How hives are structured. How to make a beehive for bees yourself: what assembly schemes exist? Types of Honeycomb Frames

Beekeeping is not an easy task, but it is beneficial not only because of its high profitability. Entomologists and farmers are unanimous: in general, the benefits of the honey bee Apis melifera are not only honey and wax, which is highly in demand in technology, but even more - pollination fruit plants. Apiary at the dacha, personal plot, in the garden and next to the vegetable garden is definitely worth all the hassle and expense, if not directly in the yield of marketable beekeeping products, then in increasing the productivity of the farm as a whole.

A ready-made hive in the Russian Federation can be bought for 2000-4000 rubles, but without frames. You can’t get by with just one hive in an apiary. The most expensive equipment for private beekeeping - a honey extractor and wax refiner - can be rented at first or the honeycombs can be sent for processing. Other bee care supplies are more affordable. That is, at the beginning of beekeeping, it makes complete sense to make hives yourself: they are not material-intensive, not structurally and technologically complex. This publication and is dedicated to how to make a beehive with your own hands. The material is intended primarily for beginners.

To do or to create?

There is no hive technological equipment in the usual way. It is primarily the home of the bee colony(s). Honey collection is determined by many factors: the experience of the beekeeper, beekeeping method, quantity, species composition and the density of honey plants in a given place, the location of the apiary on it, and finally, just the weather. But honey yield from a hive depends on the correct choice of its type and quality of workmanship much more than milk yield from a cow depends on the design of its stall.

A bee colony is not a family in the usual sense, just as it is not a colony of individuals or a nest. Since the middle of the last century, some zoologists for brief description communities of social insects (termites, ants, social wasps and bees) use the term “superorganism”, meaning that the “superorganism” is a subject of the population of a given species, an individual in it is its structural unit, like a cell in our body, carries strictly defined functions; one cannot exist on its own, but within the community-“superorganism” a complex exchange of information continuously occurs.

“Superorganism” in the full sense of the word is another life at our fingertips, and, as aptly noted in “The Life of Animals” in 1969, this word has no more to do with reflecting the true essence of the differences between them and us than a puff of smoke has to do with the Club of the Famous captains. The piston of an internal combustion engine is closer to an old soft boot, and its cooling jacket to a piece of clothing, than a bee colony is to our family, and its fertile female is to a mother or queen.

Therefore, at the beginning of beekeeping, you need to make a hive for bees, firstly, strictly following the chosen model.

Beekeeping has been around for thousands of years, but the first frame hive, which made it possible to fully domesticate the honey bee, was developed only 200 years ago, so difficult is it for us to understand their life. Secondly, at the start, choose a proven model for repetition that is convenient not only for the life of bees, but also for the development of your understanding of it. To immediately chase only the maximum honey yield means dooming yourself to failure in advance. You cannot become a beekeeper relying only on book knowledge, and you need to make hives for your apiary in such a way that they can be supported as best and quickly as possible by observations and practical experience.

Dadan's Hive

The Dadan hive, in an area more or less provided with flowering honey plants, produces a honey yield comparable to that of the Langstroth-Ruth hive, and caring for it and beekeeping in the Dadan hive is not much more difficult than in a sunbed hive. The Dadan-Blatt hive with 12 frames 300 mm high (Dadanov frame, see below for frames) provides wintering for 2 bee colonies in a temperate continental climate, and at the same time can be made to fit a standard Ruta frame. A Dadan-Blatt hive completely filled with honey weighs up to 35 kg, which makes it possible to handle it alone. In the Dadan hive, the body and magazine of different heights make up the hive module. Multi-body hives are obtained by installing modules one on top of the other. This hive is now known in several varieties adapted to local conditions. Russia has developed its own modifications of the Dadan hive, but due to ongoing climate changes, the Dadan hive in the version common in the northwestern states of the USA and Canada, designed for 9 Ruta frames, may be of interest; see its drawings in Fig. below. The climate there is much wetter and more unstable than in RF. But, perhaps, it is still too early for us to equip the hive with a comb-liner with inserts; then the Section Comb Super turns into a simple box, and the Inner Cover and OuterTelescoping Cover become the usual cover and roof, respectively. Construction material This hive is made of a 16 mm thick Hemlock board; it can be replaced with moisture-resistant plywood.

Hive frames

Removable frames in a hive for bees are a kind of foundation on which they build a house - a honeycomb. From the point of view of bees, honeycombs are divided into nesting ones, for brood, and single ones, for storage. The queen lays eggs in the first cells filled with honey, worker bees seal them, and the larvae develop, floating in the food. Idle combs store food for the whole family for winter and bad weather.

Note: Although honey bees form a “superorganism,” they are not endowed with intelligence and act instinctively. Therefore, if there is excess space in the hive, it is possible to build dummy honeycombs. Their appearance is extremely undesirable, because... The family's strength is wasted for both it and the beekeeper.

From the beekeeper's point of view, nesting and idle combs need to be separated, allocating separate frames for both. In this case, you can take honey and wax without destroying or even disturbing the bee colony. Therefore, structurally, frames for hives are divided into nesting ones, placed in the body, and store-type ones.

Most hives are designed for low-wide frames, where the width is greater than the height. Bee colonies tend to develop vertically, so a low-wide frame reduces the likelihood of swarming when there is a large excess of food. Enthusiasts of narrow-high frames inevitably face a decrease in honey yield in general, because when the germ of a new swarm - the nucleus - emerges from a bee colony, the accumulated reserves are spent on it.

