About the PLEXIGLASS: I found a plastic supplier in Massachusetts that sold acrylic sheets. (Piedmont Plastics) (Google "Acrylic Plexiglass sheet supplier" in your area). I bought a full 4x8 sheet of 3/8" acrylic and they made as many cuts as I needed for a $25 flat fee. I got 15 pieces out of that sheet measuring: 19 1/8" x 13 5/8". The total cost was about $325. Roughly $22 per piece.
One thing that I don’t like about the design is that the metal wheel (in closed position) has gaps & cracks that allow warm air to escape the top of the hive. Considering the infrequency of feeding, I think that a better solution might be just a simple piece of vapor tape (like red Tuck Tape) over the hole. This would also allow for a piece of XPS foam of nearly any thickness to fit flush against the plexi and insulate it directly…which would negate the need for the insulated shell. Just my $0.02 Keep up the good work, Jim.
My question is how you do your OA treatment. I have a provap and the tube is not long enough to go though the whole hive wall and the hot tube is going to melt the foam wall. Do you have any sugestions?
I want my bees to have the best chance to thrive. This hive looks amazing! It is hard to tell by the video, is this one super and 2 medium, or 2 super and the top a medium? I am new to bee keeping and planning on following, pretty much, your videos. It would be nice to know the exact pieces to purchase.
Any updates on how they are working? Anything you would do differently (before i build 3+ of them) I have 3 of the V1 Barns, they work ok winter season, looking forward to seeing how these handle the Minnesota winter.
@@prizonfrost123 I mean just a little wider. Same deep/medium size frames. My boxes max out with 8 of my frames. Having a 10 frame box would give that little extra space during the heavy brood months (May/June) but the rest of the year my bees are fine with 7-8 frames. If I did have 10 frame boxes I’d still over winter with 7-8 frames and fill the empty space with foam spacers.
You've outdone yourself! See if you can get your hands on some raw wool from a local sheep farmer to put in that top feeder box. Way better than burlap for insulation, also reusable, and relatively cheap. I just gave mine a double rinse with no soap so there is still enough lanolin to repel other insects from nesting in it.
I was thinking of just cutting packaging foam (or a few layers of foil-back double bubble) to fill the space. If you run a bead of caulk around that space and put that next foam wall on, it should make a great dead air insulated area for a lot less cost than that awesome 2 part foam.
A one gallon plastic bucket sits over the screw. (At least mine do.) The problem with this design is that the medium box is about 1” too short to enclose the bucket. A deep would have been better. Or, finding shorter feeder pails.
@@jarethgroves8194 You know what? I clicked all of the links on mobile and they each worked. But now I'm on my desktop and they are doing what you describe. Ugh. If you click the main "Shop Link" It takes you to my shop page and then you click on the "VinoFarm Favorites" link. AMazon is frustrating. Let me know whatever questions you have about gear. www.amazon.com/shop/vinofarm?ref=cm_sw_em_r_inf_own_vinofarm_dp_dq5ck8grfljjv
I like the way your top box is larger than your main brood box section. This will let the rain and snow melt water and drip from your top box edge and not drip on your lower brood box area. Although, even if it did wind blow and drip on your lower box, it would still be no problem and drip off the bottom edge of your lower brood box.
You monitor temperatures within your hives. Perhaps it would be a good idea to put a thermometer within the feeder box to find out what the difference is in temperatures between the boxes
Thank you so very much! I have known that I would be converting to foam boxes for my bees. You have shown me how I can do it easily. No saws for me. Just knives will work fine. Thank you again. By the way. I live in Oklahoma. We get some freezing in winter. Not a lot. Just enough to kill bees. We also usually have vey hot summers. Last summer was 100 degrees all summer long.
Super slick design. I love the idea of the viewing window. The stress of hopefully having a warm day when you also have time to do work on the hive and be super quick is crazy hard. Being able to see in and add food safely is a HUGE upgrade. I love this idea. Having a super tight box the bees dont have to seal with propelis is probably not my goal, but boy, that window is sweeeeet.
Urm question.... instead of having box lids to store for winter why not have the outer box insulation on all year round and attach it to the chloroplast lid..... no need for storing bulky even if light winter lids
I think you should run your design by the Passive House Institute. You may have the first passive bee house here. Also someone in the back of my head is yelling “roll the tape”. Well done on the design Sir.
