which might be better as gravel or slabs

i paid special attn to the height of my veil so i dont get snagged in stuff

the main thing i would change is using newer tin as mine leaks in certain areas

i made my roof strong enough to walk on and i put my apideas up there

i also made my door out of garden windbreaker mesh. this alows good light into the shed but stops bees using the door as a flyway

it holds 5 full hives with space to As all of them or 10 full hive with no space at all spare.
i filled it this year and had no hassle of note from drifting.

an interesting thing is that the bees dont often fly behing their hive and as such they dont fly into the back of the shed so you can work back there with no protection at all with no hinderance

hope this helps you.