BB Bill, Thanks for posting this video. You did a great job presenting and explaining your methods. I thought that you also did a very nice job with sitting up your shots and camera placement. Keep up the great work. We need more quality videos like yours.
I believe that with cold winters and hot summers, it might be a good idea to create a permanent layer of insulation around the outside of the standard Layen's hive between one-inch framing boards where you add the insulation made of the wool from local sheep farmers. Then have a second layer of siding outside of the entire insulation layer, similar to how we build house walls for humans, but not as thick. I think that one full inch of insulation all around the outside walls is plenty. The key issue is fixing the areas where the bee holes are and any ventilation holes with another layer of the boards and the exact thickness of the space with the hole drilled into those. This way the entire outside of the box is more like the thickness of natural trees, where even in the worst of the cold winters and the worst of the hot summers the bees would not have any problems with the heat or cold. The insulation layer would need to be fully enclosed, glued, etc. so that there is never a problem with infestation..
I like how you modified the hive to 19 frames! Great idea! I plan to further modify my plans by building a laminate wall with plywood, sandwiching foam board, with 2X2’s bordering each panel. vs, solid wood.
I've seen this done. I try not to run any plywood on the interior of my actual hives (not including traps). I'm not sure that the glues and chemicals used to make plywood are good for bees. It would however make a more insulated hive and defiantly be lighter. Good luck!
Further in the video I saw the yellow push block. (Seeing bare fingers pushing 2x6's scared me.) Let me extend compliments to you on these videos. They are some of the finest I have seen. The way you made clear, right at the start which parts were which, the sizes, the careful cutting of rabbets, tongues, pilot holes, hammer tight the joints, keeping fingers away from staples etc., very professional, and a delight to watch. The edits, the silent movie clips. And one particularly sees from the ease with which you apply glue, the skill of your hands. (Thirty years experience here; applying glue takes some skill.) Nice shootin' pardner. K. Hogan, Sacre Coeur Woodshop
Hi Kerry. I’m kind of attached to my fingers and try to be as safe as possible. I think you’re talking about the GRR-Ripper and it works great. Thank you for your support!
So what is the most common or most popular type of hive box to build? What do most bee keepers prefer these days? Layen's or Langstroth or top bar, Bee Barn my gosh the list goes on and on...
Hello Bill, Love the video instructions but not seeing the rabbet cut proper. At 7:28 you show the single pass and the rabbet is done. Are there not two cuts at 90 deg to get the rabbet or am I missing something?
THIS IS FANTASTIC!!! Thank you for the time and effort you put into this!!! I have never raised bees but I have two kids with bad allergies and I have a disease in my spine that makes lifting a potential problem. When I saw these hives I was hooked. Dr. Leo is all about not medicating your bees and letting them be bees and I'm all over that. My only question is what extractor do you use to extract the honey. From what I have found the standard extractor are not large enough to accept the frames from this type of hive and for someone like me who will only have one or two hives I don't think it makes sense to invest in a $700 extractor. THANK YOU AGAIN!!!
Hi Joe, I highly recommend the crush and strain method for harvesting honey in small amounts with natural comb. You are correct, extractors are expensive and unless you are harvesting large amounts usually not cost effective. If you are only looking to produce for your family, crush and strain should work great. The crush and strain method does sacrifice comb, and therefore the production will not be as large because the bees will first have to make the comb to store the honey in. On the flip side, crushing the comb will also prevent build up of any lipophilic chemicals neighbors or farmers are using to treat their plants and if you really need more honey, adding more hives are cheaper than an extractor. Thanks for your support. Hope this helps! Bill
Hey BBB, have you seen those hives that have built in combs and you just crank a handle which separates the combs that have honey in them and allows it to drip down to be collected? It reduces the chances of squishing and killing your bees during collection.
Too interesting video my friend, is the most common hive using in Spain, we being using his hive along time ago, to move is the most easier, but is too heavy, greets
Hi Bill, Me again. Again, Thanks so much for this great video. I’ve bought my lumber for my first beehive and will be following your great instructions. I was torn on what design I wanted to use as I’ve seen other plans which incorporate slats which lay on top of the frames. This allow the keeper to access particular frames while leaving the rest of the frames covered. I wondered how your experience has been with no slats on top. I could always use a rabbet to sink my frames a touch deeper and build shorter frames to accommodate and use your same design. I’m curious to know your thoughts on this approach. Do you see any benefit to having them, Or is it just one more thing for the bees to glue down? :)
Hi GE, I don’t get into my hive too often so I may not see a benefit to additional slats on top, but I don’t think they are necessary. I try to check on them every two to three weeks but I’m not interrupting the brood best just adding a frame or two at the end if they are making lots of new comb. I usually only take a look at the brood nest in the spring and they don’t seem to mind too much. Hope this helps!
