Pictorial: How to make wax starter strips

LA Backwards Beekeepers Kacy and Bethan made this great pictorial series about how to make wax starter strips for your frames.

# I: First Kacy wets down a piece of 1 x 2 pine that's cut or marked to the length of the frame.

#2: The melted beeswax is painted onto the wet board with a chip brush. 2 or 3 coats will do it.

#3: Bethan cuts the strip down the center of the board with a razor blade, so two strips, about one inch wide apiece, are made.

Make your hive stand strong

LA Backwards Beekeeper Erik of the blog Root Simple (and co-author with Kelly Coyne of The Urban Homestead) writes:

Here's a hive stand I did in Google sketchup. I discovered the hard way that the stand needs to be super-sturdy. Hives get heavy, after all--well over 150 pounds by summertime. My first hive almost toppled over.

And, them damn ants! Had an invasion this winter that I was, thankfully able to fend off. I coat the legs with tangefoot (which you can get at a nursery) and put the legs in cans of cheap cooking oil. I have noticed ants, by the way, walking on the surface of liquids, so the tangefoot is a good backup.

The metal sheets over the oil cans keep the bees from falling in the cans and drowning. Lumber dimensions are variable depending on what you have on hand.

—Erik

Viewer mail

Derek in Utah writes:

Hi,

I am a first-year backyard beekeeper. I ordered my beginning beekeeping material about a month ago. Since that time, I was introduced to the backwards beekeeping method; I like it. I have already prepared my starter strips (got some beeswax from a friend who is practicing the backwards beekeeping method).

My question is this, when installing my package bees, do I need to worry about the bees taking to the starter strips? Should I have a couple frames with foundation placed in the hive just in case? I'm a little nervous about installing my bees without any drawn out comb. My friend gave me one fully drawn out frame of honey comb, I plan on putting that in the bottom box when I install my bees.

What do you think? In your experience, do package bees generally take to the starter strips without any drawn out frames? My bees arrive on the 24th, so please help me!

Thanks,

Derek M.

Here's Kirk's reply:



If you're wondering what starter strips are, find out here.

Kirkobeeo: How to make starter strips

Kirk sent this tutorial on how to make starter strips for your bees.

Get a piece of 1x3 pine. Mark a 16 inch length of the strip with a pencil.

Arrange the piece of pine in the sink, let the water run on it while you are getting set up. If the board is wet, this lets the wax release easily and come off the board. Wet the board each time you make a strip.

Get a pot and some clean beeswax. When it is melted, turn off the burner. Try to have the wax as cool as you can. This makes it set faster on the pine board. DON"T OVERHEAT THE WAX—it could catch on fire or be too hot to work with.

Brush the wax on the pine board. Take your time and do multiple coats.

If you lay the board flat it will go on nice and flat.

Peel off the strip with a butter knife or a putty knife. You will see steam come off when you peel. If you are making more, put a piece of pine in the sink again and run water on it.

Now laying the board flat you can take a knife and carefully cut the wax strip in half, making sure you don't hurt yourself.

Now place the wax starter strip in the slot of each frame's top bar. Take your brush and brush some wax into the slot until you have enough to hold the starter strip in place. Be careful with the wax when it is hot.

These wax strips really help the bees draw straight comb. Cardboard strips coated with wax are also very good. Get these ready for spring.

good luck

kirkobeeo.

This video shows an alternate method for making starter strips.

Assembling Knock-Down Frames

I just posted about how to assemble a medium box, now it's on to the frames.


For each frame there are 4 pieces: top, bottom, and two identical sides. Start with one or two sides and the top. Apply glue to the surfaces that will touch.


Now just hammer a nail into the top bar through to the side. Go slow and make sure it's straight and try to make direct hits with the hammer so that the nail doesn't bend. I sometimes use the hive box to support the opposite end or sometimes I put the other side on with the glue just to support the top while I tack in the nail.


Next glue it up (if you haven't yet) and nail the other side. It should look like this.


Flip it over and glue the bottom bar and the bottom of the side bars.


Press it in place...


..and nail it in.


Voila! One down, nine to go.

The next step is to put in your starter strips so the bees have something to attach the comb to. For starter strips watch this video of Kirk in action: How to make starter strips. If you are wondering why we don't use foundation read Russell's post about that.


Oh yeah, things don't always go perfectly. Sometimes the nails bend or pop out the side a strange angles. When this happens (and it will) don't stress out, just try to pry it back up straight and hammer it in again, or pull it completely and use a new nail.


This only works about 30% of the time though so when it goes badly a second time, cut your losses.


When that happens hammer it flat, hope that some of it grabbed on the other side and/or that the glue will do it's job and move on to the next nail.

Happy Beekeeping!

Assembling a Medium Hive Box

I recently put together a medium hive box with help from my boys. Some people have asked how to do this so I thought I'd document the assembly. This is just the box. I'll post again to show how the frames go together.

Start out by applying glue to the "fingers" on the boards that will fit together. The glue goes down in the "U" shape but not on the top of the pegs - those don't get glue.


Then just fit one side together and tap it into place lightly with a hammer. Then glue and do the same with the other side. It should look like the picture below.

You can hit it a few more times for good measure if you really want to. Now you are ready for some nails.


Start the nails by putting one in the middle "finger" on each side of the piece facing up.


Then flip it on it's side and put one in the bottom of the side piece. After that flip it back on the other side and put one in the bottom there.

Now you are ready to glue and tap in the fourth board. Do the same thing with the nails: One in the middle on each side and then flip it each way to put in the two nails at the bottom of those sides.

Now it's glued up and nailed together. It should be sturdy enough for you to handle without worrying that it'll fall apart and it's time to drive the rest of the nails in.


I numbered the nails here to show how I do this part - kind of like tightening lug nuts when putting a wheel back on a car, I try to nail them in alternating order. After the last "2" is in I put the 3s and 5s on that side then rotate it and put in the 4s and 6s on that side, turn again, 3s and 5s, etc.


The last thing to do is to nail in the strip that the frames will sit on. I guess this is a separate strip so that you can replace it when it wears out after years of removing and replacing the frames. I can't actually imagine this happening with my hives so I glued mine in. I may be screwing the next generation of beekeepers to use my boxes provided I did everything else right.

One thing I recommend is that you go kind of slow, making sure your nails are headed in the right direction. If you go too fast your nails will either bend or angle out of the wood which although not disastrous can be annoying.