You know. I find the comments really interesting here. A couple themes I’m seeing from those who don’t like the bee barns, essentially boils down to “but survival of the fittest!!” Which. They have a point. But also, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (which by the way was appropriated from the Blackfoot nation). But lets look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs and apply it to bees. The very bottom of the triangle is food, water, warmth, rest (aka shelter). When we provide bees with shelter beyond the bare minimum to survive, and instead provide shelter that allows thriving…Jim at Vino Farm is already seeing the domino effects on feed usage, warmth and humidity, not sure if he’s mentioned water usage. That’s just affects in the very bottom of the pyramid. He’s also seeing domino effects on spring readiness, reproduction, hive size, swarming (aka increasing # of hives), etc. What kind of domino effects could we continue to see with bees, just by providing a shelter that meets thriving requirements, and not just survival requirements?
Great points. The "domino effect" is a great way to put it. These things started out as a way to make MY life easier. Then I thought, while I was at it, I might as well see if I can help the bees out, too. Turns out everything that was good for me, was also good for them. The domino effect follows all the way back to the beekeeper. Yes, these hives are harder to build and take more resources up front... but the benefits I have seen over two years now make them worth every penny and every late night in the workshop. Who would have guessed that just giving the bees a decent home would increase their survival and productivity? What a crazy thought!
I know nothing about bees nor building things, but watching you work is so mesmerising. Your attention to detail is incredible and your inventive mind is nothing less than genius! Thank you for sharing, even though I’m never likely to need to build a bee barn, I enjoyed the process of learning how to do it 😊
Can I say nothing but praise. I do have one question. Why fit the metal spinner on the plexiglass if you only use it for feeding. Would a cork stopper not be better. Better insulation than the thin metal. (And one less specialist item to buy) Thanks
Love the meticulous attention to detail, even cutting the zip tape on the corners to make it lay flat. Well done! I'm really looking forward to the start of the season to see how the bees fared and to see what modifications they made, if any, to the 2.0.
I hate to say it, but you talk like most of us know what you’re talking about when it comes to products and tools. It’s rather boring if one doesn’t know what you’re talking about
This is a very niche video for a very specific audience. (People who understand exactly what I’m building and want to know how I do it.) So you must not be part of that target audience. I will be returning to more general beekeeping entertainment as the season begins in March or so. If you have a question I am happy to try to answer.
Anything worth doing is worth overdoing. To keep costs down, I've been building mine from cedar fence pickets sandwiching the foam insulation. My spring goals include making divided hive bodies, so my out of the box thinking will have more to do with the bottom boards. My demo is a 5/5 frame bee barn, but for flexibility I've made dividers the width of two frames, so I can easily have a 3/3 setup on a 10 frame base, then remove a divider and add frames when a split is ready for the space. I truly expect the dividers to be game changing skeleton keys that enable all sorts of configuration among my hives.
Bees don't need as much oxygen as humans do. This hive box simulates a tree with a small opening that often (referring to the tree) provides homes for bees in the wild.
No. If that was the case, they would have been dead back in October when I sealed them up. They move air very efficiently. Imagine a huge colony of bees inside a hollow tree. That single opening would be even smaller than what I offer them.
I have viewed you video several times and I did not see you give a measurement of how far from the bottom of the box that you cut the 3/8 in dado for the plexiglass. I am doing 2 bee barns for myself. I feel really good about the hive structure and hope that I have as good of success as you have had. I also like the deep frames. Have a great day and look forward to seeing your next video.
I’m going to use a lot of your techniques to winterize some Nucs to help two Nucs at a time make it through the winters. Might be a total failure but if I don’t try I just won’t know. Thanks for all the videos. Wish you would come to hivelife next year. I would love to meet you.
I was hoping part 3 would be the frames, but this was so great too. Really looking forward to video 4. Thank you for saying the foam fill was 4lb density. Any idea what the density is of the foam in those Lysen boxes?