Finished one box today! (Minus the bottom board which will be plywood and the top) but the hard part is done. Thanks again for the great video. Super helpful!
I couldn't tell, but did you use a dado stack on the table saw to cut your grooves? If you didn't, what was the measurement between the fence and the blade for your grooves?
Hi TBW, I use a harbor freight dust collector on the table saw and a shop vac on the router. If I known I’m going to run a ton of pieces I use a mask to keep the dust out of my lungs. It def makes a ton of sawdust if you’re doing a bunch!
Hey Kevin, check out Dr Leo’s site for cut list. You can make them longer or shorter based on your needs. I apologize I do not have a cut list for the video.
What scares me is i am in Canada it gets brutal cold here in winter. So a small place to heat i think is better. Too big a area to heat in winter time. We get -40ish with a wind chill that is beyond brutal it can reach -50 easly some morning. That said i like my boxes for this reason cheers enjoyed watching
Hey Bill, I noticed you expanded your length to accommodate 19 frames so that changed many of the length measurements. I purchased your “One saw layen’s hive plans, but I believe this is the shorter version of the hive. Do you have a parts list for the longer 19 frame version. Especially the lid dimensions and some of the rabbets and dados. Thanks!
You are correct, the one saw hive is a 14 frame variety. If you are using the one saw plans, I don’t think there would be any changes in the rabbets and dados. You would need to add lengths to the front and back of the hive, the bottom board, the sides of the lid, and the lid top. I will try and get an approximate number this evening for you of how much to add to those pieces for the 19 frame model, if you are in a hurry i laid out the dimensions for the 19 frame model in an early video “How to build a Layen’s hive part 1”, and those lengths would be correct and the width from the one saw wouldn’t change.
I'll get to the bottom of this, I was trying to respond on my phone and thought you were watching the One Saw Hive video. The One Saw Hive plans were actually from this build video: ruclips.net/video/irGS0YbFHNM/видео.html but they should be adaptable for a 19 frame Layens though I will get you some numbers ASAP for those cuts.
I sent you an email with the updates, please email me back and let me know if this will work or if there is something more I can do to help with your hive,
Use a wood pusher while cutting young man , my friend list a bit if his finger And would hate to see that happen again, love the video and thank u for taking time to teach others .
Hi Michael, I used the jointer to chamfer the drip edge of the lid rest. It could also be done with a table saw or router if a jointer isn’t available.
Although I haven't done it without the tongue and groove or rabbit yet, I would say it's definitely possibly to do it without them with a little creativity. The trick for the tongue and groove would be to figure out a way to hold the sides and ends together. You could use dowels, biscuits, a pocket jig, or possibly even a 2x4 on the outside to hold boards together at the seem. The 2x4 would make it a bit heaver but might be a good handle for moving the hive. I'll put some more thought into this, let me know what you end up with!
Hi Suzanne, you can buy a large extractor for Layen's frames, Dr. Leo sells them on his site. Personally, I use the crush and strain method and I think it works great!
Hey Bee Boy Bill, your videos are so clear and helpful. If I had a shop, it would easy with all your instructions. Hey, did you receive my request on the modified Layens Frames? Looking forward to hearing from you.
Why do the end pieces of the frames have to have the reduction from the 1.5 to 1 inch? Can’t the end bars and bottoms of the frame all be 1 inch and the top bar be 1.5? It sure would speed up building
Great question! I don’t have an answer for you why the Layen’s are tapered. It makes sense for the Langstroth because the top of the side of the frame is for spacing. Because the tops can space the frames as you alluded to. It could be a carryover of design from the Lang’s. Either way, it looks like Dr Leo already beat you to it with his easy to build frames! I’ve never tried them so I can’t comment on results, but you can find the plans for them here: horizontalhive.com/how-to-build/deep-frame-do-it-yourself.shtml
Wow! I thank you 10 fold for this! It’s been holding us up from getting our hive going and now I feel confident we can quickly assemble and get this ready to go for swarm season in Ontario!!! Thank you Bee Boy Bill ✨
While I am sure the tongue and groove is better, I wonder if gluing and clamping would be sufficient. I am not sure my equipment (And I) am good enough to get a tight joint. Nice video and equipment.
I haven't tried this, but... you could try to run the edges across a jointer and then use the method I used to use in high school of drilling holes for dowels and gluing together. I don't know if I would try it without the dowels. Another idea that might work would be to glue them together as you mentioned and then glue and nail/staple slats on the outside vertically to help keep them together. Let me know what you decide!
I plan on building a Layens hive but using biscuits as the end to end join. Biscuits are fast and work well. If you have a biscuit joiner on handy of course, otherwise it may not matter. You could also just use some Liquid Nails between the joins and provide an airtight seal as well. IMO as long as whatever you build is properly sealed/insulated you should be fine, the standard boxes are pretty janky, this Layens design is much more robust all around.
