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Square Pillar Hive

This one is based on the Brazilian design I’ve made before. It shares the same inner frames so they can be swapped between the boxes for splitting etc.

Specs:

  • Timber: Cypress
  • Timber Thickness: 25mm thick individual frames inside a 25mm outer Pillar box.
  • Design: Pillar / Pegged (no screws or nails)
  • Internal Volume: 4.5 litres
  • Brood Supports: Acrylic
  • Separator Plates: Acrylic

These are the square frames that sit inside the main box…

Below, gluing the top and base together using a heap of spare pieces I had. This laminating process makes for a great looking effect…

Below, This will be held together with dowl. Using a clamp can help stop the wood splitting while drilling. The blue tape is wrapped around the drill bit for a depth guide…

Holes drilled, all sitting in place…

A pile of dowl pieces cut and gluing them in…

The protruding dowl will be sanded flat when the glue dries. This is a “Pegged” or “Pinned Joint”.

Drilling the entry hole…

Below – The view from the back, internal frames and separator plates all in place…looking like a chest of drawers. I think a good feature of this style is that you always keep the same outer cabinet and can just swap out the insert frames when splitting or extracting honey.

There’s 85mm of wood on top for great insulation, 60mm on the base and 2 x 25mm thick walls make for 50mm walls all round.

The front, entry hole at the base. A basic angle routed edge all around the top, base and sides…

Now it just needs some oil or clear coat and it will be ready for some bees!


 

Update: 10/01/2019 – Over two years from the build

Over the last few months I’ve been getting bees in to the small square frames. I placed the smaller frame on top of a standard OATH box using an adapter plate…

 

After a few months the smaller square frame was full of brood and resources

 

Below, the square frame is packed with brood. I transferred the square frame in to the new Pillar Box, The photo shows the brood taking up most of the square frame. Once the square frame is in the new box the bees will adapt and probably compress the brood area and leave more space for resources like honey and pollen pots. Bees will adapt their structures to the space provided.

 

Below: The entry hole is in the lower front area, with the door access on the back.

 

 

 

 

Hivecraft - Australian Native Bee Supplies

Native bee boxes available at www.hivecraft.com.au

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