Next week's video on the frame building has me jazzed. I learned the hard way that the unassembled frames are different from one supplier to another. My hives this year had frames that I made start to finish, frames that started as deep frames, but I added medium extensions to them, and frames where I used top and bottom bars from a supplier and built my own side bars. That is my eventual plan, and I have located an inexpensive website that will sell just the top and bottom bars and I can (hopefully) use consistent measurements to batch out future sidebars. I never expected to be waiting with baited breath over a video about bee frames.
Sika Post Fix is a 3lb 2-part foam available in the box store fence section for $15. ALternately, we've used a product from a company called Secure-Set which has a 5lb foam at ~$47 for 1gal shipped from OK. Just pour each bag into a separate quart container. Then mix 1:1 in a 3rd container for each pour. When we do small projects, we get plastic containers from the dollar store for each pour, because once it foams up you'd want to pitch the container the mixed product is in.
You may have a problem at the interface between the top cover and the bottom box. You now have 2 inches of insulation on the outside of the hive except at the interface between the cover and the top box. Because of the air gap (Thermal break), making the covers outside dimension larger than the top box, there is only 1 inch of insulation overlap at the seam. Not sure how that will affect the temp of the plexiglass viewing window. Something to check with your temperature monitoring.
Remember that this is version 2.0. Version 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, etc will be better. I'm monitoring everything and will be modifying designs as I come across problems. Thanks.
@@vinofarm it's a ten frame medium box, I know you can put galvanized nail 25mm nails *6 but if you wanted to put screws instead, which ones would you recommend?
@@point305 Probably just some 2 inch screws? I prefer 2 inch staples if you have a power or pneumatic stapler. And probably some wood glue in the joints.
Spectacular 🎉🎉🎉🎉design 🎉🎉🎉🎉 I was trying to find some insulation because heat is as bad as very cold so hopefully this will do the trick to keep them clean. Where did you buy plexiglass?? You should of patented!!!! You invented!!! Do it to day!! Do you sale the whole PCs unite ?
I estimate about $220 in materials per hive. That does not include the frames. Lyson Boxes: 1 Deep, 2 mediums, 1 bottom board - $124 Plexiglass: $22 Foam Board: $47 Zip tape, Spray foam, misc fasteners: Less than $20 per hive. You could do the same conceptual build on an existing wooden hive for under $100 per hive.
I’ve been using it for years, too and noticed how well it holds up. But I recently learned that the R value of polyiso drops when it gets cold. Luckily, this is more of a backup layer than primary insulation.
I like at about 4:15 where you say, "Ok, this is the fun part". Pretty sure I would have glued and screwed the whole box together and then realized I didn't put the plexiglass in!
Great video thank you. Where did you source your plexi and what were the dimensions of the plexi needed for the Lyson you used and the depth of the dados?
Call plastic sheet suppliers in your area. I found one that sold 4x8 sheets and they cut it into my exact size pieces I requested for $25 flat fee. Each piece came out to about $22 in the end.
Polyurethane (gorilla glue) works excellent for glueing foamboard insulation. It also expands into gaps. I also use Deck Over paint to protect foamboard. Very tough paint.
Hey Jim, do you have any concerns for the weight of the supers when you start stacking them for honey? I think you had a picture where you had like 5+ supers on top of your Bee Barn 1.0. Now that Bee Barn 2.0 is made of foam, is there any concerns for the foam base handling that much weight?
Love the plexiglass idea!!! I will be changing my tops and I think I will add some RGB LEDs to the corners and a camera. Thanks for the great idea generator ... my wife is going love this one.
Jim, Thank you so much for doing the work and being willing to share it. I'm a long time home rehabber, so I completely got the build part. I'm not yet a beekeeper though (license just arrived). I'm pulling together my materials list and would like some advice on supers please. Wood Mediums I assume for weight. How about frames (wood or plastic, foundation material, color, wax?, pins?, rods??), queen excluder material metal or plastic?. Should I dip the boxes in a parafin wax prior to assembly for weather resistance? Also would be happy to have the whys of the recommendations if you're wiling. Thanks again! Cheers, Osh
Doing some really great work on this hive project Jim. Fascinating watching these hives being built, even more so how the bees respond to them. Best wishes as always.
Thanks for including what doesn't work well in this great video (like the foam) so we don't make the same mistakes! I am looking forward to your next video!
