Before you rush out and buy the boxes that I use in this video, please be patient and wait for the whole series. There will be one video per week for the next three weeks. The main issue people are going to face in regards to the Bee Barn concept is going to be the building of the frames. They are a challenge even for experienced woodworkers. I am working very hard on a solution to this behind the scenes, hoping to have news for you before the whole series is complete. And remember, these concepts can be applied to any hive boxes. You do not need to invest a ton of money to help your bees!
Too late... I'm just buying 2 to see how much better they react compared to the wood frames. I think with no top vent. There really should be a ton of moisture if the top insulated cover is snug. Thoughts?? Did you pick up them from Betterbee? I only ask because the shipping was ridiculous.
Thank you Jim for the heads up regarding the frames! No places in Canada to even order the Lyson boxes so was going to bite the bullet for shipping to Canada but will wait to see what options you come up with for the extra deep frames. Got out of bees for that very reason, bad box designs for cold weather and was tired of working so hard. Keep up the great work, looking forward to the rest of the series. Cheers!
Jim, this is excellent and I'm so happy you have been able to share your discoveries and creations with us. Thank you for the heads up about holding off and I hope Lyson is ready for some business.
Not a critique here. Not a judgement. But, I would “cut my junk” if I left a blade out on a clamp on my workbench. I just would… We will work out an alternative solution there…. : )
Great design. Too bad you used wood for the entrance (tunnel sandwich). Lowes has 1x4 PVC board that could substitute for the wood and remove and chance of swelling/rotting
@@ericmanteuffel6403 Not at all. I have loads of that PVC material laying round from house projects. I wanted to put some wood on there so people wouldn't yell at me for making an entirely plastic hive. Ha ha.
@@vinofarm I understand that, but in this day and age, you can't please everyone. As long as you are happy at the end of the day, that is all that matters. Just ignore the noise that some people on here have left for you. They complain just to complain because of jealousy. Keep up the good work!!
I made my own version of the V1 barn doing a detailed image breakdown of your videos, and my own design modifications. One key item I saw in the V1 that was going to be a moisture problem was the top. Instead of starting with actual bee boxes internally that ended up with a seam on top, I made a box that was 1 1/4" shorter than I wanted, then topped it with a deeply bevelled 2x6 frame cut down to the appropriate width and height and notched for the frame ledges. That way water had no chance to enter from the top and the bevel would direct rain/snow away from the seam of the moisture box on top during the winter. I'm really looking forward to watching the bees draw out the extra long frames.
I like the new design but I'm gonna stick with the wood on the outside due to the skunks, opossums, and raccoons in my area. I'm sure they would tear the foam to shreds. best part I love is the plexiglass inner cover. I could spend hours watching my girl's do their thing.
Very nice man, I like what you done to your hives, but still you have to figure a way to deal with the extra honey frames in your bottom brood box, if you don't bees will swarm on you, they will build fast and furious and won't have the space in de brood area to expend; next is nucs boxes, check this out, you might like it: ua-cam.com/video/bkvzaQx_4u0/v-deo.html. Dan
I really hope Lyson Sees this video and makes up a 4" hive based on your spec. Given they produce a PolySty hive it shouldn't be all that difficult to make up some molds if there is enough interest generated by this video. Edit: I forgot to say: thank you for putting together this very detailed explanation on how you set up your Bee Barns. It is very clear from the array of techniques you used that you have iterated on this design many many times. Like you said, all that work you put in up front, even to the point of during the design phase, saves us subsequent headaches and re-builds down the road. Thank you.
I thought Lyson recommended painting all polystyrene surfaces to keep bees from chewing on it. I have their 6 frame NUC for this coming year and I put primer on the inside too. But I love this concept and I’m shocked how well the zip tape painted.
@@vinofarm yeah, that was my one question about making poly hives… I only ever kept bees for a couple of years in a college program that didn’t do well but I have lots of experience with paper wasps. I know bees don’t chew as much as wasps but they can if they want to. I think on a personal level I would prefer a wooden box interior but find a way to waterproof it naturally. Maybe a heavy soak in mineral oil? Or make a spot in the back wall of the hive specifically designed to condense and drain moisture? A metal strip or something…
GREAT …EADYTO FOLLOW Project…. One Q… is there anywhere I can buy the frames.? (I have tools to make the boxes, BUT NOT THE FRAMES. Thank you . (I know the fourth video will cover the frame making topic, but I don’t have the saw tool needed….trying to get the boxes out before I do spring splits.)
Greetings from a newbie bee keeper. I started keeping bees by purchasing two nukes this past spring. I have them each in a 10 frame Langstroth hive. I have built a big barn similar to how you’ve designed it. My question now is how and when do I move my bees from my Old 10 frame Langstroth hive into the new B barn? Your help would be very much appreciated. Thanks Matt
@sharktripdan This is how I keep water from entering between my boxes. I use what I call the Morse cleat all the way around and 1/2" above the bottom of the boxes. It has a sloped top and the saw kerf drip 1/8" from the bottom edge. For the same purpose I considered doing an offset edge like the Lysons in Jim's video. But i was concerned I wouldn't be able to get a hive tool between the boxes. Of course, Jim doesn't take his boxes apart. I hope to talk about my set up in a future video. Nothing nearly as sophisticated as Jim's!
I really want to try this, your instructions are detailed and (seem simple) If you make a kickstarter I would back this on day one! Thank you for sharing your talents
Problem with this whole situation is you have to have those special deep frames and box to do splits you can’t simply just do walk away splits or remove brood and do normal splits when the hive gets over populated.. Only way it can be done with those type frames is the eguipment had to match.. This whole thing is good and bad.. I think there are other alternatives this whole thing is good for a winter objective to insulate but to pull frames and start a nuc or splits this is not easy or im missing something I dont know🤔🤔
You need to think about your beeyard in a new way. This is a shift from old thinking. I have converted all my colonies to XL deep brood boxes. All my brood frames are interchangeable from full bee barns to the nucs. It takes a season. This isn't a quick change, but it is worth it in the end.
@@vinofarm Nope I think about my apiary with every angle, and to covert over 200 hives is an astronomical amount of expensive and needless time consumption.. Not to mention hundreds of nucs to change?? This backyard fancy bee castle is fine for small hobby beekeepers I assume, but you try running hundreds of hives this change would be a costly nightmare.. I understand all the engineering or thought behind it, but on a larger scale I can’t see how this method can be cost effective.. Its more effective being in the south if we have extreme weather conditions to just palletize our winter hives and forkift them into our greenhouses to protect them temporarily.. I commend the small backyard beekeeping skill of engineering, but on a large scale especially being we transport hives during sourwood season and apple blossoms, the amount of change to undertake wouldn’t be justified when we are very successful with standard equipment. It is a wonderful concept and it’s proven well but not for our larger scale.
