Progress on 3 Kid Log Hive

January 3, 2015 by solarbeez

Grand Kids’ Log Hive Status Report, as of February 15, 2015

Posted in Hives, Log hives, Natural Beekeeping | Tagged building a log hive, Log hive wood carving, Log hives, natural beekeeping, Sa-burr, Verticle log hive, wood carving | 17 Comments

17 Responses

on January 3, 2015 at 11:44 pm | Reply afrenchgarden

Very impressive! It is looking good! How many chains do you go through cutting up a tree like that? I can’t remember what kind of tree have you chosen to build your hive from? Amelia
- on January 4, 2015 at 12:01 am | Reply solarbeez
  
  I’m still on the first chain, but I did hit a nail, two nails in fact, but I sharpen often. I forgot to mention, for the hollowing out process, I’m using an electric chainsaw with vegetable oil for the chain. (I don’t want any bad stuff inside the hive.)
  The tree is a Monterey Cypress. The wood carver said its a little harder than red cedar, but will last longer. I found a big soft rotten spot where the two nails might have caused a disease. There was mycelium growing on the wet pieces of wood I had removed. According to mycologist, Paul Stamets, bees sometimes look for mycelium to cure themselves of ?
  The next step is to install an observation window. I want to do a good job this time.
on January 4, 2015 at 3:06 am | Reply ladysighs

I love the buzz of your chainsaw just as much as the buzz of your bees. 🙂
- on January 4, 2015 at 5:03 am | Reply solarbeez
  
  Except when sped up, it sounds just like the dentist drill. 🙂
  - on January 4, 2015 at 5:07 am ladysighs
    
    😦
on January 4, 2015 at 4:40 am | Reply Brian

I’m very interested in this. Thank you for taking the extra time to video the whole process.
on January 4, 2015 at 6:27 am | Reply Eddy Winko

A bee hive, firewood and cover material for the toilet, a win, win, win 🙂 Looking good Pat.
- on January 4, 2015 at 7:07 am | Reply solarbeez
  
  Yes, I was just thinking about all the sawdust and shavings for the compost toilet. The chunks of wood will be good firewood after they’ve been seasoned, and the carved log will become a beehive when the bees decide to move in.
on January 5, 2015 at 4:49 pm | Reply Emma Sarah Tennant

Wow. Do the bees mind the chainsaw? I’ve heard they sometimes don’t take kindly to lawnmowers…
- on January 5, 2015 at 9:14 pm | Reply solarbeez
  
  The bees are very calm. I can mow right up to the hive if I don’t stand in their flight plan. The chainsaw activity is done on the other side of the house so as not to really bother them. The piles of sawdust however, bothers my wife…possibly because I keep tracking it into the house. 🙂
on January 7, 2015 at 8:28 am | Reply mandalaone

I loved seeing the beginning of what will be a beautiful home for your bees. Chainsaw selfie, hah! Please keep posting the progress…
- on January 7, 2015 at 6:55 pm | Reply solarbeez
  
  Thanks, Mandalaone. The next phase is the observation window. I want to get it right this time (unlike the botch job I did on Bee-atrice log hive). Good thing I’m not a plastic surgeon. 🙂
on January 7, 2015 at 4:21 pm | Reply Brian

Are you able to harvest honey from these hives or are they mainly for swarm production?
- on January 7, 2015 at 6:50 pm | Reply solarbeez
  
  The purpose of the log hive is to provide a place for the bees to live intervention-free. With Bee Beard, the first log hive, I figured it would be a success if it got through the winter and threw a swarm…it threw 6 swarms (that we knew about). We were able to capture some of the swarms, one of which is in the green hive in the tree. That hive has lasted over two years so far, also intervention free.
  My interest is not in maximum honey production. I don’t take any honey from the log hives. I want them to grow healthy bees that don’t need mite strips, antibiotics, or supplemental food. That said, I never thought I’d get the number of swarms I’ve been getting. John Haverson, a British Beekeeper, wrote an article, “Swarming Bees are Healthy Bees.” I’d like to think my bees are healthy, but really I don’t want any more hives. If I have time after my next log hive is set up, I want to build a bunch of boxes to use as Warre nuc hives in case these present 8 hives decide to go into swarm mode. Then I’ll offer them to other beekeepers for cost. It’s probably not the best business plan because around here, most people like the Langstroth hive…I just happen to like the Warre better. 🙂
on January 8, 2015 at 2:52 am | Reply Brian

I assumed that would be the case. You also get a huge benefit of have a huge amount of intervention free drone genetics flying around. Not only for your apiary but for everyone around you as well. I have 4 langstroths that I’m keeping chemical free the only real treatment I did use was brood breaks to reduce mite levels. We’ll see how that pans out in spring I guess. I’m interested in these log hive myself. I think it will be a couple of years before I can attempt it though. Keep up the hard work. And thanks again for sharing your progress.
on January 14, 2015 at 12:12 am | Reply deweysanchez

I wish I have skill with a chain and chisel that you do. Not to mention my own mycologist! Very impressive 🙂 Can’t wait to see the finished article though if you have the same project rate of progress as me it’ll be a while.
- on January 14, 2015 at 6:01 am | Reply solarbeez
  
  I want the log set up by mid to late March. Brian Vorwaller needs to have at least a month to work on sculpting the faces of my three grand kids. I’m having some ‘issues’ with the observation window, which must be resolved very soon to make the deadline. The pressure is on. 🙂
  Note: I don’t have any expertise with the chainsaw other than roughly carving out the inside of the log which doesn’t really require much skill. 🙂