Jim, Thanks for sharing these video tutorials. I love that you are channeling Thomas Seeley in a creative way - the bee barns align with his research, replicate conditions found in natural beehives in trees, AND are more supportive for beekeepers! I am a fellow (still new) beekeeper in central MA and will hopefully be able to create a version of the bee barn to try out in my bee yard. Thanks again for your creativity and sharing!
Are you going to change up your super boxes as well? Curious how the switch from this observation box to "needs a super" process will go. Great series overall though!
Supers just go on top of the hive body above a queen excluder. Just like before. These boxes may or may not stay on top of the supers over summer. (Probably not.)
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About the PLEXIGLASS: I found a plastic supplier in Massachusetts that sold acrylic sheets. (Piedmont Plastics) (Google "Acrylic Plexiglass sheet supplier" in your area). I bought a full 4x8 sheet of 3/8" acrylic and they made as many cuts as I needed for a $25 flat fee. I got 15 pieces out of that sheet measuring: 19 1/8" x 13 5/8". The total cost was about $325. Roughly $22 per piece.
Thanks!
That is exactly what I needed. Thanks.
In Denver we have Plasticare. They're great!
Thanks again
@@strive4impact Thanks Strive4 I'm in Evergreen and I will use Plasticare for my plexi
the stationery knife on the table scares me😅
Yeah, it's only there while I'm doing a specific build and immediately removed. There's probably a better way.
@@vinofarm 👍I understand, but still be careful
I too love and yet fear danger knife. So useful , so dangerous
Dude your channel used to be so cool. BEE'S.
You ever heard of winter?
You're not fooling me, that's a minecraft block.
😀😀😀😀Made me laugh, now I'm coughing!
One thing that I don’t like about the design is that the metal wheel (in closed position) has gaps & cracks that allow warm air to escape the top of the hive. Considering the infrequency of feeding, I think that a better solution might be just a simple piece of vapor tape (like red Tuck Tape) over the hole. This would also allow for a piece of XPS foam of nearly any thickness to fit flush against the plexi and insulate it directly…which would negate the need for the insulated shell. Just my $0.02
Keep up the good work, Jim.
They have that hole filled with beeswax and propolis as soon as I remove the feeder pails. They got this!
@@vinofarm
That’s good! Just trying to think of simpler & more possibly more effective solutions
My question is how you do your OA treatment. I have a provap and the tube is not long enough to go though the whole hive wall and the hot tube is going to melt the foam wall. Do you have any sugestions?
Front entrance. Just shoot it in there.
Just be ready for when they propolize the plexyglass. They did on my observation mediums.
Yeah, I'll see what happens.
Really value your ingenuity. Nice series.
I want my bees to have the best chance to thrive. This hive looks amazing! It is hard to tell by the video, is this one super and 2 medium, or 2 super and the top a medium? I am new to bee keeping and planning on following, pretty much, your videos. It would be nice to know the exact pieces to purchase.
One deep, one medium combined into one continuous cavity.
I can't wait to see how these hives perform.
To drill holes in plexiglass i use a hole saw in reverse....... slowly!!!
Still one of the best tutorials on UA-cam.
Any updates on how they are working? Anything you would do differently (before i build 3+ of them) I have 3 of the V1 Barns, they work ok winter season, looking forward to seeing how these handle the Minnesota winter.
Getting away from wood was a game changer. I only wish I could make the brood box larger. You’ll be happy with the switch to foam.
@@vinofarmdo you mean more frames or double deeps?
@@prizonfrost123 I mean just a little wider. Same deep/medium size frames. My boxes max out with 8 of my frames. Having a 10 frame box would give that little extra space during the heavy brood months (May/June) but the rest of the year my bees are fine with 7-8 frames. If I did have 10 frame boxes I’d still over winter with 7-8 frames and fill the empty space with foam spacers.
Do you use queen excluders?
Yes. Then regular supers on top.
You've outdone yourself! See if you can get your hands on some raw wool from a local sheep farmer to put in that top feeder box. Way better than burlap for insulation, also reusable, and relatively cheap. I just gave mine a double rinse with no soap so there is still enough lanolin to repel other insects from nesting in it.