The standard dimensions of the nesting frame of a hive since the time of Ruth are 435x230 mm, and the store, or half-frame, 435x145 mm. The Dadan nesting frame differs only in its increased height to 300 mm; for dimensions and drawings of frames for hives, see Fig. A 2-mm galvanized wire is stretched into the opening of the frame (inset at the top right in the figure) and foundation is laid in it, this is a kind of trench for the foundation. Bees will build honeycombs without foundation, but honey collection from the hive will then begin later. The frame in the case/magazine hangs on hangers resting on the inner fold of the box, see below.

The width of the upper shelf of the frame is 36 or 37 mm, but the hive body/magazine is designed for a frame installation step of 37.5-38 mm. The fact is that a package of frames that is too dense due to thermal expansion can jam in the box, and beekeepers already have a lot of trouble with frames glued to it with propolis. Therefore, based on the local climate, the width of the frame flange and their design pitch are chosen as follows:

• The climate is even: sea, steppe or others with slight temperature fluctuations - shelf 37 mm, pitch 37.5 mm.
• The climate is temperate continental, e.g. Central Russia - shelf 37 mm, pitch 38 mm or shelf 36 mm, pitch 37 mm.
• The climate is continental or if the apiary is in the mountains - shelf 36 mm, pitch 38 mm.

The gap between the sides of the frame and the walls of the hive has been precisely adjusted by beekeepers over the centuries: 8 mm. More - the bees will build it up with honeycombs; less - it will be covered with polypolis and the frame will stick. Methods for removing stuck frames are known, but why fight problems if you don’t have to create them?

The gap between the bottom bar of the frame and the bottom of the hive is made larger, 20 mm. Less is impossible; if bees are deprived of the opportunity to walk along the bottom or it is limited, the colony will wither. But then regular maintenance of the hive is necessary: ​​tearing off the frames stuck to its bottom without ruining the family is still a challenge.

The frames are assembled on nails using a special pattern board, see the inset in the figure; about wood for frames, see below. Removing honeycombs and caring for the apiary is made much easier by folding basket frames, see the figure on the right, but given that even a small apiary requires hundreds of frames, the expenditure of labor and money on the purchase of stainless wire in this case is not always justified.

Note: Some types of hives use non-standard frames. These will be described below together with the corresponding ones. types of hives.

Sun lounger

A hive-lounger is something like a chest with frames suspended in it; even its lid is often made hinged. The beehive is also called the Ukrainian hive, which is incorrect. It was invented independently by amateur beekeepers from several countries in Southern Europe. The hive-bed has already arrived in Ukraine finished form, and there, frankly, they ruined it: they deprived it of the magazine and adapted it to fit the narrow, high frames of Dadan’s size, see fig. To be fair, it is worth noting that from the point of view of “lazy” beekeeping in areas with a climate favorable for bees and an abundance of wildly flowering honey plants, this made some sense.

The structure and dimensions of a hive-bed for 16 frames (one or two family) and 20 frames (2 family) are shown in the following. rice. In it, the bee colony is even more encouraged to develop horizontally, and the observation of the bees is easier. An indispensable accessory for such a hive is at least 1 diaphragm.

IN general outline The operating mode of the 16-20 frame bed is as follows:

• During the spring “explosive” peak of flowering of honey plants (garden, buckwheat field, lime tree, acacia grove), 2 families work, the main one and the auxiliary one. The movement of bees from family to family does not particularly reduce honey production, they have nothing to do with it, there is a lot of work.
• At the end of flowering, the auxiliary colony either separates and moves away (relocates), or is destroyed, or exhausts itself: its worker bees kill their queen and move to the main colony. The excess space of the hive is fenced off with a diaphragm.
• If the summer flowering of wild honey plants is not particularly intense, the hive operates in single-family mode before wintering.
• In the case of vigorous summer flowering, a nucleus is formed in the main family, developing into a new auxiliary family.

Thus, the hive-lounger, at the cost of some reduction in honey yield, is largely self-regulating and self-adjusting for the honey/non-honey year. Therefore, even quite significant flaws in beekeeping do not excessively reduce honey production and almost never destroy the colony.

Note: If you read or hear anywhere the expression “two-queen bee colony”, “two-queen hive”, etc., do not believe your eyes and ears. Any student of the Faculty of Biology, not to mention entomologists, will explain that there are no “two-queen” bee colonies and, in principle, there cannot be. By analogy with individual organisms, again necessarily crude and imprecise, 2 bee colonies in one hive are not a two-headed bird in a cage, but simply 2 birds in one cage. Which may or may not get along there.

A hive-bed hive also has a property that is valuable for professionals: since the expansion of bee colonies is directed primarily vertically, one hive-bed hive is suitable for wintering 2 or more colonies, which allows saving weak colonies. There is no point in nursing them in a large hive; you will need to feed them abundantly. But an overfed family will not be able to restore vitality and wither away. Imagine that someone lay in bed all winter on a diet diet, and in the spring he was sent to a logging site or an obstacle course. In small numbers and with neighbors, the bee colony experiences weakness, like a soldier in a trench with a runny nose. Appearance and a diagram of the arrangement of a wintering hive-bed for 4 families is given in Fig.

Alpines

Roger Delon decided to create a hive that would allow bees to take full advantage of the incredible honey-producing potential of the alpine meadows, but this task is extremely difficult. Alpine honey plants bloom in groups of species throughout the season; flowering is volley, its peaks are high, sharp and short-lived. Flowering clumps are located in islands, often located at considerable distances from each other. Daily temperature fluctuations in the alpine altitudinal zone are also extreme: in the mountains at night and in the summer it is winter, and as soon as a cloud appears on the Sun it is deep autumn. The bees also need a volley of years to take a bribe, and they must wait out up to several cold days without turning on their hibernating instincts, i.e. A mountain hive should quickly warm up in the sun and retain heat well.

