Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Beekeeping Guides

A queen excluder is an optional beekeeping equipment and can be purchased from a wide variety of manufacturers. When you do not want to buy a queen excluder, you can make one by yourself. This article details how to make a queen excluder and highlights its main features. It also looks at the importance of this beehive component as well as the reasons beekeepers choose to use or avoid a queen excluder in their beekeeping operation. While queen excluders are used in both Langstroth and top-bar beehives, the one discussed in this article is mainly that which is used in a Langstroth beehive.

Good hygiene is a key factor in beekeeping. In a beehive, the frames are one of the important items you should clean. Both experienced and beginner beekeepers need to know how to clean beehive frames. They can then reuse the frames in their beehives with little risk of spreading diseases and sure that they are controlling pests of honeybees. Some beehive frames are best destroyed by fire and other destruction methods. These are the frames that have contagious diseases of bee colonies such as foulbrood. It is especially important to clean beehive frames when moving them between honeybee colonies. Some colonies that appear healthy at first, may in fact harbor disease-causing organisms that can infect a weak colony. Do not put off cleaning beehive frames for any reason, especially if you plan to use them in another colony. It is great if you schedule and carry out beehive frame cleaning soon after harvesting honey. This gives your frames ample time to dry properly before the next use. You are also able to repair any damaged frames and replace those that cannot be reused; all this done in time before honey flow season.

The Langstroth beehive top cover is very important due to its primary function of protecting the beehive. The top cover keeps the elements out, prevents water and solid items such as snow entering from above. It works in conjunction with an inner cover to keep everything dry. The top cover can be telescoping and flat or garbled (sloped). The inner cover is always flat and does not telescope over the sides of the beehive. This article shows you how to build a Langstroth beehive top cover as well as the inner cover.

Any beekeeper that is conscious about the welfare of their honey bees leaves nothing to chance when it comes to ant-proofing their apiary. Using an ant proof beehive stand is one great way of doing so.

Beehive frame assembly is important for hands-on beekeepers with an interest in making their own beekeeping equipment. The next logical step after building your own beehive boxes is to assemble the frames and install them. This guide takes you through assembling beehive frames for both brood and honey super beehive boxes. It covers frames for deep, medium and shallow beehive boxes. The assembly of beehive frames can be split into two broad processes: 1.) First is the assembly of the wooden frame. 2.) The second broad process is wiring the frame and addition of foundation including embedding wax foundation.