Styrofoam pellets in the dead air space is great too
I was thinking of just cutting packaging foam (or a few layers of foil-back double bubble) to fill the space. If you run a bead of caulk around that space and put that next foam wall on, it should make a great dead air insulated area for a lot less cost than that awesome 2 part foam.
Hey How do you stop the bees from protolyzing the polycarbonate?
Lots of training! Some colonies learn faster than others.
yippy!
How do I find your Amazon Store?
What USDA zone are you located. We’re in Zone 4 so I’m thinking that our seasons would be comparable.
All links are in the description. Zone 5A
Bro, I dig ur stuff. Aloha.
It just dawned on me that I won't be able to get the 1gal. feeder bucket over the hole with that screw. How do you solve this?
A one gallon plastic bucket sits over the screw. (At least mine do.) The problem with this design is that the medium box is about 1” too short to enclose the bucket. A deep would have been better. Or, finding shorter feeder pails.
Super job!!!
First?
would this work with a very hot climate? would the insulation protect the bees from the heat as well? Awesome project dude!
Insulation slows the transfer of heat. That's it. It does not generate heat. I believe insulation would help any beehive on earth.
Absolutely! Insulation works both ways.
Frames vid up or next?
Thx
Hey Jim...all of your Amazon links appear to be dead!
Hmmm… I just clicked each one and they all worked for me. What country are you in!
@@vinofarm hmmm I'm in the US. They all took me to the Amazon home page. I'll try again.
@@vinofarm Follow-up, I was specifically talking about the camera equipment links!
@@jarethgroves8194 You know what? I clicked all of the links on mobile and they each worked. But now I'm on my desktop and they are doing what you describe. Ugh. If you click the main "Shop Link" It takes you to my shop page and then you click on the "VinoFarm Favorites" link. AMazon is frustrating. Let me know whatever questions you have about gear.
www.amazon.com/shop/vinofarm?ref=cm_sw_em_r_inf_own_vinofarm_dp_dq5ck8grfljjv
This Old Bee House
Yes! Part three
Again thank you for taking the time to instruct us.
I like the way your top box is larger than your main brood box section. This will let the rain and snow melt water and drip from your top box edge and not drip on your lower brood box area. Although, even if it did wind blow and drip on your lower box, it would still be no problem and drip off the bottom edge of your lower brood box.
Excellent job Jim. You're making the process of following your design very easy!!
The viewing window is probably the feature that most excites me.
Absolutely impressive! You are quite the craftsman! Thanks for sharing!
You monitor temperatures within your hives. Perhaps it would be a good idea to put a thermometer within the feeder box to find out what the difference is in temperatures between the boxes
you have the most lovely work room
Thanks, It'll never be done, but it's coming along...
Thank you so very much! I have known that I would be converting to foam boxes for my bees. You have shown me how I can do it easily. No saws for me. Just knives will work fine. Thank you again.
By the way. I live in Oklahoma. We get some freezing in winter. Not a lot. Just enough to kill bees. We also usually have vey hot summers. Last summer was 100 degrees all summer long.
Super slick design. I love the idea of the viewing window. The stress of hopefully having a warm day when you also have time to do work on the hive and be super quick is crazy hard. Being able to see in and add food safely is a HUGE upgrade. I love this idea. Having a super tight box the bees dont have to seal with propelis is probably not my goal, but boy, that window is sweeeeet.
Urm question.... instead of having box lids to store for winter why not have the outer box insulation on all year round and attach it to the chloroplast lid..... no need for storing bulky even if light winter lids
Do you have schematics to sell? A profit center for you.
$25 is a fair price point.?
I see the brood minder in the hive. What temperature do the bees maintain in the fully insulated hive?
Wonderful build. Thank you! Your BeeBarn design will probably qualify for LEED Platinum rating.
Use a step bit instead of the spade bit. Step bits are excellent for sheet material like sheet metal and plexiglass.
I think you should run your design by the Passive House Institute. You may have the first passive bee house here. Also someone in the back of my head is yelling “roll the tape”. Well done on the design Sir.
You know. I find the comments really interesting here. A couple themes I’m seeing from those who don’t like the bee barns, essentially boils down to “but survival of the fittest!!”
Which. They have a point.