Delon the beekeeper came to the conclusion that, firstly, bees in such conditions need to be provided with the opportunity for the fastest possible development of the family. Secondly, the most suitable type of hive for this should replicate the natural habitat most preferred by wild bees - a log with a hollow. And in order to create conditions that would be good for the bees, and honey and wax would be good for us, Roger Delon, based on the knowledge acquired by that time (the middle of the last century) about social insects, developed a very low wire frame capable of holding foundation without supporting threads ( see fig.), and already under it - a hive of square buildings with a height of 108 mm, see fig. below.

Roger Delon made his hive-deck composite for ease of care; the number of its buildings can reach 12 or more. The roof of an Alpine hive is solid, like the roof of a natural bee hollow. There is only one entrance; there are no ventilation holes to reduce heat loss. Ventilation is also like that of wild bees in a hollow: air enters through the entrance, rises under the roof, cools there, falls down and exits again through the entrance. Bees also ventilate themselves by fluttering their wings. There are also no magazines, separators, diaphragms, etc., which we need more than the bees. Thus, although Roger Delon’s alpine hive is externally similar to Langstroth-Ruth’s multi-hull hive, the differences between them are fundamental.

The first tests of the new hive gave a result that Delon’s colleagues did not believe at first, despite his impeccable reputation: the bees did not steal honey and did not move from family to family, even when there were 40-50 square meters left per bee colony. m. melliferous lands. In the very honey-free year of 1988, Roger Delon’s hives produced a honey yield of 20-22 kg, and the dadans located in the same area produced 2 kg.

However, beekeeping in Roger Delon's hive, in terms of complexity and requirements for the beekeeper's professionalism, can be compared to caring for a canary or a budgie released into the garden in the spring. Labor costs for working with many small frames also increase by 3-4 times compared to the Dadan hive. At the same time, in flat areas where honey plants bloom in bursts, the climatic conditions are not so extreme, but even there the bees do not have time to take all the available nectar and pollen, and from an excess of bribes they begin to steal honey, instead of thoroughly exploring the surrounding honey-bearing areas. Therefore, we often offer for sale as alpine hives the hives of V. Khomich and Varre, modified for flat conditions, based on the same principles.

The Khomich hive differs from the Roger Delon hive by increasing the body height to 220 mm, which reduces the number of frames with the same total area. The Varre hive has been converted to a non-standard wooden frame reduced height and increased width, see fig. for drawings. on right; it is even more easily confused with the Langstroth-Root hive. Honey collection from these hives in bad years less than from the prototype, but this is explained by the lower productivity of honey plants. In the mountains, its importance takes on fantastic values ​​due to the transparency of the air, moderate temperature and high insolation.

Ozerov and others.

From time to time, interest flares up among beekeepers in the hive of Ozerov and Lupanov with a frame enlarged to 500x500 mm. In the conditions of Central Russia with a long, but rather sluggish flowering of not very productive honey plants, it, according to the authors, should have given the same effect as Roger Delon’s hive in the mountains. But it was smooth on paper. A 500x500 frame is far from optimal for the development of a productive bee colony (how many dry, warm hollows are half a meter across?) and instead of increased marketability in hives under large frames, there is the separation of side families, bees walking around and theft of honey.

How to make beehives

The method for assembling hive frames is shown above. The assembly of hive sections from the point of view of carpentry is somewhat complicated only by the need to select folds at the top and bottom. At the top, the fold is selected both inside and outside, see fig. The outer folds provide a detachable connection of the sections when assembling the hive, and the hangers of the frames rest on the inner folds. If it is not possible to use a milling machine, the folds can be evenly selected using a special folding plane - a sherhebel. They assemble hives on nails: you need a lot of self-tapping screws of various calibers for an apiary, they will cost a lot, and will not add strength to the hives.

Hangers in a poorly maintained hive can stick to the rebate, which is why enthusiasts are constantly offering designs for non-rebated hangers. But in fact, it turns out that the side gaps in all of them are “walking,” which is why the frames are no longer glued with hangers, but with the sides, which is much more serious. In general, the best non-rebated hanger is proper timely care of the hive.

What are hives made of?

Traditionally, hives are made from seasoned, non-resinous, chamber- or room-dry spruce, i.e. up to 8% humidity. When exposed to air, it will not become completely damp afterwards, because... from the inside it will be saturated with the fumes of beebread, honey and secretions of the bees themselves. Frames are also made from the same spruce, but the best material for them is linden. Linden wood is light, which is why the entire hive is lighter, and it is very tough and does not prick under nails.

MDF is similar in properties to linden, but, as far as we know, no one has yet tried to make frames from MDF. Beekeepers are a conservative people, and for good reason. However, MDF is not at all chipboard or fiberboard; it emits gaseous products (“gasit”) even less than linden. More precisely, it does not gas at all: it completely lacks synthetic binders. MDF is produced by pressing wood pulp at elevated temperatures, resulting in almost pure lignin. For the expiration of phenol-containing compounds, etc. MDF is not certified, because That is unnecessary. In general, an MDF hive frame is perhaps the only thing a novice beekeeper can experiment with.

Plastic hives

Recently, hives from various types plastics The Finnish polystyrene foam hive, see figure, is quite popular due to its relatively low cost and immediate readiness for work: set it up, put in the frames, and you can move in the family. Also, the absolute advantage of hives made of polystyrene foam is negligible heat loss, but their other features are worth looking into in more detail.

The popularity of Finnish beehives has given rise to numerous attempts to make beehives from foam plastic with your own hands, but this is not at all the same thing. Foam plastic is the trade name for expanded polystyrene foam. The last phrase is not a tautology, i.e. not expressing the same thing in other words.