I like the biscuit idea, should work as well or better than the dowels. I personally wouldn’t do it without tongue n groove, biscuits, or dowels. I’ve tried glueing and clamping wood in the past without success (eventual joint fails). I’ve used liquid nails on a bunch of construction projects but prefer titebond iii for the hives. Let me know how the biscuits work!
I use the dowel method instead of tongue and groove without a table saw. Check out this video for building a hive without a saw: ruclips.net/video/irGS0YbFHNM/видео.html
Hi Ian Ippolito the plans actually came from Dr Leo’s site. You can find a link to his site under the references section in the description. Thanks for your support!
Hi Mike, the thickness of the rabbit is the same as the lumber you are using so the bottom is flush, mine was 3/4". You don't really need cover boards with this type of hive because all of the frames are touching. There is about a 1.5-2" space above the frames however because the lid sits on the lip. I put rock wool insulation in this space for winter. Thanks for the comment!
Hi Bradley, I guess that depends on the size of your extractor, I don't use an extractor but they do make extractors large enough to fit Layens frames. Hope that helps!
letting that little cut off strip reminded me: My brother ripped a 1/2" strip off a board. When he finished the cut, it disappeared. It took awhile to find it. It was in the next room. It had gone completely through a wall, both drywalls.
letting that little cut off strip reminded me: My brother ripped a 1/2" strip off a board. When he finished the cut, it disappeared. It took awhile to find it. It was in the next room. It had gone completely through a wall, both drywalls.
Hi Jeremy. The rabbit works great but I'm sure there are a lot of different options that might work instead. I would try to keep the same distance between the bottom of the frames and the bottom board that the rabbit produces. Hope that helps!
@@BeeBoyBill do you reckon you could just cut in the bottom board neat to the inside measurements of the box and screw the board from the sides of the box or does the rebate serve a specific purpose? Cheers mate
You could certainly do that. I would recommend some waterproof wood glue if you go that route to eliminate any gaps. The rabbit is nice for a better seal and helps disperse the weight accorded the bottom board. The only danger I could see is if you inset the bottom board without a rabbit, it’s possible that the weight of the full hive might push it through as all the weight would be on the screws. If you go that route, make sure to support the hive with the edges too so that all the weight isn’t just on the bottom board.
If you're not moving them it might work. A better way might be to use biscuits or dowels and glue them together. Dowels are the easiest and cheapest if you don't want to get into biscuits. A third option would be to reinforce the joint on the outside with slats. I would think furing strips would work and it would give a bat and board appearance. Hope this helps!
Hello Bill, I have finished my frames per your video and am ready to start on my hive box. I was wondering if you would build yours the same size If you had it to do over? I can build mine any size but would like your opinion before I start cutting boards. I think if I build more frames I may not glue the dowels In since they were very tight. Thank , Gary
Hi Gary, I do like the size of my hives, but if I built more I think I would add 14 frame size. The 19 frames are great if you want to have the availability to overwinter 2 colonies in the same box. I overbuilt to begin with and haven't had to do this yet, but my friend Mark did run out of space and we put two in his for over the winter (look for hive divider video to see how we did this). Depending on your long term goals you can consider 19 frames if you have a longer nectar season of if you may end up with more bees than equipment. The dowels are tight and they probably don't need to be glued in the frames. I errored on the side of longevity and glued them. Let me know how you make out! Bill
Bill, this hive looks amazing, but I'm seeing brood being layed way away from each other. From one end to the other. I assume a queen excluder will be made in the future.
Hi Roy, No need for a queen excluder that I've seen. Bees do expand and contract the brood nest, but I've never read about or seen them have a split nest. I suppose this if the beekeeper was aggressively moving frames around this could occur because the bees do build different size cells for worker vs drone. Also, the bees keep certain stores around the brood nest like fermented pollen (bee bread) and have to keep the brood nest in a specific temperature range. It would be highly inefficient for them to manage a split brood nest. In general, I don't recommend or see the need for an excluder even when running Langstroth's unless you are running a commercial operation. I have heard of some breeding techniques that use queen excluders and I have attempted to use them myself when I was trying to get the bees to hatch brood out of some crossed comb and didn't want new brood to be laid. Hope this helps and thanks for your support! Bill
@@BeeBoyBill input is always great. Every beekeeper had different info and experiences. I use excluder because my queens have been going into the upper boxes. I'm not a commercial operation, but I do want some honey. Thanks for info. Those hives do make a lot of sense. I like them!
I like all your videos and really appreciate you sharing them, thank you. Using the Layens hives how many of your hive survives the winters in your areas?