But also, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (which by the way was appropriated from the Blackfoot nation). But lets look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs and apply it to bees. The very bottom of the triangle is food, water, warmth, rest (aka shelter). When we provide bees with shelter beyond the bare minimum to survive, and instead provide shelter that allows thriving…Jim at Vino Farm is already seeing the domino effects on feed usage, warmth and humidity, not sure if he’s mentioned water usage. That’s just affects in the very bottom of the pyramid. He’s also seeing domino effects on spring readiness, reproduction, hive size, swarming (aka increasing # of hives), etc. What kind of domino effects could we continue to see with bees, just by providing a shelter that meets thriving requirements, and not just survival requirements?
Great points. The "domino effect" is a great way to put it. These things started out as a way to make MY life easier. Then I thought, while I was at it, I might as well see if I can help the bees out, too. Turns out everything that was good for me, was also good for them. The domino effect follows all the way back to the beekeeper. Yes, these hives are harder to build and take more resources up front... but the benefits I have seen over two years now make them worth every penny and every late night in the workshop. Who would have guessed that just giving the bees a decent home would increase their survival and productivity? What a crazy thought!
I know nothing about bees nor building things, but watching you work is so mesmerising. Your attention to detail is incredible and your inventive mind is nothing less than genius! Thank you for sharing, even though I’m never likely to need to build a bee barn, I enjoyed the process of learning how to do it 😊
Thank you for posting! I’ve been waiting for this episode to hit
Part 4 - 5 year review of the bee barn 😉 great series. Love the innovation!
Part 4 is the XL frames. Next week!
I like the ability to see inside the hive without removing the inner cover. Can't wait to see how all the changes work.
Can I say nothing but praise. I do have one question. Why fit the metal spinner on the plexiglass if you only use it for feeding. Would a cork stopper not be better. Better insulation than the thin metal. (And one less specialist item to buy)
Thanks
Do whatever you like. This is just what I did.
Another great video. Thanks, Jim
Love the meticulous attention to detail, even cutting the zip tape on the corners to make it lay flat. Well done! I'm really looking forward to the start of the season to see how the bees fared and to see what modifications they made, if any, to the 2.0.
I hate to say it, but you talk like most of us know what you’re talking about when it comes to products and tools. It’s rather boring if one doesn’t know what you’re talking about
This is a very niche video for a very specific audience. (People who understand exactly what I’m building and want to know how I do it.) So you must not be part of that target audience. I will be returning to more general beekeeping entertainment as the season begins in March or so. If you have a question I am happy to try to answer.
Do you have space to put on a patty between the plexiglass and top of frames? Could you make the lid deeper for a feeder shim?
Pollen patty will squeeze right into that space. It's the same a a normal inner cover.
These new boxes look awesome. I hope this year proves to be successful and productive. God speed ❤️☺️good luck and glad your back
Hi Jim,
Thank you for all your design and building steps.
Does the Glue, Adhesive, and Zip tape contain any formaldehyde?
I have not checked. All of that is way outside of the brood cavity, though.
Truely appreciate what you are doing. Thank You!
Another 10/10 video that will help someone in the future ggs.
Do you have a full supply list for the builds
No, but everything I use is pretty clearly laid out in the videos.
Thank you Jim.
Food for thought.. you know that material used to make Croc shoes? Super lightweight foam stuff? Well it would be perfect for bee hivestoo
Anything worth doing is worth overdoing. To keep costs down, I've been building mine from cedar fence pickets sandwiching the foam insulation. My spring goals include making divided hive bodies, so my out of the box thinking will have more to do with the bottom boards. My demo is a 5/5 frame bee barn, but for flexibility I've made dividers the width of two frames, so I can easily have a 3/3 setup on a 10 frame base, then remove a divider and add frames when a split is ready for the space. I truly expect the dividers to be game changing skeleton keys that enable all sorts of configuration among my hives.
I like it. Well done.
This may be a really stupid question, but are you at least a little worried the bees won't get enough oxygen with this build?
Bees don't need as much oxygen as humans do. This hive box simulates a tree with a small opening that often (referring to the tree) provides homes for bees in the wild.
No. If that was the case, they would have been dead back in October when I sealed them up. They move air very efficiently. Imagine a huge colony of bees inside a hollow tree. That single opening would be even smaller than what I offer them.