Expanded polystyrene as a raw material is sold as polystyrene granules saturated with dissolved gases. In the production of foam plastic products, they are poured into a mold, which is heated to 80-90 degrees; in artisanal conditions - immersing the form in hot water. Gases are released, the granules swell, fill the mold tightly and stick together; on the surface and on the cut of the foam, its cellular structure is clearly visible.

Polystyrene foam is a very fragile material, and advice to make hives out of it by fastening the plates together... with self-tapping screws is not even funny. The foam hive will settle down simply when carried, even before filling it with honey. But molding polystyrene foam at home from granules is not realistic: a form to which the foaming granules would not stick is expensive.

In another method, the granules are foamed separately and the hot viscous foaming mass is pressed (extruded) into a mold, this is the so-called. extruded polystyrene foam, EPS. EPS is much stronger than polystyrene foam and sections of hives can be extruded from it. But - only at an appropriately equipped enterprise.

However, that's not all. The overall strength of EPS is higher than that of many types of wood, but the local strength (to scratching, cutting, pressing with something sharp) is much less. Therefore, if the hive is made of EPS, it is impossible to remove the stuck frame from it without damaging the hive itself. It is just as impossible mechanical cleaning polystyrene foam hive.

And that is not all. EPS, like its more durable and expensive substitutes (polyurethane, polycarbonate), is not absolutely resistant to ultraviolet radiation, temperature fluctuations, and precipitation. Protective painting/film increases its durability, but statements about a service life of... 30 years are also not funny from the point of view of the most reckless marketing.

And that's not all either. Yes, plastics do not absorb condensation; it flows down in the plastic hive, where it is discharged. But in a populated hive it is always warmer than outside. In a wooden hive, condensation is immediately absorbed without evaporating back, and diffuses outward - the dew point always shifts to the cold (more precisely, less warm) side. Therefore, the microclimate in a wooden hive under the same external conditions is more favorable for bees than in a plastic one, especially since in the latter there is no outflow of air through the walls.

And that's still not all. Almost any plastic, and especially EPS, when heated and under the influence of the slightest volatile impurities organic matter there is gas in the air, which is not good for bees, honey, or its consumers. Experiments with insulation materials have shown that EPS boards tightly walled in building construction, over several years they seriously decrease in volume, releasing droplets of styrene - a viscous yellowish liquid with a specific odor. There is more than enough volatile organic matter in the hive atmosphere.

Note: This leads to another argument against plastic hives - disinfection/disinfestation, for example. against mites, and treating bees in them by spraying drugs is impossible, and with medicinal syrups it is very problematic.

The Finns are little concerned about these circumstances: in the local climatic and economic conditions, disposable hives for disposable bee colonies pay off very well. Moreover, a significant, if not the main share of the income of Finnish beekeepers comes from the sale of wax for technical purposes. Which, by the way, is of excellent quality among the Finns. But beekeepers specializing in the production of food and medicinal bee products subject polystyrene foam hives to severe and well-founded criticism, see for example. track. video about Shapkin's hive.

Video: about Shapkin’s hive

About insulating hives

From the above it follows that insulating plywood hives with polystyrene foam is also undesirable, and this is true. To insulate hives, it is better to use foam polyethylene (PE). PE definitely doesn’t gas, because It is susceptible to chemical attack only by strong acids and alkalis, it is resistant in the open air. Remember what problems there are with plastic waste.

Penolon is produced in sheets up to 12 mm thick, so to insulate the hive you will need several layers. There is no need to insulate the hive over the entire surface, turning it into a thermos: for normal wintering of the bee colony, some heat exchange between the hive space and environment. The diagram and method of insulating a plywood hive are shown in Fig.

When choosing foam for insulating a hive, you need to request a specification or certificate for it from the manufacturer and make sure that the base is PE high pressure, suitable for the manufacture of parts, incl. medical equipment. In the production of low-pressure PE (otherwise known as catalytic PE), a cadmium catalyst is used. Its traces in the finished product are negligible, but cadmium and its compounds are highly toxic carcinogens of the highest degree of danger with a cumulative effect. Once upon a time, household utensils made from low-pressure PE were labeled “For non-food products and substances,” but now “alternative” suppliers hide the mention of the method of obtaining their PE away in the papers.

Finally

So, which hive should you start with? Without any experience at all, or, if the apiary is intended primarily for pollination, from a hive-bed. In the latter case, it is possible to use a Ukrainian sun lounger without a store, and then it is better to entrust beekeeping and honey collection to a visiting beekeeper.

If you have taken the trouble to prepare theoretically in advance and have a general idea of ​​what bees are and how to handle them, it is better to make the Dadan hive first. By increasing it, you can eventually move on to commercial beekeeping without increasing the area for the apiary.

When you become more experienced, optimal choice there will be a Varre or Khomich hive. With them, again, without expanding the apiary and without attracting help, it is possible to achieve profitability and marketability of the apiary such that one can think about turning into professionals and having one’s own industrial apiary from Langstroth-Ruth hives.

Before you build bee houses for treatment yourself, you need to know its structure, design features, manufacturing methods.

You also need to make a drawing of the house, taking into account all the details and nuances.

In practice, there are two main types of insect housing: vertical and horizontal. The first is constructed as a box, in which the side part increases the dimensions. The vertical structure is made in several tiers. When manufacturing, you should take into account the number of insects and the dimensions of the house.

– very fastidious insects, so they need comfortable living conditions. It is very important that when constructing the structure, weather conditions in the form of rain, wind, hail, and low temperatures are taken into account.

The hive must be insulated on all sides so that the bees are not affected by frost and cold wind, which can destroy beneficial insects.