Hi Timothy, Thanks for the kind words. We had an interesting winter last year and it was my first year over wintering. I lost about around 80% but the only had one survive to split. That was with 2 packages, and 2 nucs, and a couple of caught swarms all starting without any comb (except the nucs). This is the nature of this project, as I'm using winter to weed out the bees that can't survive and breeding from the ones who can. Since I did not buy any bees this year, and either caught swarms or split, I'm hoping I will have a better survival rate come spring. BBB
Hi Spencer, I wouldn't use treated because I don't know how the chemicals used will effect the bees or the honey. You could, however, use the treated wood for hive stands if you haven't thought of that yet. Hope that helps! Bill
Bee Boy Bill I contacted Dr. Leo as well regarding the treated lumber. He confirmed what you said. He said, “A really bad idea because these materials will contaminate your honey (bees lick moisture from the walls).” Thanks, and yea, I could always use the treated lumber for stands.
Triple B, If the frames are 1.5" long and you scaled up Dr. Leo's 14 frame design to 19 frames, how come your length wood is 29", not 28.5". Is that 1/2" for play so the frames aren't too snug? Also, I'm thinking of building a 21 frame design like Dr. Leo's most recommended. Should that length total 32" = (21 x 1.5" frames) + 1/2" play? Or should there be more play in your experience?
You definitely want to plan some extra space. Dr. Leo's plans call for 21 7/8" sides and which leaves an extra 7/8" with 14 frames. I would have to look up my notes to see how I settled on the exact size but I probably ended up dividing 21-7/8" by 14 and then multiplying that by 19 to get that length. You could do a similar thing to scale up to 21 frames. Hope that helps!
@@BeeBoyBill when I asked him recently he said to leave 1 7/8" per frame. This leaves 1/4" per frame which may be more than necessary for a 1 1/2" frame top. I'll do your calculation and see what happens for 21 frames. Even still I saw on one of your videos you added patches as necessary to keep the top protected. Great idea.
@@BeeBoyBill Not to be picky....but I did your calculation and you overall length should have been 29.6875 (dividing Leo's 21 7/8" by 14 gives us 1.56. Multiplying that times 19 gives us 29.6875). Your dimension of 29" would be very snug at 1.52 per frame. Using Leo's calculation length per frame of 1.56 and scaling it up to 21 frames gives us 32.81. However, with that small a margin I will most likely gross it up to 33" or even another 1" to 34" just to be on the safe side. 21 frames will require a lot more play.
@@BeeBoyBill Also, have you experiments with Dr. Leo's suggested wool insulation? Where does he use it...on top of the frames? or around the sides of the separators? If so, do you have a source for the wool?
CTYank The hives I built are 29-11/16 which works out to 29.6875. I'm not sure where you were thinking 29 but if you check out Layens Hive Part 1 of 2 around 1:20 in I go over the sizes for the 19 Frame pieces. Hope that helps!
BB Bill, Thanks for posting this video. You did a great job presenting and explaining your methods. I thought that you also did a very nice job with sitting up your shots and camera placement. Keep up the great work. We need more quality videos like yours.
It definitely takes time to film and edit these. I appreciate the compliment and your support!
I'm going to save a lot building my own hive. Thanks for the info. Now to buy the $2K in wood working equipment...
Lumber prices are crazy for sure!
I believe that with cold winters and hot summers, it might be a good idea to create a permanent layer of insulation around the outside of the standard Layen's hive between one-inch framing boards where you add the insulation made of the wool from local sheep farmers. Then have a second layer of siding outside of the entire insulation layer, similar to how we build house walls for humans, but not as thick. I think that one full inch of insulation all around the outside walls is plenty. The key issue is fixing the areas where the bee holes are and any ventilation holes with another layer of the boards and the exact thickness of the space with the hole drilled into those. This way the entire outside of the box is more like the thickness of natural trees, where even in the worst of the cold winters and the worst of the hot summers the bees would not have any problems with the heat or cold. The insulation layer would need to be fully enclosed, glued, etc. so that there is never a problem with infestation..
I like how you modified the hive to 19 frames! Great idea!
I plan to further modify my plans by building a laminate wall with plywood, sandwiching foam board, with 2X2’s bordering each panel. vs, solid wood.
I've seen this done. I try not to run any plywood on the interior of my actual hives (not including traps). I'm not sure that the glues and chemicals used to make plywood are good for bees. It would however make a more insulated hive and defiantly be lighter. Good luck!
Bee Boy Bill
Good point on the plywood glues!
May do a thin tongue & groove interior then to avoid that issue! Thanks!
Awesome videos, I've build a couple of your swarm hives and cannot wait to put them out in the spring!!! Working on the hives now!
Good luck!
I just subscribed. Nice job on the frames and the box.
Awesome videos ...
I don't find anything showing how you built your Layen TOP FEEDERS...
Would you share that with us ...
Well done mr bee boy. Learning from kenya
Great video Bill. Very helpful. Thanks for your work.
Thanks for your support!
