What is The Hive?

The hive is the place that your bees live. It’s essential to them being healthy and remaining with you. After all, bees are able to fly away pretty easily if they aren’t perfectly happy. So what all does your hive really need? Quite a few things actually. But you don’t need to worry because it won’t be too difficult for you to get started.

Where to Put the Hive

The first thing to consider when you start your own beehive is where you’re going to put it. After all, your beehive needs to be in the right place so that your bees have the protection they need from predators as well as from adverse weather. They also need plenty of open space surrounding their hive. All of these things are going to affect how your bees adapt to their new surroundings.

Since you’re going to be working with the hives you want to make sure that you have plenty of space to get all the way around each box. You’ll also want to make sure that water isn’t going to pool around the base of your hives. This means you may want to put stones around the base or use mulch to help absorb some excess water.

Next, make sure that, if at all possible, you orient your hive towards the south or southeast. This is going to help your bees to stay warmer (which is important to their being able to fly and produce honey). It’s also going to ensure that they get more sunlight, which is going to help them be more active. In the winter you also won’t need to worry as much about some of the coldest winds (which come from the north, behind the hive).

Make sure that, whenever possible, you have at least a bit of shade available for your hives. Keeping trees or bushes behind the hive (on the north) will help you keep the hive out of direct sunlight (which can actually slow down your bees) and it will help get rid of some of the excess wind and excess moisture when there is rain.

Building the Beehive

So now you have your ground level and you have a cleared section covered in mulch or stones. You also have found a great southerly space that is backed by trees. So now how are you going to keep the momentum going? Your bees are going to need an actual hive after all. The space that you’ve cleared is ready for your hives and you’re ready to get building.

Now, before we start with how to build your hive, you should know that beehives can be purchased from a number of different places. You’ll be able to select from different sizes and different styles based on your needs. These will also vary based on whether you want to be able to harvest the honey or not.

If you’re going to build your own beehive you need to make sure that it’s off the ground first. Remember that your hive needs to be solid. That means you want to make sure that it’s not going to fall over. You can build on a base of cinderblocks or on legs as long as they’re going to be stable.

Your hive should have a bottom board base and a very deep centerpiece. You’ll also need ten frames to put into this piece, known as a deep super. Next put in another deep super with ten more frames. The first of these frames is going to be where eggs are laid while the second will be a place for food storage. Next, put down an inner cover and an outer cover. Next, put a heavy stone on top of the lid to make sure that nothing blows away, no matter what the weather is like outside.