I have viewed you video several times and I did not see you give a measurement of how far from the bottom of the box that you cut the 3/8 in dado for the plexiglass. I am doing 2 bee barns for myself. I feel really good about the hive structure and hope that I have as good of success as you have had. I also like the deep frames. Have a great day and look forward to seeing your next video.
I’m going to use a lot of your techniques to winterize some Nucs to help two Nucs at a time make it through the winters. Might be a total failure but if I don’t try I just won’t know. Thanks for all the videos. Wish you would come to hivelife next year. I would love to meet you.
you should sell those extra deep frames
Is there a gap between the top bars and acrylic and if so what is the measurement?
About 3/8" -1/2" or so. Same as a regular wooden inner cover.
@@vinofarm Thanks for the info and I love your videos. Great job brother.
It was nice to see Mrs. Vino Farm (or more specifically, her hands) make an appearance.
The foam pour was a full family event. That stuff sets up in a couple minutes.
I was hoping part 3 would be the frames, but this was so great too. Really looking forward to video 4. Thank you for saying the foam fill was 4lb density. Any idea what the density is of the foam in those Lysen boxes?
Those hive boxes are as dense as pine. They feel like 2x8s.
Next week's video on the frame building has me jazzed. I learned the hard way that the unassembled frames are different from one supplier to another. My hives this year had frames that I made start to finish, frames that started as deep frames, but I added medium extensions to them, and frames where I used top and bottom bars from a supplier and built my own side bars. That is my eventual plan, and I have located an inexpensive website that will sell just the top and bottom bars and I can (hopefully) use consistent measurements to batch out future sidebars.
I never expected to be waiting with baited breath over a video about bee frames.
I only make the sidebars. Top and bottom bars are just ordered.
For the pour foam, I found a kit that is 1 qt., do you think that would be enough to do two hives?
I got the gallon kit and did 8 medium super boxes (all 4 sides) with about 1/2 of the product left over.
@@vinofarm Oh wow, it really goes a long way. I think the quart kit will be more than enough then. Thank you.
Sika Post Fix is a 3lb 2-part foam available in the box store fence section for $15. ALternately, we've used a product from a company called Secure-Set which has a 5lb foam at ~$47 for 1gal shipped from OK.
Just pour each bag into a separate quart container. Then mix 1:1 in a 3rd container for each pour. When we do small projects, we get plastic containers from the dollar store for each pour, because once it foams up you'd want to pitch the container the mixed product is in.
Amazing craftsmanship Jim. I really like this build series. You are going to have bees coming out your ears this spring!
You may have a problem at the interface between the top cover and the bottom box. You now have 2 inches of insulation on the outside of the hive except at the interface between the cover and the top box. Because of the air gap (Thermal break), making the covers outside dimension larger than the top box, there is only 1 inch of insulation overlap at the seam. Not sure how that will affect the temp of the plexiglass viewing window. Something to check with your temperature monitoring.
Remember that this is version 2.0. Version 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, etc will be better. I'm monitoring everything and will be modifying designs as I come across problems. Thanks.
Make that 1.5 inch overlap (same foam, 0.5 inch airgap).
Do you have a video on the frame building to match these new hives?
Next week. Part 4.
Someone didn't watch the end card of this video.
@@naxgulengames9863 - oops. ☹️
Thanks Jim, for sharing your Bee Barn video's.
Awesome set up. The shop is looking good too!
Hi 👋 I'm building a beehive, what screw do you recommend, I know they have to be galvanized but I do not know what size! can you help me with this?
Gonna need more info to answer this question....
@@vinofarm it's a ten frame medium box, I know you can put galvanized nail 25mm nails *6 but if you wanted to put screws instead, which ones would you recommend?
@@point305 Probably just some 2 inch screws? I prefer 2 inch staples if you have a power or pneumatic stapler. And probably some wood glue in the joints.
@@vinofarm Thank You for that information! keep up the Great work 👍
You've got us on the edge of our seat waiting on part 4! I've been checking back daily.
Love the build series.
I made clear top covers like a few years ago. LOVE IT!
You are quite the craft's man!! 👍👍👍
Did you consider using Clauss hive domes instead of the plexiglass?