Varieties

In addition to the 2 main varieties, bee houses come in the following types:

• Dadanovsky. The houses' bodies are made from materials coniferous trees. The most popular type.
• Alpine. Compact dwelling without ventilation.
  Plywood. A budget option. It lasts for a long period, although construction takes little time.
• Cassette. The structure is not painted, but is covered with melted wax for protection. In such hives they have the ability to regulate the temperature themselves.
• Plastic. This type houses are light in weight, sealed, easy to install, and easily transported to a clearing with honey plants.
• Northern. They are distinguished by the presence of insulation on the walls, which allows the bees to withstand severe frosts.
• Asiatic. Designed for small insect families.

Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages; the choice depends on climatic conditions, preferences of the apiary owner, and financial capabilities.

House design

To build a wooden bee house with your own hands, you need boards brought to the required level of humidity and nails. The dimensions need to be calculated taking into account the increase in the number of bees.

When drawing up a drawing, it is necessary to note the entry point of insects and the dimensions of the parts. First, the main drawing is made with the entire house, then individual elements with the required dimensions are drawn. It is necessary to mark the compartments for adults and larvae.

The construction of a house consists of several stages:

• Frame. The walls of the hive consist of one or more compartments different sizes t designs. To install, grooves are needed in each compartment. If you want to build a removable bottom, then the entrance should be placed slightly above the middle of the body in the form of a round hole with a diameter of 2-3.5 cm. With a fixed bottom, the taphole is made at the bottom of the body in the form of a slot, the height of which is up to 2 cm, length - 10. Experienced beekeepers advise designing the bottom of the hive to be removable, which makes caring for bees much easier. If the bottom is fixed, it extends beyond the edges of the hive, which creates a landing area for insects. One type of housing is stores. They are used to store honey by bees. The stores are mounted on the house during the main bribe. Such structural details are especially needed in weak bee colonies.
• Liner. The same as the magazine, but without frame slots. The liner is located between the cover and top part designs. It is needed to improve the living conditions of bees. Insulation is placed on it and a feeder is placed.
• Roof. It is made of plywood or wood, attached with nails in the form of a frame. To protect the bee colony from moisture, a metal sheet is nailed to the top of the roof.
• Framework. The frame standard is 43.5x30 cm. They are made of wooden planks. To attach the frames to the body, the upper block is made 1 cm larger on all sides relative to bottom mount. When the frame is installed, the wire is tensioned and the foundation is placed.

Housing for bees needs to be monitored; from time to time, the house needs to be repaired if any damage is detected.

Lounger equipment

The bed for sleeping on beehives is made from natural wood, without painting or varnishing.

Before construction, a design for a hive sleeping house is drawn up, which must be followed when carrying out the work. There are two main types of sun loungers:

• Covered sun lounger. To build a house protected from negative weather conditions, approximately 10 hives are needed. Bee dwellings are built into the base of the structure, with all entrances facing the street. The roofs of the hives are covered with a protective mesh, which will prevent insects from getting inside. A sunbed is placed on top of the boards. There are gaps between the boards for the penetration of air, which is saturated with ions. The roof is covered with tiles that protect from precipitation, the walls are insulated, window openings are made into which glass is inserted.
• Street lounger. The design is more simplified. It requires 3-4 houses for. A net is stretched over the bee dwellings for protection, the bed is placed in a horizontal position, and a lid is attached. The advantage of the design is contact with fresh air, you don’t need to open the windows to ventilate the peculiar room. Disadvantages include the influence of bad weather.

Therapeutic effect

When equipping a place for sleeping in bee houses, it is necessary to separate the hive with slats so that the bees do not get into other people's nests. The bee house is used to get rid of many diseases. The treatment effect is achieved through three types of effects on the human body:

• microvibration
• influence of the biofield
• inhaling healing air

The air in which honey-bearing insects are found is saturated with flower nectar and propolis. By human inhalation healthy mixture, effective cleansing of the respiratory system occurs. The treatment is excellent for the treatment of acute respiratory infections, bronchitis and other diseases of the respiratory system.

In addition, the following diseases are cured:

• reproductive system, infertility
• diseases of the digestive tract
• heart and vascular diseases

The treatment promotes rehabilitation after surgery and restoration of proper metabolism. Sleeping on bee houses is not recommended in the following situations:

• alcohol intoxication
• diseases during exacerbation
• simultaneous use of drugs
• having food allergies

Before starting the procedure, the patient needs to wear a hat that prevents insects from entering the hair. The use of perfume is strictly prohibited, since odors not only repel insects, but also cause an aggressive state.

The benefits of the unique bee house and all honey products have been known for a long time:

• The products are becoming increasingly popular and are even used to treat cancer. This is explained by the fact that the functions of the hives help restore old cells of the body and enhance the action of new ones.
• Housing with bees perfectly strengthens the immune system and actively feeds on the biofield of people. For achievement therapeutic effect Approximately 150,000 bees are used
• For some inexplicable reason, the constant hum of bees lifts a person's mood.
• In addition, breathing becomes easier, headaches of any origin cease, and sound, healthy sleep is restored.

Many experts recommend treatment in the form of sleeping on bee houses for various diseases instead of using medications.

Do-it-yourself apidom or sleeping on beehives - on video.

At least once in your life, you have dreamed of having your own apiary. For people living in private houses, this dream is quite feasible, because building evidence for bees with your own hands is not so easy. difficult task. Initially, wild bees lived in various hollows and crowns of trees, in stumps and other places. After man learned to tame them, the first artificially created hives appeared. In the modern era, the so-called frame evidence has become especially widespread, which is not difficult to make yourself, if there is no evidence. large quantity tools and raw materials. How to say, the main thing is time and desire, DIY evidence for bees , what could be simpler? We will help you, tell you what they should be hive frame sizes.