@@southernhellstorm6634 I'm not trying to make you change. I'm trying to help people who want to change. And to inspire people, who have been told there's only one right way to keep bees, to think outside the box. This isn't for everyone and that's OK.
@@southernhellstorm6634 you nailed it. A bunch of us live in harsh winter climates and just want 2-6 hives to survive winter. The bee industry caters to commercial farmers and southern climates. We’re all so excited to see engineering for the minority that is crazy enough to try beekeeping in the cold.
Fantastic build, Jim! I have a suggestion for protecting the wood entrance dressing with a product I just discovered that you may want to try. It's a soy-based stain, called Green EZ. I contacted them last week to ask if their stains are good for outdoors and yes they are. Also, a hint for "oops" paint: If you don't like the color, you can get the home center to add tint to get it closer to something more aesthetic. I agree with your philosophy of putting in the investment of time/effort/$ up front, which will save time/effort/$ in the future. Looking forward to the rest of your build.
I’m just curious but living on the West Coast of Canada with I suppose temperatures in the winter running at around freezing or slightly above freezing and then temperatures in the summer occasionally hitting 90°F or higher do you do anything differently with these Styrofoam boxes from winter to summer. They look like they’re so well sealed that in the summer they might become too hot would love to hear your comment and thank you for this video it’s excellent
He talked about this with the 1.0 build. Basically what having all the insulation does is seal out the heat/cold. Then the bees can cool/heat the hive with ease. Imagine using heat/air conditioning in a well insulated home, very little energy is required to maintain temps, that's what this bee barn is like. Now imagine using heat/air conditioning in a camping tent, will take a lot of energy to maintain temps, that's what a standard hive would be like.
Today was the day I started building my first bee barn. One of my hives starved out in a single deep this winter (with 5 frames of honey left - northern new England), I'm not keen to repeat this issue forever.
He is correct in the insulation factor .bees in trees have a thicker area surrounding hive.commercial boxs are like surrounding a hive with paper.worthless in winter.build your own .use thicker wood.
I made a lot of improvements over your original design for my hives, but you just one upped me again with an even better design! At least I still have a better bottom board than you 🤣 you did a great job sir! Thank you for sharing
Working with EIFS we usually use EPS foam but I have used XPS foam. I trick we use when bonding foam to foam is Great Stuff Pro construction Polyurethane Foam Adhesive. It does work with foam but can be used on other materials as well. It may simplify the materials used, however it depends on what a person wants to spend, what materials they are used to working with, what materials they have on hand and if they have environmental concerns. Just a thought, interesting idea of insulating hives. You can stucco the foam or use a direct foam finish such as Flota Craft Smooth Finish to add a flare, just a thought.
All good points. I have been using Great Stuff for foam on foam bonding for a long time. I just learned that wood glue works quite well, too, if you have good contact.
@@vinofarm Yes! She said " a very nice man on UA-cam made some videos..." Long story short, they are grateful for the business but were caught off guard a little bit :-)
can one seal the wood say worth appalling an epoxy to seal the wood from water dose epoxy arm bees if left to quasar before exposed to the bees. ? have you experimented with Epoxy wood silent & Bees. Les England.
Thanks for sharing all this! I know it took a lot of time to put this together and your final product looks really well thought out. I look forward to the rest of the videos.
Thanks Jim. We are getting back into beekeeping after a two year hiatus. Just like you, we had issues with hives, they survived the winter but died in the spring. With warm ups in the early spring then 12 inches of snow and freezing temps we continually lost hives. We had seen your efforts with a new hive construction and have been waiting for the results. Again thanks for your contribution to the bee world. Your local neighbors Ed and Suzanne from the Freindly Town.
Love you video, I’m interested to see or heard you thoughts on adding a hive flow on top of you hive barn system. And is there a website that has your custom XL internal frames with or without guide comb?
Thank you for the awesome videosa and sharing you great idea. I am just getting into beekeeping and have to beecastles that are yet to be put together. I think would like to start off with the bee barn design. I am preparing over the winter for bees in the spring. Do you think modifying a Lyson bottom board to fit the bee castle wood hives would work and avoid the condensation issue when building the bee barn?
Curious if you had considered joining two deep frames instead of a deep and a medium. Are there any downsides to using two deep frames instead? Thank you!
If you have a SawStop table saw, cutting foam generates static electricity and that can be enough to trick the blade into thinking it's hit your hand - and it'll stop. After the mechanism triggers, you'll have to replace the blade & the cartridge. Just FYI edit to add: very impressed with the new bee barn build, looking forward to the rest of this series.
Ha this was a good vedio the hive u covered looks great. I can not aford to buy all new hives for my apairy, the wood boxes are u going to show how u made them when u first got this idea does wrapping the wood boxes work the same no lifting ect thanks looking forward to your next video have a blessed week
I made one of these hives and attached the foam to the old standard wood hive. I got some corplast sheets cheap and I affixed that over the foam using 3" screws. I screwed up so many times, but it came out ok and it is functional. What I noticed after the first hive, was that sugar ants were going up into the corplasts, so the next hive I built I caulked it. Caulk is my friend! I wish I could post a picture for you to see. My hubby helped with the table saw. 🙂 Thank you for all of your efforts to help fellow beekeepers. Living in upstate NY, near the adirondacks, i get that insulation is good and needed. Why not make their life a little easier? Thanks for your help! I appreciate you and your videos.
I’m going to try this same approach, not having time this fall to build new foam boxes, but I wonder, what did you do for the moisture drainage that he designed into his foam boxes? In the last video he talked about his bottom board design that allowed moisture that ran down the inside walls of the hives to drain out the lower back of the hives where the bottom board access is.
When I first started watching these bee videos they were fun stories about bees. I remember rooting for the Balboa hive. I remember enjoying seeing the Russians. Over the years they have transformed, and we never or hardly ever see the bees anymore.
@@chrivent9728 There are over 250 pure beekeeping videos on the channel. I doubt you've seen them all! These hives have been a massive part of my beekeeping journey and I'm trying to respond to THOUSANDS of messages and emails I've received over the past two years asking me "HOW DID YOU MAKE YOUR HIVES?" So these 4 videos will explain that. Then it will be back to beekeeping. The bees are just fine! (Thanks to THESE HIVES!)
