Beehive frames

I painted the hives. It does not matter what color is used (as long as it is light so that it does not absorb too much heat and makes it more work for the bees to keep the hive at the right temperature). Many light colors make me "unwell", so since the bees don't care, I might as well choose a color that pleases me...and I chose a light peach color. It is not quite as pink as it looks on the picture below!

I also checked out how the frames get nailed. It takes 2 nails at each corners, then 3 more to hold the wax panel (see below). So, that is 11 nails per frame, 10 frames in each box (and right now I have 2 boxes per hive) so that makes.... a lot of little nails!

Once the frame is nailed together, the bottom little slat is sliced off.

Then the sheet of wax reinforced with wire needs to be inserted in the frame. I have kept them inside so they would not be too cold and brittle to handle them. The shape of the cells is imprinted on the wax, which makes it easier for the bees to build the comb. It also makes it possible to remove the frames and harvest the honey without having to destroy the wax.

The top of the wax sheet slides in the bottom of the frame. The end of the wires is bend (bottom) and will be held in place by the little slat that was removed earlier.

The slat is nailed with 3 little nails. There is not much room and I was afraid to break the wax... I think I might have more than one bent nail like the one on the right!

Once the frame is ready, it hangs in the box.

So now, I only have 39 more frames to put together!