Easy NUCs and Feeders

[wfarler]

I pulled the 5 frame NUC plans off the Beesource and whipped together 4 NUCs a couple of Saturday's ago. Needless to say it was pretty easy and straight forward. I have a router so doing the ends was quite easy, used lapped corners instead of box joints - I just can't see the value of box joints in a NUC box that doesn't get a lot of weight stacked on it.

All said the cost was less than $10 each and the time was only about 2 hours to build all 4 of them. They turned out comparable to the $20 NUC kit I bought from Dadant last year and the design is similar.

I have not been very happy with the frame feeders I use in the NUCs. Even with floats a lot of the bees drown. So I pulled out a round door knob drill and cut a round hole in the cover of each NUC. Since I don't plan to overwinter in them - these are starter hives to allow buildup before going into a full sized deep I don't mind having this hole there.

Then I scraped up 4 plastic jars like peanuts, almonds and even rice come in. These hold about 2 or 3 quarts and have plastic screw on lids. I tried punching holes in the plastic but some of them split. My smallest drill bit was too small so I hit on the idea of heating a large needle (found some in my wife's sewing machine box). Just held it in the flame of a lighter and it melted a nice thin hole in the plastic top. Now I've got a nice set of hive top feeders that sit on the holes of each NUC lid. Four NUCs cost about $36 Four feeders cost zero.

[Michael Bush]

Except you ruined the temper in your wifes sewing needle. Maybe she won't find it.

[chemistbert]

She will. They always do. I think it is some kind of ESP or something.

[scsasdsa]

just keep that needle stuck in your veil and next time you will know where it is.

[wfarler]

if a ruined temper on a needle is the smallest mess I make she will THANK me.

My wife is NAGGING me to build a honey house. She just calls it a storage building to get all my stuff out of the house and garage but to me it is a HONEY HOUSE.

brent
Carabella Farm
Who worked the bees in shorts and a t-shirt and no veil this last weekend for the first time in a long while. Thank you Koehnan for those new queens and packages.

[Alex Cantacuzene]

Hello wfarler et al,
I have and will again build hive boxes and maybe a nuc or two. I was discouraged with the finger joints as my dado blade did not fit on the table saw and I have safety concerns with this. So, I have switched to dovetails with a Sears jig and my router. So far all glued only joints have held up well and I like the fact that you do two ends on the corners at one time. Has anyone else had experience with this approach?