Love the build videos and the explanations of bee behaviours. Question though, why not just use the pink foam for the whole hive, why bother buying the lyson hive boxes when you can double up on pink foam
The Lyson foam is as dense as wood. I gotta hand it to them. It's a great product (with some drawbacks). XPS foam is nowhere near as structurally sound and I wouldn't trust it to hold 200lbs of supers in the wind.
I live in Oklahoma and I’m planning on starting 3 hive spring of 2025 was wondering if I should go with a thinner insulation board or the same. Winters run between 36/20 degrees and summer 95/107. What do think?
How about a start to finish with a regular wood hive...instead of going back and forth between LYSON and Woodhive please when making a beebarn please!!
Why not just build the full box out of foam boards, instead of buying the full bee box you could just get the parts you absolutely need to build it? That way you don't have to tape/fill handle holes etc on the white box?
Because the Lyson boxes, while they have drawbacks, are structurally as strong as lumber. The outer wrapping is not structural. The polystyrene you buy at home depot would not be sturdy enough to hold the weight of a full beehive and supers.
How does polystyrene hold up to mice and wax moths? They chewed right through polyisocyanurate, which is another foam board type sold at Home Depot. (I suspect my bigger problem was not having much distance between the hive and the ground.) Great work!
All they need is a sufficiently insulated brood cavity. Putting their hive in an artificial climate (greenhouse/shed/garage) is going to cause you problems in fall and spring when temps fluctuate and they think it’s warmer than it really is.
All of my supers are 8 frame boxes and I like the more narrow, vertical space of the cavity. 10 frame would work perfectly fine if you have 10 frame supers for the top.
Hello Jim, This might have been asked previously but there are now over 600 comments to read and I haven't seen it. When you scoop out the foam below the bottom board is the blue stuff just the same as the exterior paint or is it something else for water repellency? If condensation makes it's way to this bottom scooped area does it just puddle there? Since everything is sealed I assume there is no way out to drain bottom condensation. Even if you had drain holes they would probably just freeze closed in the winter anyway. Great video! Thanks!
It's angled to drain backwards and run out under the rear mite tray "door". The paint just makes a smooth pathway for the water. To be honest, I did not see much water leaving the hives this winter. The bees reclaim a lot of moisture for themselves. The reason I made everything out of foam was to prevent the hive itself from getting saturated like version 1.0 did. Everything was perfectly dry and clean this spring, unlike all the mold I found in version 1.0. The mold and moisture did. not affect the bees as far as I could tell, but it did affect the hives.
I was wondering if you had any concerns about the impact of polystyrene on the bees. I had read a study on this, but didn't completely understand the results. It seemed as though the bees were impacted by eating less and a lower body weight. Any thoughts?
The bees consume less honey in these boxes. But remember that honey is like firewood. They consume honey in order to generate heat to heat the hive. Since they don't need to heat very much, they only eat about 1/2 of their stores over winter. I've never weighed a bee, so I can't comment on lower "body weights".
Jim, I love your way of thinking and problem solving! I built my first Beebarn to add to my apiary this year. I do have a question though. With your Beebarn designs, do you feel you need to use a queen excluder between the beebarn and the honey supers, or does the Beebarn create enough space for the queen to lay that she won't migrate up into the honey supers?
You can do it with wood. The concept is the same. Full insulation. No upper vents. Deep cavity. Supers on top. Do those things and you have a “bee barn”.
The bees clean the bottom IF there are any dead bees. My bottom boards have been clean as a whistle for three years straight. Like... no dead bees in spring. None.
Love the Hive design. Interested in going a similar route. I have a question about your build. At the rear of the hive where you scooped out the bottom insulation board to allow water to run out. Where that scooped panel meets the back insulation panel. Did you make a cut out or something to allow that runoff to exit between those 2 sections of 2 inch foam? Right along that seam where the back panel meets the bottom panel?
Jim, 1. You used a medium and a deep instead of two deeps for the brood box. Is there a reason for that? 2. It looks like you put the medium on the bottom and the deep on the top. Was there any reason for that? Thanks.
Deep plus medium is the Goldilocks cavity size for my particular climate. Two deeps is just too much space for my size colonies in our winter. No, which one is on top does not matter. It’s the cavity volume that matters.
Jim i have watched your vids for years back to your first videos now that you have gone through this journey how are your bees have you had any loses at all with new hives do to mites or viruses they cause or any other reason have you figured out how to keep bees alive for years in other words by creating the perfect home for them has it been worth it for the bees and do you think it all was best for the bees or do they need to struggle some to not become environmentally dependent in winter weather i respect your thoughts and have enjoyed seeing this journey through your videos thanks
Zero colony losses since I put bees in these boxes in May of 2021. This year's alcohol wash varroa tests in August 2023 were: 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1. Colonies are larger than ever and queens have been laying 2 months earlier in late winter than they ever laid in uninsulated boxes. This is the way.
It was some cedar I had milled down from pieces of Bee Barn 1.0. I think it was somewhere between 5/8”-3/4”. Not standard dimension lumber. Whatever you use for the spacer blocks will end up being the final height of their entrance. I would not go shorter than 5/8” but it’s up to you.
The Lyson box is the support for the supers that will go on top. It's the backbone of this design. But theoretically, yes, you could build it out of polystyrene with some additional support. The polystyrene used for the wrapping is low density. It works great as insulation, but would not support hundreds of pounds of honey. The Lyson boxes are as dense as lumber.
It's made by Huberwood.com. It is a flexible acrylic flashing tape. I don't know if there are equivalent products, but Huber says they're worldwide. I know you can buy it on Amazon UK.
Hi Jim,Jim here. I saw this a couple years ago. I built 2, love them. I'm going to be looking into version 2.0. Also Jim, remember people laughed their behinds off at Henry Ford. Look at the automobile today. Keep up the genius,bee keeping of the future.
Yes. They produce more honey. Bees have been selectively bred for hundreds of years to forage non-stop. It's what they do. They find nectar, store honey, and raise more bees. With the energy sapping task of "hive climate control" greatly reduced, MORE bees are able to forage and take care of baby bees.
Hi Jim, A question on the modifications to the bottom board. How much of the feet was cut off? Or what measurement setting was the rip fence set at? Last year I built 8 v1.0 Barns and installed 4 Nuc's and 4 Packages. All have survived minus teen's temps so far. Will be expanding using this design. Great videos and innovative ideas.
