Making a log bee hive

Chris has wanted to get into bee keeping for quite a while. But he wasn't overly enthused with the idea of buying hives or swarms. So he did a bit of research and came across the idea of a log bee hive. A more natural, so to speak, approach to bee keeping. Google "log bee hive" and you'll see lots of ideas and suggestions on how to go about doing this. 

We had taken down a tree up by the future garden site but left quite a stump since the tree was a twin trunk. Ultimately that's what he decided to convert into the hive. 

Chris sawed off two segments of the trunk then hollowed out the core. A ledge was created to support the honey bars.

Hollowed out and ready for bars.

The bars

Nails keep the bars in place

Bars attached (and the other segment with cap)

Custom fitted cap

A local friend and bee keeper donated some wax to use to seed the bars. Chris melted it down in a double boiler and then smooged it onto the bars. Hopefully bees will come and use that to jump start the hive.

Melting down some bar wax

He placed the two segments back onto the stump and then drilled an entrance hole. The hope is that bees will be magically attracted to the stump and start a hive. A vial of queen pheromone stuff was also donated by our friend to help things along.

The chickens are always a help

The stump needed a cap to keep the rain off so Chris build a stick frame...

The cap base

...and then covered it in overlapping can lids. He ran out of lids before completing the cap so added a funnel just to protect the top. Once we've acquired more lids he'll finish it off with those and I'll get to use the funnel for something else. Maybe a bird house? Dunno yet.

Look close and you can see the dividing line between segments

He also needs to do a cap for the front stump, mainly for the cuteness factor but also to reduce the chances of the stump rotting. 

No bees yet, but it's early in the swarming season. We'll keep our fingers crossed and see what happens through the summer. Wish us luck!