Wide choose

Despite the fact that all of the following evidence is a type of frame evidence, many have fundamental differences. The most common models are Langastrot-ruta and Dadan Blat. Craftsmen usually modify them to suit themselves. For those who want to have a smaller frame, Roger Delon's bee house (Alpine) would be an excellent option. Familiar to the Soviet man are the evidence of Ozerov and Lapunov.

To make evidence for bees with your own hands, you need to clearly understand their structure. Any model has the following important parts:

1. Frame. There’s no need to explain much here. They come in different sizes, depending on your own preferences and the number of bees. In addition, there may be more than one. The design of the case implies the presence of special grooves on which the hangers of the frames are attached. Typically the configuration of such joints is parallel. There are other options, but they are all quite complex for manual assembly. On top of that, the body has tapholes. If there is a removable bottom of the hive, the entrance is made just above the central part. Most often, he has round shape, with an approximate diameter of about 30 mm. If the housing model includes a nailed bottom, then the slotted tap hole should have a diameter of 100 mm and its length should be about 10 mm.
2. The bottom, as mentioned above, can be removed or nailed down. Of course, from the point of view of operation, models with a removable bottom win. Firstly, this speeds up the cleaning of the nest, thereby simplifying the care of the bees, and secondly, there is no need for unnecessary manipulations with the frames.
   If you want to create evidence with an integral bottom, this part is simply nailed to the bottom of the body. It should be noted that it is necessary to leave a small protrusion in the front part, which will serve as an “airport” for the bees.
3. The shops. They are not an obligatory part of the hive, because they are needed only for storing honey during its collection, in order to simplify this task for the beekeeper. Experts advise their use with small colonies of bees that do not produce large amounts of sweet product.
4. The roof is actually the uppermost part of the bee house structure. The material for its manufacture is plywood or board. In some cases, ventilation holes are provided. Most often, a thin sheet of metal is placed on top.
5. Frames are the most important part of the hive, which will be discussed a little later, but in more detail. They may vary depending on the type of hive.

As with the construction of any house, the first step is to sketch out at least some drawings. There are many on the Internet good examples hive layouts. Many frame options are very similar to their counterparts and are standard. The dictating factor in the matter overall dimensions, the number and size of frames appears. An example can be given that for hives with a three-hundredth frame, it is customary to use a board with a thickness of 40. In our country, there is a special GOST for the construction of bee dwellings. The recommended board width is 37 mm for a three-post frame. Three millimeters will not play a special role.

You can find drawings with double-walled enclosures. The question arises, which device circuit is best? The first thing you should pay attention to is the growing region. He is the one who is the most an important condition when choosing wall thickness, because small workers should not freeze. Often determining dimensions is not an easy task, but there are a number of rules:

1. The width of the hive is directly related to the number of frames. Calculation formula: number of frames multiplied by 37.5 mm.
2. The length of the hive is equal to the length of the frame increased by 14 mm.
3. The height is calculated as the sum of the height of the folds and the frame.

The rest is up to the beekeeper to design. Do-it-yourself evidence for bees is quite an interesting activity that will require important decisions about its arrangement. An excellent option for a beginner would be to assemble a “bed hive”. This bee house is somewhat reminiscent of an elongated box. This is a horizontal frame hive. It has a nailed bottom and a removable lid. When a family begins its life and growth in such a house, frames are specially added to the side, which will be used by the queen bee to lay eggs with offspring. There are also shops for convenience. The advantages of a sunbed include the possibility of keeping a “spare” family nearby with its own uterus. The most popular model of the lounger is for 20 frames. Its dimensions are 810x450x330.

Frames for bees sizes.

It was already mentioned above that frames are the most important part of the hive. Dimensions of frames for hives Their production should not cause big problems if you have already dealt with the body and roof.

Hive frame sizes

For a double-hull hive, the dimensions of the hive frames will be : 435x300mm. The best material For production will be spruce wood or linden.
It is extremely important to maintain the following dimensions:
1. There should not be a distance exceeding 9 mm between the bottom and the lower bars. This provides good passage. If you increase it, the bees will begin to build on it.
2. Please note that between the side bar and the wall of the case, it is necessary to maintain a distance of 9 mm in order to simplify the task of removing the frames. Otherwise, the bees will either build it up with honeycombs or fill it with propolis.

Multi-hull bee keeping video

You can find several on the Internet detailed videos on building evidence with your own hands. One of these options is multi-hull. It is better suited for a large number of small workers. Beekeeping is a very interesting field of activity that develops patience and perseverance, and the sweet bonus of honey only increases the desire to take care of bees. We invite you to familiarize yourself with a very interesting and visual aid on this topic.

Making a hive

Making hives with your own hands video

Both beginners and experienced beekeepers come to the conclusion that it is better to make a hive with their own hands. You are absolutely confident in the quality of your own product; if development is necessary, you can quickly produce the missing parts. We will talk about how to make hives yourself.

Popular hive designs

Before you build a hive with your own hands, you need to choose its design. Basically, novice beekeepers use two types of hives:

• Dadanovsky for 12 frames. It has a vertical design and grows upward. If necessary, another standard housing or magazine is placed on top (an additional housing half the height of the main one, into which the half-frames are installed).
• Lounger - for 20 frames or more. It differs in size - it has a greater width than depth. The number of frames used by the bee colony is regulated by rearranging the partition.