Curious thought... Thinking about the issue Bug Farmer ran into with ants and shb. Even your comment about ants in the hive stand video. Isn't scooping out the drip run and drilling holes into the mite tray inviting a pathway in for critters? With regular inspections you'll catch them invading, just a thought though.
I love your instructional videos. Most of all, I love your light-weight hives. I love the idea that we can peek inside w/o disturbing the bees. I have been educating myself & comparing different hives. My daughter & I will be taking classes early next year. We hope to have most of the prep completed & ready to go in the spring. Again, thank you for your time, talent & dedication!
One minor tip: When cutting the foam with the knife, don't cut into the "T" on the Tsquare, dulling your knife. Put the "T" at the top of the board and draw the knife into the open end. Of course, be careful not to draw the knife into your leg!
14:41 I do believe a Crosscut sled would be very useful here. I am not at work worker but I've watched tons of UA-cam videos. Here's one way to make one : ua-cam.com/video/0sdm_Ow-BTU/v-deo.html (adjust as necessary )
Amazing build. For your next build so foam in a can wont leave gaps.. which they do.. just drill 2-4 holes from outside and just spray inside.. so when it comes out from other holes it filled all void inside. just cut out the excess and its done.
On your 1.0 bee barn using the wooden body, how did you solve the moisture issue with the bottom foam piece? You had mentioned that moisture was an issue but I didn't see in your video how you solved it on 1.0 version.
Great to have you back Jim.... been following since your early days and have always enjoyed your content. It may have been asked, but I'm curious about your entrance especially during the winter. Having a single entrance and keeping the snow from blocking the entrance is an easy one, but I was more curious about cleaning out the dead bees during the winter given the size opening you're going with. Of course it varies from year to year, but some times I'm pulling out alot of dead bees that would otherwise be blocking that single entrance. Going with that 8" entrance, any insight as to clearing out the dead ones since you'll have a tougher time getting something in there to clear them out?
What kind of foam did you use? EPS? Do you know the thermal conductivity and thickness of the foam? Just interested in whether if I do something similar I am getting a similar R-value as your hives
I really appreciate your sharing. I use a lot of lyson poly hives now as well as some other poly hives and will try a few of your designs abs ideas. I found the bees chew my lyson hives less than some others that have less dense polystyrene. They did chew more entrances under the entrance reducers on mine after about 3 years eventhough it was painted, but it's not really a big issue. I guess that would be solved with the wood face you use on the front. Good idea.
Hello...you need to look into a mapai waterproofing roll on paint for showers and wet areas or a product called red guard..I tile alot of showers and it protects against water damage. Thanks
That offset in the lyson box edge is something I've considered in my wooden boxes to stop water from migrating into the hive thru capillary action. However I decided not to because I feel it would keep me from being able to insert a hive to break the boxes apart. Of course you don't break your boxes apart so that isn't a concern.
The insulated Bee Barn concept is very interesting. I have 12 hives now and am at 41 degrees latitude. I am thinking of building a couple of these and running my standard semi-insulated and uninsulated hives. Same location, same mite treatments and see how it goes after a few seasons. Bees seem to survive well in some seasons and other seasons no so much.
Before you rush out and buy the boxes that I use in this video, please be patient and wait for the whole series. There will be one video per week for the next three weeks. The main issue people are going to face in regards to the Bee Barn concept is going to be the building of the frames. They are a challenge even for experienced woodworkers. I am working very hard on a solution to this behind the scenes, hoping to have news for you before the whole series is complete. And remember, these concepts can be applied to any hive boxes. You do not need to invest a ton of money to help your bees!
Too late... I'm just buying 2 to see how much better they react compared to the wood frames. I think with no top vent. There really should be a ton of moisture if the top insulated cover is snug. Thoughts?? Did you pick up them from Betterbee? I only ask because the shipping was ridiculous.
@@logandstone3348 Yes, betterbee. No, I had them shipped. Shipping is ridiculous for everything right now.
Thank you Jim for the heads up regarding the frames! No places in Canada to even order the Lyson boxes so was going to bite the bullet for shipping to Canada but will wait to see what options you come up with for the extra deep frames. Got out of bees for that very reason, bad box designs for cold weather and was tired of working so hard. Keep up the great work, looking forward to the rest of the series. Cheers!
Jim, this is excellent and I'm so happy you have been able to share your discoveries and creations with us. Thank you for the heads up about holding off and I hope Lyson is ready for some business.
Thanks for making light of a heavy hive situation!
Not a critique here.
Not a judgement.
But,
I would “cut my junk” if I left a blade out on a clamp on my workbench. I just would… We will work out an alternative solution there…. : )
Yeah, that move is not OSHA approved.
I like the idea, but not so much the materials. I am a "wood guy". But don't use just any wood glue. Use D3 class wood glue in outdoor builds.
Great design. Too bad you used wood for the entrance (tunnel sandwich). Lowes has 1x4 PVC board that could substitute for the wood and remove and chance of swelling/rotting
That wood is Alaskan Yellow cedar from Bee Barn 1.0. It's not going to rot!
@@vinofarm I am sorry if I came across as criticizing your design. That wasn't the intention.
@@ericmanteuffel6403 Not at all. I have loads of that PVC material laying round from house projects. I wanted to put some wood on there so people wouldn't yell at me for making an entirely plastic hive. Ha ha.
@@vinofarm I understand that, but in this day and age, you can't please everyone. As long as you are happy at the end of the day, that is all that matters. Just ignore the noise that some people on here have left for you. They complain just to complain because of jealousy.
Keep up the good work!!
I don’t think you need that much caulk even dabs in two corners should be fine.
I made my own version of the V1 barn doing a detailed image breakdown of your videos, and my own design modifications. One key item I saw in the V1 that was going to be a moisture problem was the top. Instead of starting with actual bee boxes internally that ended up with a seam on top, I made a box that was 1 1/4" shorter than I wanted, then topped it with a deeply bevelled 2x6 frame cut down to the appropriate width and height and notched for the frame ledges. That way water had no chance to enter from the top and the bevel would direct rain/snow away from the seam of the moisture box on top during the winter. I'm really looking forward to watching the bees draw out the extra long frames.
I like the new design but I'm gonna stick with the wood on the outside due to the skunks, opossums, and raccoons in my area. I'm sure they would tear the foam to shreds. best part I love is the plexiglass inner cover. I could spend hours watching my girl's do their thing.
