The hive and supers arrived on Thanksgiving morning compliments of my in-laws who were kind enough to pick everything up from Dadant's Chatham location. It is an 8-frame hive with two deeps, a cypress base and a copper topped "garden style" hive cover. Absolutely beautiful.
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| A beehive in multiple boxes |
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While most people were slogging to the mall at the crack of dawn or earlier, my Black Friday was spent staining the hive bodies. At first I tried making a pattern of large diamonds but I discovered that stain isn't the best medium for that so I ended up making a huge mess on the edge of the first hive body and covering the diamond pattern. You can still see it if you look. I think it looks pretty cool so I'm leaving it. The second hive body went much better. Only five medium supers left to stain!
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| Two deep hive bodies stained and drying. Yes, they are both the same size. |
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Of course I had to put the whole thing (except the frames) together to see how it looks. Pretty smart I'd say :) I'm still debating on whether I am going to stain the cover green or just polyurethane it in the event the copper top ends up oxidizing to verdigris. What do you think? Going to leave the cypress base its natural color. Also purchasing a screened bottom board that will be stained green too. Can't wait to bring the bees home in the Spring!
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| Assembled hive |
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