Both of these designs use standard 470*300 mm frames, which are widely used. These two types are the most common among beginner (and experienced) beekeepers. Sometimes they use Ruta hives, but they have frames of a different format - 470*230 mm and are not so easy to find. Also, it is more difficult to work with Rutas than with Dadanovskys or beds; more experience in beekeeping is required. Therefore, choose from two options - Dadanovsky or lounger. It’s best to find out which one specifically from beekeepers in your area.

Hive drawings

Since the Dadanovsky hive and the lounger use standard frames, they differ only in width: one should fit 12 pieces of frames, the other - 20 or 24 pieces. The rest of the parameters remain the same.

Changeable parameters for hives with different numbers of frames are shown in the table. Substitute them into the drawing and get the option that you need.

Number of frames in the case, pcs.	Case width B, mm	Width of the internal opening of the housing B1, mm	External installation dimension of the housing rebate B2, mm	Internal installation size of rebate B3, mm
10	455	375	419	425
12	520	450	494	400
14	595	525	569	575
16	685	615	659	665
20	880	810	854	860

What you need to know before you start making a hive with your own hands

Even before the start self-made hives, you need to know the requirements for materials and technology for constructing bee hives. A lot of them. Let's start with the material requirements.

What are they made of?

The most common material is wood. Both non-resinous coniferous wood (spruce, fir, deresined pine) and loose hardwood - poplar, linden, etc. can be used. You should not use dense wood - the hive will be heavy and cold.

The requirements for wood are strict. It should be dry - no more than 16% humidity, without falling knots, rot, wormholes, or redness. Blue discoloration is acceptable (it is on qualitative indicators does not affect). If there are knots, they can be removed, sealed with plugs of the same type of wood and puttied. Do not use wood with other defects.

Today they make hives from plywood, preferably birch. In this case, the walls are made double with a gasket between layers of insulation - foam plastic. Such hives are warm in winter and cool in summer. Their disadvantage is that the walls are vapor-tight and moisture does not escape through them. Therefore, special attention must be paid to the hive ventilation system (make an additional entrance at the top, and, if necessary, open it for ventilation).

Sometimes hives are assembled from polystyrene foam, polyurethane foam and polystyrene foam. The best option is polystyrene foam. You can even install some kind of fasteners in it; neither bees nor other insects can gnaw it. The remaining two materials are collected using glue, and bees also sharpen them, and ants and other neighbors undesirable for bees can settle in.

Processing and Assembly Requirements

When assembling a hive with your own hands, you must strictly maintain the internal dimensions of the body and extensions. Then increasing volumes will not cause difficulties. Parts of the hive - bodies, extensions, magazines, roof - must be connected into a lock and the lock parts must also match. This is necessary for a reliable connection without cracks and drafts, which bees really don’t like. In this regard, the maximum processing tolerances are 1-2 mm.

There are also requirements for the quality of processing of materials. Most of them relate to wood, but they can also be applied to other materials:

• Boards and bars must be smooth, without burrs, burrs or chips.
• It is necessary to cut materials strictly at an angle of 90°, without allowing deviations.
• The hive bodies must be knocked down from solid boards 40-45 mm thick or using a tongue-and-groove joint, glued for reliability.
• To pair the parts of the hive, a quarter is chosen in the parts - for a reliable gapless connection.
• Rebates are made on the front and back walls of the hive for hanging frames. The depth of the fold should be such that there is a distance of at least 8-10 mm from the top edge of the plank to the cover or extension. If the distance is smaller, the frames may stick to the cover, which creates maintenance problems.
• If the walls are made of two layers (if the boards are not thick enough), the outer ones are connected in quarters, making sure that the seams in the layers do not coincide. It is better to connect the internal parts and the bottom into a tongue or groove.

Structural elements and their features

Most often, the hive has a modular structure - it consists of several detachable parts. This is convenient as it allows you to increase the volume as needed. Each of these parts is manufactured separately and the manufacturing precision must be high - all parts must be interchangeable.

Frame

This is the central part of the hive, which usually houses the bees' nest. Depending on the number of bodies, hives can be single-body, double-body or multi-body (3 or more). The corps are mentored as the family grows.

Roof

The roof of the hive can be single-pitched (sloping backwards) or gable. In any case, it should have overhangs - protrude beyond the geometric dimensions of the hive and protect the walls from exposure to bad weather.

The roof consists of a roof liner - a flat body for placing insulation or feeders for feeding bees - and the roof planks themselves, nailed to the roof liner or screwed with self-tapping screws. The height of the underframe depends on the thickness of the insulation, and this value depends on the region. Typically the height of the roof liner is 80-140 mm. Ventilation holes are often also made in the roof liner to remove moist air from the hive.

When making a roof, the boards are laid either in two layers with the seams overlapping, or from thicker boards in one layer, but the seams are necessarily covered with thin planks. On top wooden roof The hive can be laid with roofing iron, roofing felt or roofing felt.

When making the roof, make sure that it fits tightly, without gaps. To seal the joint around the perimeter of the body, you can stuff a felt strip or nail a plinth to the outside of the body to cover the joint.

Bottom

The bottom of the hive can be nailed to the body (solid) or can be pulled out or pulled out, i.e. be detachable. The removable bottom makes hive maintenance easier - it allows you to clean the bottom without disassembling the entire hive. Structurally, the bottom can be:

• cold - from a single board;
• warm - made of two layers with insulating backfill.

The bottom can also be double-sided - with protrusions of different heights on both sides, which allows you to adjust the internal volume. Knock it down tightly, without gaps, connect the boards into a quarter or into a groove with additional gluing of the joint with moisture-resistant wood glue. The cracks must be carefully sealed (with wood putty), as wax crumbs are poured into them, and then wax moths appear. Therefore, from time to time they prefer to replace the bottom by knocking together a new one.