Very nice man, I like what you done to your hives, but still you have to figure a way to deal with the extra honey frames in your bottom brood box, if you don't bees will swarm on you, they will build fast and furious and won't have the space in de brood area to expend; next is nucs boxes, check this out, you might like it: ua-cam.com/video/bkvzaQx_4u0/v-deo.html. Dan
I really hope Lyson Sees this video and makes up a 4" hive based on your spec. Given they produce a PolySty hive it shouldn't be all that difficult to make up some molds if there is enough interest generated by this video.
Edit: I forgot to say: thank you for putting together this very detailed explanation on how you set up your Bee Barns. It is very clear from the array of techniques you used that you have iterated on this design many many times. Like you said, all that work you put in up front, even to the point of during the design phase, saves us subsequent headaches and re-builds down the road. Thank you.
I thought Lyson recommended painting all polystyrene surfaces to keep bees from chewing on it. I have their 6 frame NUC for this coming year and I put primer on the inside too. But I love this concept and I’m shocked how well the zip tape painted.
I would never paint the inside of a hive. But that's me.
What kind of paint did they recommend?
@@vinofarm yeah, that was my one question about making poly hives… I only ever kept bees for a couple of years in a college program that didn’t do well but I have lots of experience with paper wasps. I know bees don’t chew as much as wasps but they can if they want to. I think on a personal level I would prefer a wooden box interior but find a way to waterproof it naturally. Maybe a heavy soak in mineral oil? Or make a spot in the back wall of the hive specifically designed to condense and drain moisture? A metal strip or something…
GREAT …EADYTO FOLLOW Project…. One Q… is there anywhere I can buy the frames.? (I have tools to make the boxes, BUT NOT THE FRAMES. Thank you .
(I know the fourth video will cover the frame making topic, but I don’t have the saw tool needed….trying to get the boxes out before I do spring splits.)
@@johnkese8953 I'm working on it. They are not for sale anywhere right now. It's going to take some patience.
Greetings from a newbie bee keeper. I started keeping bees by purchasing two nukes this past spring. I have them each in a 10 frame Langstroth hive. I have built a big barn similar to how you’ve designed it. My question now is how and when do I move my bees from my Old 10 frame Langstroth hive into the new B barn? Your help would be very much appreciated. Thanks Matt
Run a saw kerf about 1/4 from the front of the awning, it breaks the surface tension so if water tries to wick over the edge it will drip off.
Good idea!
@@vinofarm thanks for the reply, it's a thing I saw for window wooden sills. search drip kerf for pictures, etc.
@@sharktripdan Oh, yeah, I know what they are, but I forgot to add one and in this scenario, it’s not all that critical. But I’m glad you reminded me.
@sharktripdan This is how I keep water from entering between my boxes. I use what I call the Morse cleat all the way around and 1/2" above the bottom of the boxes. It has a sloped top and the saw kerf drip 1/8" from the bottom edge. For the same purpose I considered doing an offset edge like the Lysons in Jim's video. But i was concerned I wouldn't be able to get a hive tool between the boxes. Of course, Jim doesn't take his boxes apart. I hope to talk about my set up in a future video. Nothing nearly as sophisticated as Jim's!
You guys talk all knowledge but are buying new stock every year and not teaching even the basics to be sustainable. With your heads held hi?
I really want to try this, your instructions are detailed and (seem simple) If you make a kickstarter I would back this on day one! Thank you for sharing your talents
Problem with this whole situation is you have to have those special deep frames and box to do splits you can’t simply just do walk away splits or remove brood and do normal splits when the hive gets over populated.. Only way it can be done with those type frames is the eguipment had to match.. This whole thing is good and bad.. I think there are other alternatives this whole thing is good for a winter objective to insulate but to pull frames and start a nuc or splits this is not easy or im missing something I dont know🤔🤔
His nucs are just as deep and will take the same frames, so no problem with splits.
You need to think about your beeyard in a new way. This is a shift from old thinking. I have converted all my colonies to XL deep brood boxes. All my brood frames are interchangeable from full bee barns to the nucs. It takes a season. This isn't a quick change, but it is worth it in the end.
@@vinofarm Nope I think about my apiary with every angle, and to covert over 200 hives is an astronomical amount of expensive and needless time consumption.. Not to mention hundreds of nucs to change?? This backyard fancy bee castle is fine for small hobby beekeepers I assume, but you try running hundreds of hives this change would be a costly nightmare.. I understand all the engineering or thought behind it, but on a larger scale I can’t see how this method can be cost effective.. Its more effective being in the south if we have extreme weather conditions to just palletize our winter hives and forkift them into our greenhouses to protect them temporarily.. I commend the small backyard beekeeping skill of engineering, but on a large scale especially being we transport hives during sourwood season and apple blossoms, the amount of change to undertake wouldn’t be justified when we are very successful with standard equipment. It is a wonderful concept and it’s proven well but not for our larger scale.
@@southernhellstorm6634 I'm not trying to make you change. I'm trying to help people who want to change. And to inspire people, who have been told there's only one right way to keep bees, to think outside the box. This isn't for everyone and that's OK.
@@southernhellstorm6634 you nailed it. A bunch of us live in harsh winter climates and just want 2-6 hives to survive winter. The bee industry caters to commercial farmers and southern climates. We’re all so excited to see engineering for the minority that is crazy enough to try beekeeping in the cold.
Why toiling over there, just buy APIMAYE hives
You mean the insulated hives with the upstairs windows wide open?
I used a track saw to cut my foam. That made it really quick and easy without the element of danger from the table saw 15:58
I had a run in with my table saw thankfully nothing serious. I bought myself a track saw and it was one of the best tools I ever bought.
Fantastic build, Jim!
I have a suggestion for protecting the wood entrance dressing with a product I just discovered that you may want to try. It's a soy-based stain, called Green EZ. I contacted them last week to ask if their stains are good for outdoors and yes they are.
Also, a hint for "oops" paint: If you don't like the color, you can get the home center to add tint to get it closer to something more aesthetic.
I agree with your philosophy of putting in the investment of time/effort/$ up front, which will save time/effort/$ in the future. Looking forward to the rest of your build.
Has anyone considered a foam only version without the inner hive? Pros/cons? Thoughts? Was hoping to reduce expense....