Why did you put the entrance on the long side instead of the short side which would be more as it is in nature?
Yup im adding bees to the homestead.... This video is perfect 👌 thank you... When I build mine I'll link these videos in my description
Glad it was helpful!
Further in the video I saw the yellow push block. (Seeing bare fingers pushing 2x6's scared me.) Let me extend compliments to you on these videos. They are some of the finest I have seen. The way you made clear, right at the start which parts were which, the sizes, the careful cutting of rabbets, tongues, pilot holes, hammer tight the joints, keeping fingers away from staples etc., very professional, and a delight to watch. The edits, the silent movie clips. And one particularly sees from the ease with which you apply glue, the skill of your hands. (Thirty years experience here; applying glue takes some skill.) Nice shootin' pardner.
K. Hogan, Sacre Coeur Woodshop
Hi Kerry. I’m kind of attached to my fingers and try to be as safe as possible. I think you’re talking about the GRR-Ripper and it works great. Thank you for your support!
So what is the most common or most popular type of hive box to build? What do most bee keepers prefer these days? Layen's or Langstroth or top bar, Bee Barn my gosh the list goes on and on...
Hello Bill, Love the video instructions but not seeing the rabbet cut proper. At 7:28 you show the single pass and the rabbet is done. Are there not two cuts at 90 deg to get the rabbet or am I missing something?
THIS IS FANTASTIC!!! Thank you for the time and effort you put into this!!! I have never raised bees but I have two kids with bad allergies and I have a disease in my spine that makes lifting a potential problem. When I saw these hives I was hooked. Dr. Leo is all about not medicating your bees and letting them be bees and I'm all over that. My only question is what extractor do you use to extract the honey. From what I have found the standard extractor are not large enough to accept the frames from this type of hive and for someone like me who will only have one or two hives I don't think it makes sense to invest in a $700 extractor. THANK YOU AGAIN!!!
Hi Joe,
I highly recommend the crush and strain method for harvesting honey in small amounts with natural comb. You are correct, extractors are expensive and unless you are harvesting large amounts usually not cost effective. If you are only looking to produce for your family, crush and strain should work great.
The crush and strain method does sacrifice comb, and therefore the production will not be as large because the bees will first have to make the comb to store the honey in.
On the flip side, crushing the comb will also prevent build up of any lipophilic chemicals neighbors or farmers are using to treat their plants and if you really need more honey, adding more hives are cheaper than an extractor.
Thanks for your support. Hope this helps!
Bill
Hey BBB, have you seen those hives that have built in combs and you just crank a handle which separates the combs that have honey in them and allows it to drip down to be collected? It reduces the chances of squishing and killing your bees during collection.
What are the dems for the cover top?
Too interesting video my friend, is the most common hive using in Spain, we being using his hive along time ago, to move is the most easier, but is too heavy, greets
Hi Bill,
Me again. Again, Thanks so much for this great video.
I’ve bought my lumber for my first beehive and will be following your great instructions.
I was torn on what design I wanted to use as I’ve seen other plans which incorporate slats which lay on top of the frames. This allow the keeper to access particular frames while leaving the rest of the frames covered.
I wondered how your experience has been with no slats on top.
I could always use a rabbet to sink my frames a touch deeper and build shorter frames to accommodate and use your same design.
I’m curious to know your thoughts on this approach. Do you see any benefit to having them, Or is it just one more thing for the bees to glue down? :)
Hi GE, I don’t get into my hive too often so I may not see a benefit to additional slats on top, but I don’t think they are necessary. I try to check on them every two to three weeks but I’m not interrupting the brood best just adding a frame or two at the end if they are making lots of new comb. I usually only take a look at the brood nest in the spring and they don’t seem to mind too much. Hope this helps!
Bee Boy Bill wonderful! Thank you!
Finished one box today! (Minus the bottom board which will be plywood and the top) but the hard part is done.
Thanks again for the great video. Super helpful!
I couldn't tell, but did you use a dado stack on the table saw to cut your grooves? If you didn't, what was the measurement between the fence and the blade for your grooves?
Hey Eric, I did use a stack for the grooves.
Bill, just setting up for building these. Can you tell me what you use to manage sawdust in your workshop?
Hi TBW, I use a harbor freight dust collector on the table saw and a shop vac on the router. If I known I’m going to run a ton of pieces I use a mask to keep the dust out of my lungs. It def makes a ton of sawdust if you’re doing a bunch!
@@BeeBoyBill 😊 Thank you! Been watching for several seasons and I appreciate all your efforts, videos, and willingness to share your journey!
Great Video Do you have a material cut list ? I would like to make mine the same as yours. Thank You
Hey Kevin, check out Dr Leo’s site for cut list. You can make them longer or shorter based on your needs. I apologize I do not have a cut list for the video.