Video about making hives from different materials

In nature, wild bees are content with living in natural shelters, which most often become crevices and hollows in tree trunks. Life in apiaries is much more comfortable, because here each family is provided with its own hives for bees.

How does a man-made house differ from a primitive deck? What is the structure of a bee hive and is it possible to build it with your own hands?

Common types of bee hives

Beekeeping refers to the oldest species human activity. Therefore, it is not surprising that over the past time many types and varieties of hives have appeared all over the world, which are conventionally divided into horizontal, or beds, and vertical, or risers:

1. Vertical structures increase upwards due to extensions. Among the most common options are the multi-hull house and the Dadana bee hive.
2. Horizontal hives are built up with frames parallel to the surface of the ground. These varieties include beds designed for 16–24 frames, as well as hives of Ukrainian design, which differ from the standard ones in the perpendicular arrangement of the frames.

Today, beekeepers hold many types of hives in high esteem, but the most popular are sunbeds, multi-body structures and hives with 12 frames. The price of bee hives depends on the size of the house, its design and the materials used for manufacturing. In addition to traditional wood and plywood, all kinds of plastic and textiles are often used when arranging hives.

Construction of hives for bees

Structurally, typical hives consist of a body, a lid, a bottom, store extensions, and frames for bees.

The main element of a bee hive is a body that contains frames for honeycombs and the bee colony itself. The appearance of the case is very simple. This is a box without a top or bottom, equipped with holders for frames.

For the flight and return of bees, a hole is provided on the front wall of the hive body - a notch, which can be round or slit-shaped. For convenience, the taphole can be closed with a special valve. Its size can be easily adjusted using special inserts. And on the outside, below the entrance, a landing board is installed.

From below, the housing covers the bottom of the hive for bees. This part of the structure can be either removable or tightly attached to the main part. Externally, the bottom of the hive resembles a shield with a border around the edge.

A magazine extension is provided for attaching the half-frames. It is half lower than the hive body and can be used during the period of mass honey collection. If necessary, not one, but several magazines are placed on the body.

Beginning beekeepers are justifiably concerned about the question: “How much does a hive with bees cost?” The cost of such an important purchase can vary greatly. At the same time, the choice of a specific beehive structure for bees depends on the individual preferences of the beekeeper, the volume of honey received and the size of the families.

If the costs of ready-made hives seem too burdensome, the beekeeper decides to build hives for bees with his own hands; drawings for this can be found in open sources, as well as take advantage of the experience of colleagues.

DIY evidence for bees: material and assembly features

Whatever design of the bee hive is chosen, you should know that to build the house you must use only materials that are safe for insects.

If wood is chosen as the base, it is better to give preference to species that do not emit viscous, odorous resin.

The boards and bars must be thoroughly dried, otherwise, already during operation, deformation and failure of the hive is inevitable, it will lose its tightness, and the frames for the bees will no longer fall into place. For the same reasons, it is better to avoid wood with an abundance of knots, which tend to fall out when dry.

To glue hives together, use natural moisture-resistant compounds that not only have high strength, but also help seal the joints.

When connecting parts of the bottom, body, cover and others components When making your own evidence for bees, it is important to avoid gaps, and in order to avoid deformation, 2-3 fragments of the board are used for each of the parts.

External treatment of a hive for bees should include not only decorative painting, but also mandatory two-time treatment with drying oil, which ensures the resistance of the wood to moisture, temperature changes and the penetration of pests. It is recommended to paint with white, yellow or blue paint, which is well perceived by insects. It is useful to cover the hive cover with metal, and at the edges the sheets are tucked in such a way as to protect the cut points and ends.

Evidence requirements for bees

When planning to make a bee hive with your own hands, the drawings for construction are chosen in such a way that the new house is completely comfortable:

1. A high-quality house fully protects insects from seasonal changes in temperature and humidity in all weather conditions. For this reason, the hive is equipped with elements of ceiling and side protection, which are effective both in winter and in summer.
2. The family located in the bee hive can expand without hindrance, for which a system for increasing the volume of the house is provided.
3. The design of a bee hive should be convenient not only for insects, but also for the beekeeper. That is, the structure must be easily cleaned, disinfected, ventilated and inspected.
4. It must be remembered that the hives must be moved, assembled and disassembled.

Before you make a hive for bees, you need to decide on its size. Although many experienced beekeepers have their own preferences and practiced options, it is better for beginners to focus on the accepted universal dimensions.

Based on the drawing of a beehive, they make elements of the housing, bottom and lid, frames and other parts of the structure with their own hands:

1. For the manufacture of the body, dried boards with a thickness of 20 mm are taken. At the same time, for frames, it is better to take the same boards not from coniferous wood, but from deciduous wood, for example, birch or dense aspen.
2. The distance between the frames for bees at standard solution is equal to 37.5 mm, and a gap of 20 mm is left between the bottom of the nesting frame.
3. The width of the passages for insects is 12.5 mm.
4. An indent of 20 mm is made from the bottom to the bottom bar of the frame.
5. From the front or back surface of the bee hive body to the frames is 7.5 mm.

When making a hive, do not forget about insulation. For this purpose, insulating pillows with a side of 455 mm are prepared, which are stuffed with well-dried grass and moss.

The diaphragm serves as a barrier between the living space of the hive and the unoccupied area. This removable element of the bee hive device is also made with your own hands from a durable 10 mm plywood sheet.

The assembly of a homemade hive begins with the body parts, then it’s time to attach the frames for the bees. After checking the compliance of the dimensions, the hive receives a bottom. The last thing to be installed is the roof. Assembly is carried out on a flat surface so that the structure is stable and durable.

How to make a beehive with your own hands - video