I’m just curious but living on the West Coast of Canada with I suppose temperatures in the winter running at around freezing or slightly above freezing and then temperatures in the summer occasionally hitting 90°F or higher do you do anything differently with these Styrofoam boxes from winter to summer. They look like they’re so well sealed that in the summer they might become too hot would love to hear your comment and thank you for this video it’s excellent
He talked about this with the 1.0 build. Basically what having all the insulation does is seal out the heat/cold. Then the bees can cool/heat the hive with ease.
Imagine using heat/air conditioning in a well insulated home, very little energy is required to maintain temps, that's what this bee barn is like.
Now imagine using heat/air conditioning in a camping tent, will take a lot of energy to maintain temps, that's what a standard hive would be like.
You starting with a Lyson hive about 170 each. Not cheap. I thought you were building these from scratch
DUDE! This is absolutely brilliant! Regarding the manufacturing, did you ever consider Sharktank?
Today was the day I started building my first bee barn. One of my hives starved out in a single deep this winter (with 5 frames of honey left - northern new England), I'm not keen to repeat this issue forever.
I love the way you celebrate your mistakes because it leads to another good idea. Your a creator.
He is correct in the insulation factor .bees in trees have a thicker area surrounding hive.commercial boxs are like surrounding a hive with paper.worthless in winter.build your own .use thicker wood.
I made a lot of improvements over your original design for my hives, but you just one upped me again with an even better design! At least I still have a better bottom board than you 🤣 you did a great job sir! Thank you for sharing
What about oil based paint? I have a crap ton of van sickle exterior oil based paint, and i was wondering if it had any effects on the foam?
Working with EIFS we usually use EPS foam but I have used XPS foam. I trick we use when bonding foam to foam is Great Stuff Pro construction Polyurethane Foam Adhesive. It does work with foam but can be used on other materials as well. It may simplify the materials used, however it depends on what a person wants to spend, what materials they are used to working with, what materials they have on hand and if they have environmental concerns. Just a thought, interesting idea of insulating hives. You can stucco the foam or use a direct foam finish such as Flota Craft Smooth Finish to add a flare, just a thought.
All good points. I have been using Great Stuff for foam on foam bonding for a long time. I just learned that wood glue works quite well, too, if you have good contact.
Just a PSA..Talked to Better Bee today and the bottom boards are backordered until at least the end of March/beginning of April.
Welp… saw that one coming.
@@vinofarm Yes! She said " a very nice man on UA-cam made some videos..." Long story short, they are grateful for the business but were caught off guard a little bit :-)
@@philhahn253 Betterbee commented here pretty soon after the video went up. Still waiting to hear from Lyson... Ha ha.
I love using my band saw and even though it takes up a ton of space I refuse to get rid of it :) Nice build Jim :) --- Hit the thumbs up everyone !!
Jim if my calculations are correct. 12:00 the outside of the foam would b 20.125 wide, 25.5 deep, and ..21 high??
can one seal the wood say worth appalling an epoxy to seal the wood from water dose epoxy arm bees if left to quasar before exposed to the bees. ? have you experimented with Epoxy wood silent & Bees. Les England.
Thanks for sharing all this! I know it took a lot of time to put this together and your final product looks really well thought out. I look forward to the rest of the videos.
Thanks Jim. We are getting back into beekeeping after a two year hiatus. Just like you, we had issues with hives, they survived the winter but died in the spring. With warm ups in the early spring then 12 inches of snow and freezing temps we continually lost hives. We had seen your efforts with a new hive construction and have been waiting for the results. Again thanks for your contribution to the bee world. Your local neighbors Ed and Suzanne from the Freindly Town.
Love you video, I’m interested to see or heard you thoughts on adding a hive flow on top of you hive barn system. And is there a website that has your custom XL internal frames with or without guide comb?
Thank you for the awesome videosa and sharing you great idea. I am just getting into beekeeping and have to beecastles that are yet to be put together. I think would like to start off with the bee barn design. I am preparing over the winter for bees in the spring. Do you think modifying a Lyson bottom board to fit the bee castle wood hives would work and avoid the condensation issue when building the bee barn?
Curious if you had considered joining two deep frames instead of a deep and a medium. Are there any downsides to using two deep frames instead? Thank you!
If you have a SawStop table saw, cutting foam generates static electricity and that can be enough to trick the blade into thinking it's hit your hand - and it'll stop. After the mechanism triggers, you'll have to replace the blade & the cartridge. Just FYI
edit to add: very impressed with the new bee barn build, looking forward to the rest of this series.
Good tip. I do not own a sawstop!
Welcome back! What would you do for California? I would also like to know how can we buy from you? Thank you
for the foam cutting i would suggest using a heat wire. Super easy to make and WAY WAY safer than saw and 100 times easier than a knife.
Next video series...how to build a heat wire.
Ha this was a good vedio the hive u covered looks great. I can not aford to buy all new hives for my apairy, the wood boxes are u going to show how u made them when u first got this idea does wrapping the wood boxes work the same no lifting ect thanks looking forward to your next video have a blessed week
I would be interested in the weight difference between equivalent V1 and V2 hives.
I made one of these hives and attached the foam to the old standard wood hive. I got some corplast sheets cheap and I affixed that over the foam using 3" screws. I screwed up so many times, but it came out ok and it is functional. What I noticed after the first hive, was that sugar ants were going up into the corplasts, so the next hive I built I caulked it. Caulk is my friend! I wish I could post a picture for you to see. My hubby helped with the table saw. 🙂 Thank you for all of your efforts to help fellow beekeepers. Living in upstate NY, near the adirondacks, i get that insulation is good and needed. Why not make their life a little easier? Thanks for your help! I appreciate you and your videos.
I’m going to try this same approach, not having time this fall to build new foam boxes, but I wonder, what did you do for the moisture drainage that he designed into his foam boxes? In the last video he talked about his bottom board design that allowed moisture that ran down the inside walls of the hives to drain out the lower back of the hives where the bottom board access is.
When I first started watching these bee videos they were fun stories about bees. I remember rooting for the Balboa hive. I remember enjoying seeing the Russians. Over the years they have transformed, and we never or hardly ever see the bees anymore.
It's the middle of winter. There will be more bee videos. Patience.
I miss the bee drama as well 🐝
@@chrivent9728 The Best was when Vino put 2 hives with queens together.
@@chrivent9728 There are over 250 pure beekeeping videos on the channel. I doubt you've seen them all! These hives have been a massive part of my beekeeping journey and I'm trying to respond to THOUSANDS of messages and emails I've received over the past two years asking me "HOW DID YOU MAKE YOUR HIVES?" So these 4 videos will explain that. Then it will be back to beekeeping. The bees are just fine! (Thanks to THESE HIVES!)
