After finishing putting the wax frames together, we started on putting together the westerns (the boxes themselves). We spent way too much time trying to figure out what types of screws to use. Our local bee expert, Corky Luster, uses a hydraulic nail gun for his hives. We decided to try sheet metal screws (which are stainless steel, unlike wood screws). The best screws were 1.5" by 8. We found that a size 10 screw actually was cracking the wood. It was definitely a two-person job to put together the boxes and maintain 90 degree angles. The boards had pre-drilled holes, but we found that about half of the holes were in the wrong place.
Next came the paint. We decided to go with a light blue and white latex paint. We chose lighter colors so it would be very clear if the bees were pooping on the outside of the boxes and having digestive problems. We didn't need to consider a dark color's ability to absorb heat, because the hive location gets quite a bit of light.
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| Sea Reflections(Blue) |
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| Glacier White |
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| Steve paints the hive boxes. |
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| We really needed quite a bit of space to paint the boxes and store the hive boxes and other materials. |
So thankful to Diane for putting on the second layer of paint on the boxes!
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