Spectacular 🎉🎉🎉🎉design 🎉🎉🎉🎉 I was trying to find some insulation because heat is as bad as very cold so hopefully this will do the trick to keep them clean. Where did you buy plexiglass?? You should of patented!!!! You invented!!! Do it to day!!
Do you sale the whole PCs unite ?
Awesome series!! What is the total cost of this bee hive 2.0? I can't remember if you did a cost post or not.
I estimate about $220 in materials per hive. That does not include the frames.
Lyson Boxes: 1 Deep, 2 mediums, 1 bottom board - $124
Plexiglass: $22
Foam Board: $47
Zip tape, Spray foam, misc fasteners: Less than $20 per hive.
You could do the same conceptual build on an existing wooden hive for under $100 per hive.
@@vinofarm if you translate it into Russian currency, then it's a lot
I love your videos man. I'm all about doing things differently
I’ve been using a coated 2” foam board similar to your Atlas board as a hive top for a year now and it holds up well.
I’ve been using it for years, too and noticed how well it holds up. But I recently learned that the R value of polyiso drops when it gets cold. Luckily, this is more of a backup layer than primary insulation.
@@vinofarm Good to know. Thanks for the videos!
I like at about 4:15 where you say, "Ok, this is the fun part". Pretty sure I would have glued and screwed the whole box together and then realized I didn't put the plexiglass in!
Great video thank you. Where did you source your plexi and what were the dimensions of the plexi needed for the Lyson you used and the depth of the dados?
Call plastic sheet suppliers in your area. I found one that sold 4x8 sheets and they cut it into my exact size pieces I requested for $25 flat fee. Each piece came out to about $22 in the end.
@@vinofarm what were the dimension you have them cut the sheet into?
@@timblaney3 13 5/8" x 19 1/8" but that was specifically for the Lyson 8/9 medium box. The Dados are about 3/8" deep.
Polyurethane (gorilla glue) works excellent for glueing foamboard insulation. It also expands into gaps. I also use Deck Over paint to protect foamboard. Very tough paint.
This is such a logical upgrade!
Great job Jim, we are fairly new beekeepers and you are an inspiration! I'm really looking forward to building this myself.
Hey Jim, do you have any concerns for the weight of the supers when you start stacking them for honey? I think you had a picture where you had like 5+ supers on top of your Bee Barn 1.0. Now that Bee Barn 2.0 is made of foam, is there any concerns for the foam base handling that much weight?
The weight will fall on the Lyson hive inside the outer foam. Those boxes are as dense as wood. No worries at all.
Love the plexiglass idea!!! I will be changing my tops and I think I will add some RGB LEDs to the corners and a camera. Thanks for the great idea generator ... my wife is going love this one.
Jim,
Thank you so much for doing the work and being willing to share it. I'm a long time home rehabber, so I completely got the build part. I'm not yet a beekeeper though (license just arrived). I'm pulling together my materials list and would like some advice on supers please.
Wood Mediums I assume for weight. How about frames (wood or plastic, foundation material, color, wax?, pins?, rods??), queen excluder material metal or plastic?. Should I dip the boxes in a parafin wax prior to assembly for weather resistance? Also would be happy to have the whys of the recommendations if you're wiling. Thanks again! Cheers, Osh
Can you explain a bit more on how I can make a cover for wood boxes?
Genius! Love love this design!
Doing some really great work on this hive project Jim. Fascinating watching these hives being built, even more so how the bees respond to them.
Best wishes as always.
Thanks for including what doesn't work well in this great video (like the foam) so we don't make the same mistakes! I am looking forward to your next video!
Jim, Thanks for sharing these video tutorials. I love that you are channeling Thomas Seeley in a creative way - the bee barns align with his research, replicate conditions found in natural beehives in trees, AND are more supportive for beekeepers! I am a fellow (still new) beekeeper in central MA and will hopefully be able to create a version of the bee barn to try out in my bee yard. Thanks again for your creativity and sharing!
Are you going to change up your super boxes as well? Curious how the switch from this observation box to "needs a super" process will go. Great series overall though!
Supers just go on top of the hive body above a queen excluder. Just like before. These boxes may or may not stay on top of the supers over summer. (Probably not.)