@@vinofarm I have seen them all, and again while I was working from home in 2020.
Balboa Forever! 👑🐝
Would this insulated hive work in central Florida?
can u pin the company web so we can look at these hives I enjoyed your video great job. Thanks
second question couldn't one screw the outer cabinet to the linear-box . ?
You’re a genius, Jim. Thank you for all you do.
@vinofarm, where did you go??
Love the build videos and the explanations of bee behaviours. Question though, why not just use the pink foam for the whole hive, why bother buying the lyson hive boxes when you can double up on pink foam
The Lyson foam is as dense as wood. I gotta hand it to them. It's a great product (with some drawbacks). XPS foam is nowhere near as structurally sound and I wouldn't trust it to hold 200lbs of supers in the wind.
I am so excited to give this a shot in the spring! Thanks for your ingenuity!
One question. How do you attach the rear removal lower panel to the unit so it can be removed to get to the mite pan? Thanks!
It's not attached. It just sits there with a friction fit. I glued on a wooden bar/handle to make it easier to grab.
Maybe use a zip tape 'hinge' along the bottom so that it will hang right there while you take care of bidness.
@@susansylvia2833 Great idea!
I live in Oklahoma and I’m planning on starting 3 hive spring of 2025 was wondering if I should go with a thinner insulation board or the same. Winters run between 36/20 degrees and summer 95/107. What do think?
I believe you cannot OVER insulate a bee hive.
What did you use to waterproof the foam on the bottom?
Can you start a counter for how many times you say flush lol
How about a start to finish with a regular wood hive...instead of going back and forth between LYSON and Woodhive please when making a beebarn please!!
There’s not going to be a how-to-build version 1.0. Sorry. Version 2 is far superior and I’m already on to version 3. Stay tuned.
Why not just build the full box out of foam boards, instead of buying the full bee box you could just get the parts you absolutely need to build it? That way you don't have to tape/fill handle holes etc on the white box?
Because the Lyson boxes, while they have drawbacks, are structurally as strong as lumber. The outer wrapping is not structural. The polystyrene you buy at home depot would not be sturdy enough to hold the weight of a full beehive and supers.
How does polystyrene hold up to mice and wax moths? They chewed right through polyisocyanurate, which is another foam board type sold at Home Depot. (I suspect my bigger problem was not having much distance between the hive and the ground.) Great work!
So far, so good, but I'll let everyone know if problems develop. Definitely keep anything foam way off the ground.
I thought about putting hives in a clear vinyl greenhouse.? A Harbor Freight special.
Good, Bad or Ugly?
Some radiant and wind break.
All they need is a sufficiently insulated brood cavity. Putting their hive in an artificial climate (greenhouse/shed/garage) is going to cause you problems in fall and spring when temps fluctuate and they think it’s warmer than it really is.
Why did you end up going with the 8/9 frame over the 10 frame boxes?
All of my supers are 8 frame boxes and I like the more narrow, vertical space of the cavity. 10 frame would work perfectly fine if you have 10 frame supers for the top.
What is the interior volume for your bee barns? Can you use 2 deeps rather than a deep and a medium?
You can use whatever you want. This is a starting point. I like deep+medium.
Hello Jim, This might have been asked previously but there are now over 600 comments to read and I haven't seen it. When you scoop out the foam below the bottom board is the blue stuff just the same as the exterior paint or is it something else for water repellency? If condensation makes it's way to this bottom scooped area does it just puddle there? Since everything is sealed I assume there is no way out to drain bottom condensation. Even if you had drain holes they would probably just freeze closed in the winter anyway. Great video! Thanks!
It's angled to drain backwards and run out under the rear mite tray "door". The paint just makes a smooth pathway for the water. To be honest, I did not see much water leaving the hives this winter. The bees reclaim a lot of moisture for themselves. The reason I made everything out of foam was to prevent the hive itself from getting saturated like version 1.0 did. Everything was perfectly dry and clean this spring, unlike all the mold I found in version 1.0. The mold and moisture did. not affect the bees as far as I could tell, but it did affect the hives.
I was wondering if you had any concerns about the impact of polystyrene on the bees. I had read a study on this, but didn't completely understand the results. It seemed as though the bees were impacted by eating less and a lower body weight. Any thoughts?
The bees consume less honey in these boxes. But remember that honey is like firewood. They consume honey in order to generate heat to heat the hive. Since they don't need to heat very much, they only eat about 1/2 of their stores over winter. I've never weighed a bee, so I can't comment on lower "body weights".
Thank you!
Jim, I love your way of thinking and problem solving! I built my first Beebarn to add to my apiary this year. I do have a question though. With your Beebarn designs, do you feel you need to use a queen excluder between the beebarn and the honey supers, or does the Beebarn create enough space for the queen to lay that she won't migrate up into the honey supers?
Just for security. This way I just won’t have to worry about it.
So with Lyson 8/9 hives sold out pretty much everywhere, is this doable with other polystyrene hives and just adjust dimensions to fit?
You can do it with wood. The concept is the same. Full insulation. No upper vents. Deep cavity. Supers on top. Do those things and you have a “bee barn”.
Jim; Excuse me if this has been answered but have you though about how you will clean the dead bees out of the bottom of the hive in the Spring?
The bees clean the bottom IF there are any dead bees. My bottom boards have been clean as a whistle for three years straight. Like... no dead bees in spring. None.
Love the Hive design. Interested in going a similar route. I have a question about your build. At the rear of the hive where you scooped out the bottom insulation board to allow water to run out. Where that scooped panel meets the back insulation panel. Did you make a cut out or something to allow that runoff to exit between those 2 sections of 2 inch foam? Right along that seam where the back panel meets the bottom panel?
No. But water flows downhill and it will find a way.
Y not make it out of wood or make a shed just a idea
Jim,
1. You used a medium and a deep instead of two deeps for the brood box. Is there a reason for that?
2. It looks like you put the medium on the bottom and the deep on the top. Was there any reason for that?
Thanks.
Deep plus medium is the Goldilocks cavity size for my particular climate. Two deeps is just too much space for my size colonies in our winter.
No, which one is on top does not matter. It’s the cavity volume that matters.
