May 21, 2015…..Hal stands proudly next to his log hive #4. Bees voted his hive as their top favorite place and moved in about two weeks ago. How tall is it…? Eight feet tall (2.4 meters) Bee hive capacity is 7524 cubic inches (123 liters)
Frames are cut away to be able to see the comb being built through the observation window.
Looking inside the hive during the construction phase, you can see the screen Hal nailed in to let the mites fall through.
Bottom board holder slot
Hal explains the construction of it.
May 18…Comb length after about two weeks. Note the mid entrance hole.
May 21…Three days later, the comb is even with the mid entrance hole.
Log hive #5? Hal already has the wood for it. He will be using cedar this time.
Solarbeez might have to build one too. 🙂
It’s Garden Time…and time for Patti to show it to us.
Patti, a young 80 year-old, built this fountain and did all the landscaping for the garden. The surface she’s standing on are old recycled roofing tiles.
Lobelia grows between the steps that lead to the deck.
Cosmos are blooming already.
Sedum will provide much needed nectar during August and September. I’m very grateful to Hal and Patti for alerting me to this wonderful nectar source for my bees.
What do you do with a log hive that has rotted out? If you’re Hal and Patti Strain, you’ll make a pretty flower bed out of it. They’ve already had requests to make more.
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 
Brilliant post. We watched the videos together as I found the log hive explanations so interesting. It seems a good way to observe the bees. I was surprised how quickly they could build the comb. Such a lot to learn about the bees. I was very impressed by Patti’s garden design and her use of original materials makes it so unique to her, I think that is important in a garden. It is nice to have memories worked into the garden like the lovely log hive planter. Amelia
I talked with Hal again yesterday. He had another swarm, this time visiting his work shop area. This one found the observation hive that he built into his work shop a couple of years ago. You can just barely see the opening to it (in the first photo) on the side of the ‘red barn’ and to the left of his new hive #4. It had been empty for over a year and now it’s occupied again…from a swarm that chose it. Nice!
Patti is an amazing lady. She built the multi-level garden at her old house featured in “Hal and Patti’s Log Hives and Garden” (In the ‘Related’ section) Congratulations on getting your own bees this year!
We are always pondering any hive that does not involve regular heavy lifting. With the apparent local shortage of suitable logs for a hive we were wondering about faking it with lumber. It is reassuring to see someone else leading the way with the same daft notion. 8)
But how much thicker is a log wall than the boards in this hive? We are thinking more and more about sandwiching that pink/blue foam insulation between wood.
You would probably greatly benefit from the pink insulation in your area of the country because it gets so cold there. My only concern would be wondering if the stuff would ‘out gas’ in the hot sun…but I bet it would be possible to build it so you could remove the pink stuff in the summer.
What a lovely blog, interesting too. We cannot do enough for the bees in these days when their very existence is threatened, brilliant work. And thank for stopping by my blog too. Kind regards, Agnes
Your log hive tales are always fascinating and a pleasure to watch bees flourish there, but I’m even more interested in Patti’s fountain pond and landscaping now that I have a garden to tend to. So inspiring and so many ideas, just wonderful!