The Birds for the Bees

I finally built, painted and set up my new beehive.  Now all I need is bees.  They are due to arrive later this week - so I'm all set - and feeling hopeful and optimistic that this will be a GREAT year.

This is the beginning of my third year of beekeeping.  In my case, I'm not really sure I should say bee"keeping" - as I have yet to make it through a northeastern winter with the same colony.  Perhaps a better description of my bee yard is a bee hostel.  I give them a home and food (as needed) and, ideally, they share their honey with me. 

Because, in the past, I have only had used equipment - I felt the need to start fresh this year.  Perhaps it will bring me success.  Thankfully, I had some honey to sell to friends - so I was able to invest in some new hive boxes and frames.  I will be starting with two colonies this year - one in the newer of my two used hives and the other in my brand spanking new hive.  Both hives will have all new frames.

I am rather handy - but by no any means a woodworker - so I purchased my hives unassembled from Forest Hill Woodworking in Paradise, PA.  Not only was it a beautiful drive, but I must also say, Forest Hill Woodworking was a pleasure to deal with!   http://foresthillbeesupply.com/ 

Here is a little show and tell of my building and painting process.  I love creating things with my hands (even though I had lots of help with this one).  The process only made me more excited and determined to be successful with my new Italian honeybees.  I like to add a little something to each hive to make it special for me - and I'm pretty happy with my finished product.  I hope the bees like it as much as I do!

The hive kit I purchased included a hive stand, bottom board, entrance reducer, 2 deep boxes, 2 medium supers, an inner cover, and an outer cover - plus frames for each box.

The kit even included the nails.

The "puzzle" pieces waiting to be assembled.

Each corner was glued and nailed together.

1 down, 3 to go!

Assembled and ready to paint!

Painted with Glidden's Forsythia Bloom exterior paint.

Finished off with a beautiful blue bird stencil... hence the birds for the bees!