Jim i have watched your vids for years back to your first videos now that you have gone through this journey how are your bees have you had any loses at all with new hives do to mites or viruses they cause or any other reason have you figured out how to keep bees alive for years in other words by creating the perfect home for them has it been worth it for the bees and do you think it all was best for the bees or do they need to struggle some to not become environmentally dependent in winter weather i respect your thoughts and have enjoyed seeing this journey through your videos thanks
Zero colony losses since I put bees in these boxes in May of 2021. This year's alcohol wash varroa tests in August 2023 were: 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1. Colonies are larger than ever and queens have been laying 2 months earlier in late winter than they ever laid in uninsulated boxes.
This is the way.
Hey Jim what thickness wood did you use for the "tunnel sandwich"?
It was some cedar I had milled down from pieces of Bee Barn 1.0. I think it was somewhere between 5/8”-3/4”. Not standard dimension lumber. Whatever you use for the spacer blocks will end up being the final height of their entrance. I would not go shorter than 5/8” but it’s up to you.
Is there a reason you couldn't or wouldn't want to build the entire box out of Polystyrene, rather than buying the Lyson boxes?
The Lyson box is the support for the supers that will go on top. It's the backbone of this design. But theoretically, yes, you could build it out of polystyrene with some additional support. The polystyrene used for the wrapping is low density. It works great as insulation, but would not support hundreds of pounds of honey. The Lyson boxes are as dense as lumber.
Does anybody know what zip tape is called in europe? what alternatives can i find here
It's made by Huberwood.com. It is a flexible acrylic flashing tape. I don't know if there are equivalent products, but Huber says they're worldwide. I know you can buy it on Amazon UK.
Do you think Wrapping in coroplast would do the job instead of painting?
Painting is way easier. But theoretically, coroplast would protect from the sun.
Hi Jim,Jim here. I saw this a couple years ago. I built 2, love them. I'm going to be looking into version 2.0. Also Jim, remember people laughed their behinds off at Henry Ford. Look at the automobile today. Keep up the genius,bee keeping of the future.
Are the beee still producing the same amount of honey since they may learn that they need less stores?
Yes. They produce more honey. Bees have been selectively bred for hundreds of years to forage non-stop. It's what they do. They find nectar, store honey, and raise more bees. With the energy sapping task of "hive climate control" greatly reduced, MORE bees are able to forage and take care of baby bees.
Why not just propose the joints
If u were so good with your table saw u would build your own equipment.
Sweet username, bro. u clever.
Hi Jim,
A question on the modifications to the bottom board. How much of the feet was cut off? Or what measurement setting was the rip fence set at?
Last year I built 8 v1.0 Barns and installed 4 Nuc's and 4 Packages. All have survived minus teen's temps so far. Will be expanding using this design.
Great videos and innovative ideas.
Curious thought...
Thinking about the issue Bug Farmer ran into with ants and shb. Even your comment about ants in the hive stand video. Isn't scooping out the drip run and drilling holes into the mite tray inviting a pathway in for critters?
With regular inspections you'll catch them invading, just a thought though.
I'm getting my hives tomorrow and will be building these I'm so excited to start working on these!!!!
I love your instructional videos. Most of all, I love your light-weight hives. I love the idea that we can peek inside w/o disturbing the bees. I have been educating myself & comparing different hives. My daughter & I will be taking classes early next year. We hope to have most of the prep completed & ready to go in the spring. Again, thank you for your time, talent & dedication!
One minor tip: When cutting the foam with the knife, don't cut into the "T" on the Tsquare, dulling your knife. Put the "T" at the top of the board and draw the knife into the open end. Of course, be careful not to draw the knife into your leg!
So the mouse guard wood is enough to keep mice from squeezing in?
Look at some of my other videos. The metal mouse guards sit on the wooden lip.
14:41 I do believe a Crosscut sled would be very useful here. I am not at work worker but I've watched tons of UA-cam videos. Here's one way to make one : ua-cam.com/video/0sdm_Ow-BTU/v-deo.html (adjust as necessary )
Amazing build. For your next build so foam in a can wont leave gaps.. which they do.. just drill 2-4 holes from outside and just spray inside.. so when it comes out from other holes it filled all void inside. just cut out the excess and its done.
On your 1.0 bee barn using the wooden body, how did you solve the moisture issue with the bottom foam piece? You had mentioned that moisture was an issue but I didn't see in your video how you solved it on 1.0 version.
Great to have you back Jim.... been following since your early days and have always enjoyed your content. It may have been asked, but I'm curious about your entrance especially during the winter. Having a single entrance and keeping the snow from blocking the entrance is an easy one, but I was more curious about cleaning out the dead bees during the winter given the size opening you're going with. Of course it varies from year to year, but some times I'm pulling out alot of dead bees that would otherwise be blocking that single entrance. Going with that 8" entrance, any insight as to clearing out the dead ones since you'll have a tougher time getting something in there to clear them out?
What kind of foam did you use? EPS? Do you know the thermal conductivity and thickness of the foam? Just interested in whether if I do something similar I am getting a similar R-value as your hives
2" XPS. R-10 insulation. 11:58
Thanks 😊
did anyone else mention that you put the awning on upside wrong?
No. What makes you think that?
Do you see any benefit or need to go with 4" thick foam on a wood box build? I live in northern lower Michigan.
Thank you!
Do you have a cost break down? I've looked but can't find the links to products
where did you source the plexiglass /lexan ? also what size did you cut the plexiglass to?
I really appreciate your sharing. I use a lot of lyson poly hives now as well as some other poly hives and will try a few of your designs abs ideas. I found the bees chew my lyson hives less than some others that have less dense polystyrene. They did chew more entrances under the entrance reducers on mine after about 3 years eventhough it was painted, but it's not really a big issue. I guess that would be solved with the wood face you use on the front. Good idea.
Hello...you need to look into a mapai waterproofing roll on paint for showers and wet areas or a product called red guard..I tile alot of showers and it protects against water damage. Thanks
That offset in the lyson box edge is something I've considered in my wooden boxes to stop water from migrating into the hive thru capillary action. However I decided not to because I feel it would keep me from being able to insert a hive to break the boxes apart. Of course you don't break your boxes apart so that isn't a concern.
Waited and watched the series on the BB 2.0. I dig it. I used the 10 FR box, this thing is a beast. Great idea, thanks for sharing.
The insulated Bee Barn concept is very interesting. I have 12 hives now and am at 41 degrees latitude. I am thinking of building a couple of these and running my standard semi-insulated and uninsulated hives. Same location, same mite treatments and see how it goes after a few seasons. Bees seem to survive well in some seasons and other seasons no so much.
Would a 10 frame hive work for this?
Sure. Just make measurements and cut the foam accordingly. The concept is the same.