Thank you for the great video thumbs up for sure
What scares me is i am in Canada it gets brutal cold here in winter. So a small place to heat i think is better. Too big a area to heat in winter time. We get -40ish with a wind chill that is beyond brutal it can reach -50 easly some morning. That said i like my boxes for this reason cheers enjoyed watching
I have the same climate. what sizes do you have and recommend? thanks
@@christopherw4527 Normal 10 frame hive see my channel
Hey Bill, I noticed you expanded your length to accommodate 19 frames so that changed many of the length measurements. I purchased your “One saw layen’s hive plans, but I believe this is the shorter version of the hive. Do you have a parts list for the longer 19 frame version. Especially the lid dimensions and some of the rabbets and dados. Thanks!
You are correct, the one saw hive is a 14 frame variety. If you are using the one saw plans, I don’t think there would be any changes in the rabbets and dados. You would need to add lengths to the front and back of the hive, the bottom board, the sides of the lid, and the lid top. I will try and get an approximate number this evening for you of how much to add to those pieces for the 19 frame model, if you are in a hurry i laid out the dimensions for the 19 frame model in an early video “How to build a Layen’s hive part 1”, and those lengths would be correct and the width from the one saw wouldn’t change.
Thanks Bill
@@BeeBoyBill Sorry, I did not get the sizes for the bottom board and others before you started putting it together.
I'll get to the bottom of this, I was trying to respond on my phone and thought you were watching the One Saw Hive video. The One Saw Hive plans were actually from this build video: ruclips.net/video/irGS0YbFHNM/видео.html but they should be adaptable for a 19 frame Layens though I will get you some numbers ASAP for those cuts.
I sent you an email with the updates, please email me back and let me know if this will work or if there is something more I can do to help with your hive,
Use a wood pusher while cutting young man , my friend list a bit if his finger And would hate to see that happen again, love the video and thank u for taking time to teach others .
How long 2x10
Depends on how many hives you’re looking to build!
Good Job Bill. What was the reason you used the jointer on an angle for the top frame?
Hi Michael, I used the jointer to chamfer the drip edge of the lid rest. It could also be done with a table saw or router if a jointer isn’t available.
@@BeeBoyBill Thanks Bill good idea ! Keep up with the great videos I sure enjoy them
is it necessary to do the joinery? don't have all that gear
Although I haven't done it without the tongue and groove or rabbit yet, I would say it's definitely possibly to do it without them with a little creativity. The trick for the tongue and groove would be to figure out a way to hold the sides and ends together. You could use dowels, biscuits, a pocket jig, or possibly even a 2x4 on the outside to hold boards together at the seem. The 2x4 would make it a bit heaver but might be a good handle for moving the hive. I'll put some more thought into this, let me know what you end up with!
Hey bill what type of table saw is the one you use.
Hey Chief, it’s a Sears craftsman. An older model I’ve had for maybe 15 years now?
How do you get the honey out of the frames....most centrifuge are made to fit the Layen’s frame, I think???
Hi Suzanne, you can buy a large extractor for Layen's frames, Dr. Leo sells them on his site. Personally, I use the crush and strain method and I think it works great!
Hey Bee Boy Bill, your videos are so clear and helpful. If I had a shop, it would easy with all your instructions. Hey, did you receive my request on the modified Layens Frames? Looking forward to hearing from you.
Why do the end pieces of the frames have to have the reduction from the 1.5 to 1 inch? Can’t the end bars and bottoms of the frame all be 1 inch and the top bar be 1.5? It sure would speed up building
Great question! I don’t have an answer for you why the Layen’s are tapered. It makes sense for the Langstroth because the top of the side of the frame is for spacing. Because the tops can space the frames as you alluded to. It could be a carryover of design from the Lang’s. Either way, it looks like Dr Leo already beat you to it with his easy to build frames! I’ve never tried them so I can’t comment on results, but you can find the plans for them here: horizontalhive.com/how-to-build/deep-frame-do-it-yourself.shtml
Wow! I thank you 10 fold for this! It’s been holding us up from getting our hive going and now I feel confident we can quickly assemble and get this ready to go for swarm season in Ontario!!! Thank you Bee Boy Bill ✨
While I am sure the tongue and groove is better, I wonder if gluing and clamping would be sufficient. I am not sure my equipment (And I) am good enough to get a tight joint. Nice video and equipment.
I haven't tried this, but... you could try to run the edges across a jointer and then use the method I used to use in high school of drilling holes for dowels and gluing together. I don't know if I would try it without the dowels.
Another idea that might work would be to glue them together as you mentioned and then glue and nail/staple slats on the outside vertically to help keep them together. Let me know what you decide!
