Start with a brood chamber, 10 frames with wax foundation, a base and a lid. One can go the whole hog and get the full deal. The complete assembled hive. REMEMBER!
This does not include the queen excluder - SOLD SEPARATELY.
You can expect to have foundation wax strips in both chambers, 10 frames per chamber. You can use creosote to treat your hives. You can also use Bitumen Silver Enamel paint. Or do both. Be sure to use the correct creosote as some do contain contaminants.
We have opted for the Waxall treatment of our hives. This means the hives are dunked into a vat of melted bees wax and submerged for 3 minutes. The closest method to having a natural hive and the best as far as food grade honey goes.
Also leave your hives to dry and air properly before transferring a colony into it. Frames usually come standard. You can make your own. Do not treat these. You can and it is recommended that you put wax foundation sheets on the frames. You can also use Pollen traps and feeders with your hives. Feeders are used while wintering your colonies. It is also important that your frames have wire. These offer support to the wax comb when fully built and assists when inspecting hives to stabilise comb.
A queen bee excluder is necessary in the Langstroth bee Hive as it prevents the queen from moving between the brood and super chambers. Thus you have brood in the bottom chamber and surplus honey in the super chamber. Workers can move easily between the metal wire.
The Jackson bee hive utilises a different approach when it comes to managing the brood and honey storage. The Jackson hive has shown up to 30% more yield however when compared to Langstroth hives. Check the two photos below to see the different styles.
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