Pic of my winter project

[Tonyatcwfarm]

This is a pic of a hive iv just completed
Based loosely on a dartington and a combo hive
It's a double national horizontal that I can use as a double brood single or as a split two hive
Total cost of ceder 25€
http://imgur.com/OEefnhL
Top bar completed last week
http://imgur.com/sn4g6u7

 

[leonotron]

Looks interesting. Seems like good value for the cedar too. Where about are you based and where did you get the cedar? Are you going to put anything on the cedar to protect it? I've just put together a Thorne's budget cedar hive from flat pack and wondering what to protect it with. Was thinking of Rustin's Outdoor Danish oil.

 

[alanf]

This is a pic of a hive iv just completed...

Nice work. Is that a single long entrance block with two holes? If i was running as two colonies, I'd probably want the entrances further apart, at the ends (like a Dartington) or opposite sides. With one block and close entrances you might be spending a lot of time trying to keep the hives at equal strength to avoid robbing etc.

I don't have a "two hives in one" but I do have a "two nucs from one brood box" a diy version of what Thornes call a "twinstock". It's fine and there are advantages of keeping warm and one footprint under a standard roof, For instance I've used it to turn a demaree/division into two mating nucs on the same stand. If there's one disadvantage it's that if I want to move one of the colonies, I move both because that's easier so timing some operations turns out to be a compromise.

 

[Tonyatcwfarm]

@ leonotron
I'm down the road from you in tyrrellspass co Westmeath
Got the cedar from sawmills in tullamore 45 euro for enough to make the 2 hives

@alan
It's one block with permanent openings
Same on reverse side but I have blocks to fill in if unused
I really plan on trying to create a 1 colony hive from the box but the option is there to section off into nucs also
Ah well it should be interesting to see how it works out