I plan on building a Layens hive but using biscuits as the end to end join. Biscuits are fast and work well. If you have a biscuit joiner on handy of course, otherwise it may not matter. You could also just use some Liquid Nails between the joins and provide an airtight seal as well. IMO as long as whatever you build is properly sealed/insulated you should be fine, the standard boxes are pretty janky, this Layens design is much more robust all around.
I like the biscuit idea, should work as well or better than the dowels. I personally wouldn’t do it without tongue n groove, biscuits, or dowels. I’ve tried glueing and clamping wood in the past without success (eventual joint fails).
I’ve used liquid nails on a bunch of construction projects but prefer titebond iii for the hives. Let me know how the biscuits work!
@@BeeBoyBill Will do! Supplies are in the mail from Dr Leo for the small parts and frames. Give me a couple weeks and I'll report back. Thanks!
I don’t have a table saw but do have a router with edge guide… can I make the joints just using that???
I use the dowel method instead of tongue and groove without a table saw. Check out this video for building a hive without a saw: ruclips.net/video/irGS0YbFHNM/видео.html
@@BeeBoyBill
Thank you!
I will watch that right now…
Love your videos... I was curious if you have the plans for this build available like you have for your swarm trap. Thanks
Hi Ian Ippolito the plans actually came from Dr Leo’s site. You can find a link to his site under the references section in the description. Thanks for your support!
I got 1 questions is wood glue safe for the honeybees? I know some has bad stuff for bugs
That’s a good question, I’m not sure the answer but we use it in our furniture and houses all the time so maybe it’s relatively safe?
What was the thickness of your bottom rabbit. Did you leave space for cover boards on top of your hive? Your video is a great help : )
Hi Mike, the thickness of the rabbit is the same as the lumber you are using so the bottom is flush, mine was 3/4". You don't really need cover boards with this type of hive because all of the frames are touching. There is about a 1.5-2" space above the frames however because the lid sits on the lip. I put rock wool insulation in this space for winter. Thanks for the comment!
Do you have any problems with the wood expanding because of weather? If so, what do you do about it?
Haven’t had this problem. The only issue I have to deal with is from propolis build up on the frames.
Can the homemade frames fit in a standard spinner. Seems like a waste of money if not
Hi Bradley, I guess that depends on the size of your extractor, I don't use an extractor but they do make extractors large enough to fit Layens frames. Hope that helps!
@@BeeBoyBill thanks, I definitely like the hive (and your videos.
Push sticks! Push sticks! Use push sticks, roll up your sleeves! (I used to have eleven fingers...)
letting that little cut off strip reminded me: My brother ripped a 1/2" strip off a board. When he finished the cut, it disappeared. It took awhile to find it. It was in the next room. It had gone completely through a wall, both drywalls.
letting that little cut off strip reminded me: My brother ripped a 1/2" strip off a board. When he finished the cut, it disappeared. It took awhile to find it. It was in the next room. It had gone completely through a wall, both drywalls.
is it essential to put the rabbit in the bottom for the bottom board?
Hi Jeremy. The rabbit works great but I'm sure there are a lot of different options that might work instead. I would try to keep the same distance between the bottom of the frames and the bottom board that the rabbit produces. Hope that helps!
@@BeeBoyBill do you reckon you could just cut in the bottom board neat to the inside measurements of the box and screw the board from the sides of the box or does the rebate serve a specific purpose?
Cheers mate
You could certainly do that. I would recommend some waterproof wood glue if you go that route to eliminate any gaps. The rabbit is nice for a better seal and helps disperse the weight accorded the bottom board. The only danger I could see is if you inset the bottom board without a rabbit, it’s possible that the weight of the full hive might push it through as all the weight would be on the screws. If you go that route, make sure to support the hive with the edges too so that all the weight isn’t just on the bottom board.
@@BeeBoyBill cheers mate
Nice vid. I dont have the table saw to make the tongue and groove. Do you think nails and staples would work out?
If you're not moving them it might work. A better way might be to use biscuits or dowels and glue them together. Dowels are the easiest and cheapest if you don't want to get into biscuits. A third option would be to reinforce the joint on the outside with slats. I would think furing strips would work and it would give a bat and board appearance. Hope this helps!
Hello Bill, I have finished my frames per your video and am ready to start on my hive box.
I was wondering if you would build yours the same size
If you had it to do over? I can build mine any size but would like your opinion before I start cutting boards. I think if I build more frames I may not glue the dowels
In since they were very tight.
Thank , Gary
Hi Gary,
I do like the size of my hives, but if I built more I think I would add 14 frame size. The 19 frames are great if you want to have the availability to overwinter 2 colonies in the same box. I overbuilt to begin with and haven't had to do this yet, but my friend Mark did run out of space and we put two in his for over the winter (look for hive divider video to see how we did this).
Depending on your long term goals you can consider 19 frames if you have a longer nectar season of if you may end up with more bees than equipment.
The dowels are tight and they probably don't need to be glued in the frames. I errored on the side of longevity and glued them.
