The Hive Board

Beekeeping suppliers have stepped up to the plate to meet beekeeper demand for hive equipment. Top covers, inner covers, landing boards, solid bottom boards and screened bottom boards. These are all in demand by beekeepers and every supplier sells them. You can get ones that are pre-assembled and very handsome and ready to use right out of the box and plain ones that require some assembly and paint before it can be used. But all of those mainstream components are of overly complex design and ultimately overkill.

The Hive Board Top/Bottom Board Concept

Keeping with the theme of maximum interchangeability and simplicity from running all 8 frame medium boxes; I wanted to try keeping my top and bottom equipment the same and interchangeable. I decided to go with it and see if you can really be successful keeping it that simple. Our hive board plus a couple cedar shims serves the function of all of the above components and really can't be any simpler or cheaper.

How the hive board is "built":

My tops and bottoms are 3/4" "RTD Sheathing" plywood (RTD indicates that it's rated for sheathing use as the glue used to make the plywood is rated for exterior applications). The plywood is cut to the exact outside dimensions as a medium super 13 3/4" X 19 7/8". No overhang. I actually have the guy at Home Depot use their panel saw to cut the 4' X 8' sheet into four 4' pieces for me so I can fit it in my car easily. I just tell the guy to make four 20" cuts (makes them a tad longer than exactly 19 7/8"; but close enough).

Then I take the lumber home and cut three 13 3/4" boards out of each of the four 20" x 4' section on my table saw. I get 12 boards out of a 4' X 8' sheet of plywood. That's enough tops and bottoms for 6 hives. You can make up 6 hives' worth of top and bottom boards in about 20 minutes for the price of one sheet of plywood. The only thing cheaper is free. And it can't possibly be made any simpler. It's just a solid board.

Cedar Shims: To glue or not to glue?

Keeping it simple & flexible is the reason I initially elected to not glue on my shims and just go with it and see if I like it. I totally forgot that others glue them. I love my shims and I don't glue them down. This keeps the shims committment-free and available for any present or future need. Just put the shims wherever you like your entrance, top or bottom, standard size entrance or wide side entrance. Whatever you like. I like top entrances. And I chose to orient my hives the same way most beekeepers always have, using the short side for the entrance.

Not gluing down the shim also gives me another advantage. Shims are ~15" in length. If I want a booming hive to have a larger entrance I can position the shims flush with the rear of the hive board. That effectively gives them an extra 3 inches on both sides and widens the opening a little at the same time. I can slide them back even further if I want the opening even larger. Not gluing shims lets you do whatever you need to and doesn't lock you into any particular configuration and doesn't relegate that board to only being useful as a top.

Thoughts on painting the Hive Boards

The first run of them I did I painted them all with a coat of primer followed by two coats of Exterior paint. My last run I elected to not paint them. I've had unpainted hive boards out in the apiary for a couple years now. They are all still fine. Time will tell whether the plies of hive boards on top will separate over time from weathering. The unpainted hive boards on the bottom do not suffer from this because they've got the weight of the whole bee hive keeping the edges of board clamped against the cement blocks. And the hive boards on the bottom do not rot either because the bees control the interior temp and humidity of the hive so moisture can't build up in the wood.

Will the plies of the unpainted hive boards serving as covers separate over time? My experience so far is that they won't. I've had a board laying in a leaf pile for over a year and I just pressed it into service recently on a new swarm catch. It was in good shape. Zero delamination or rot. One thing's for certain you can't go wrong painting or dipping. When I can dip someday I will dip all of my equipment, including the hive boards. I'm holding off on sealing hive boards until then. My advice? Paint or dip if you can.