Let me know how you make out!
Bill
Bee Boy Bill Thanks, I may try one of each size.
Bill, this hive looks amazing, but I'm seeing brood being layed way away from each other. From one end to the other. I assume a queen excluder will be made in the future.
Hi Roy,
No need for a queen excluder that I've seen. Bees do expand and contract the brood nest, but I've never read about or seen them have a split nest.
I suppose this if the beekeeper was aggressively moving frames around this could occur because the bees do build different size cells for worker vs drone.
Also, the bees keep certain stores around the brood nest like fermented pollen (bee bread) and have to keep the brood nest in a specific temperature range. It would be highly inefficient for them to manage a split brood nest.
In general, I don't recommend or see the need for an excluder even when running Langstroth's unless you are running a commercial operation. I have heard of some breeding techniques that use queen excluders and I have attempted to use them myself when I was trying to get the bees to hatch brood out of some crossed comb and didn't want new brood to be laid.
Hope this helps and thanks for your support!
Bill
@@BeeBoyBill input is always great. Every beekeeper had different info and experiences.
I use excluder because my queens have been going into the upper boxes. I'm not a commercial operation, but I do want some honey.
Thanks for info.
Those hives do make a lot of sense. I like them!
Don't care for the "terrorism promoting Democrapic" ads! Other than that... Awesome video!!
What type of wood did you use?
Hi Michel, Just regular dimensional lumber, non-treated.
Are you willing to sale un assembled hive frames in bulk?
Hi Arif, I don't sell frames but you can check out www.horizontalhive.com last I checked they had them available.
I like all your videos and really appreciate you sharing them, thank you. Using the Layens hives how many of your hive survives the winters in your areas?
Hi Timothy,
Thanks for the kind words. We had an interesting winter last year and it was my first year over wintering. I lost about around 80% but the only had one survive to split. That was with 2 packages, and 2 nucs, and a couple of caught swarms all starting without any comb (except the nucs).
This is the nature of this project, as I'm using winter to weed out the bees that can't survive and breeding from the ones who can. Since I did not buy any bees this year, and either caught swarms or split, I'm hoping I will have a better survival rate come spring.
BBB
Do you think treated pine is a bad idea? I ask because I have bunch already.
Hi Spencer,
I wouldn't use treated because I don't know how the chemicals used will effect the bees or the honey.
You could, however, use the treated wood for hive stands if you haven't thought of that yet.
Hope that helps!
Bill
Bee Boy Bill I contacted Dr. Leo as well regarding the treated lumber. He confirmed what you said. He said, “A really bad idea because these materials will contaminate your honey
(bees lick moisture from the walls).”
Thanks, and yea, I could always use the treated lumber for stands.
Triple B, If the frames are 1.5" long and you scaled up Dr. Leo's 14 frame design to 19 frames, how come your length wood is 29", not 28.5". Is that 1/2" for play so the frames aren't too snug? Also, I'm thinking of building a 21 frame design like Dr. Leo's most recommended. Should that length total 32" = (21 x 1.5" frames) + 1/2" play? Or should there be more play in your experience?
You definitely want to plan some extra space. Dr. Leo's plans call for 21 7/8" sides and which leaves an extra 7/8" with 14 frames. I would have to look up my notes to see how I settled on the exact size but I probably ended up dividing 21-7/8" by 14 and then multiplying that by 19 to get that length. You could do a similar thing to scale up to 21 frames. Hope that helps!
@@BeeBoyBill when I asked him recently he said to leave 1 7/8" per frame. This leaves 1/4" per frame which may be more than necessary for a 1 1/2" frame top. I'll do your calculation and see what happens for 21 frames. Even still I saw on one of your videos you added patches as necessary to keep the top protected. Great idea.
@@BeeBoyBill Not to be picky....but I did your calculation and you overall length should have been 29.6875 (dividing Leo's 21 7/8" by 14 gives us 1.56. Multiplying that times 19 gives us 29.6875). Your dimension of 29" would be very snug at 1.52 per frame. Using Leo's calculation length per frame of 1.56 and scaling it up to 21 frames gives us 32.81. However, with that small a margin I will most likely gross it up to 33" or even another 1" to 34" just to be on the safe side. 21 frames will require a lot more play.
@@BeeBoyBill Also, have you experiments with Dr. Leo's suggested wool insulation? Where does he use it...on top of the frames? or around the sides of the separators? If so, do you have a source for the wool?
CTYank The hives I built are 29-11/16 which works out to 29.6875. I'm not sure where you were thinking 29 but if you check out Layens Hive Part 1 of 2 around 1:20 in I go over the sizes for the 19 Frame pieces. Hope that helps!
Great Video BB Bill, I hope you make enough revenue from your vids to purchase dado blades for your table saw. :-)
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