Easy 5-frame nuc plans

[Mike S]

I bought 2 sheets of 15/32 plywood yesterday morning and used one sheet per D Coates plan to cut out 4 boxes, I had some scrap left over and plenty for the four. Cut all four out and assembled two in about 3 hours, they all came out real nice. Thanks Coates for posting a good, simple and great working plan.

[Pink Cow]

Top Bar Too?

It occurred to me after building my first from these plans that it could easily be tweaked for use as a top bar nuc or swarm trap. You could of course, reduce the overall length to fit your bars but that would limit its use to only top bars. I was thinking of simply adding a bar far enough back from the front wall where the fronts of the bars would rest, just like a regular frame would on the designed void. It will hold five 1 3/8 inch bars. If done with small screws, this would be easily removable to return the nuc to "Lang style" duties.

Sound reasonable? Am I overlooking any gotchas?

[11x]

link to the pictures of the nucs i made yesterday
http://s699.photobucket.com/albums/v.../hive%20plans/

[Hambone]

I am carpentry challenged.

You weren't kidding where ya.

Messing with ya. Looks good. I like the sbb addition.

[11x]

i always said i wasnt building a rolex, just a timex. it will do the same job. lol powertools are dangerous in the wrong hands

[D Coates]

I did 4 of mine with SBB's. They are nice for overwintering but don't seem to work well as traps. I'm guessing too much light? I will also cut a hole in the screen to do a combine with a queenless hive that needs a boost. It's easy enough to repair the screen once finished.

I did forget about the cut open bottom one time when putting the nuc in my Expedition. That was an attention getter and took me a little bit to realize what was going on. Needless to say, my next vehicle will be a truck.

[Batman]

Spent the morning finishing up some frames and cutting the plywood for the nucs. All the wood is cut and even got one assymbled before it was tinned to go to work. Guess I can get the rest done tonight or tomorrow on my day off. Thanks Dcoats, great post!

Craig

[11x]

i saved the pieces i cut out of the bottems to put back in so i could us them as swarm traps.just putting the cut out piece back in there wont block all the light but if i seal it with duct tape it should be plenty dark in there. at least that was my thinking

[D Coates]

I thought about doing that but the plug I cut out wasn't near as nice as what you did. I put corrugated cardboard cutouts unside the box that fit the bottom tightly. No luck for me with those but it may have simply been luck of draw.

I've also added a couple photos to the album that shows how I make an easy feeder for the top. I have full tops and feeder tops that are interchangeable depending on what I need.

http://s196.photobucket.com/albums/a...4/Nuc%20plans/

[Mike S]

I have built 4 now on your plan, came out nice. On your feeder lids what about rain going inside around the jar lid, does this hurt ? Also what do you do for ventilation in hot weather, looks like it would get awful hot inside? I thought about drilling a 1/2 or 3/4 hole in the back wall and covering with screen, do you think they need it?

[D Coates]

I was concerned about rain getting around the lid too. I taped up around the joint to avoid this in the beginning. The tape failed. I watched and worried and found they didn't seem to care. They propolize the edges pretty heavy to stop any airflow, this apparently stops water as well or lets in so little it doesn't cause a problem.

When the jar is not on there and I'm using a "feeder" top I simply put the brick I use to weight the nuc down over the hole. I did the SBB over my concern of them getting too hot my first 2 years. Last year I didn't get around to making them SBB's and those nucs acted just like the ones with the SBB but the queen laid all the way down to the bottom of the frames too. I don't put them in all day sun. They get shade about 1 pm in the dead of summer.

[Pink Cow]

I was concerned about rain getting around the lid too....

The plans could very easily be modified to accept an entrance feeder and get around this problem.

Take 3/8" off of the bottom of the front panel and make your entrance span the entire width rather than a smaller center opening. Then, make your bottom board 1" longer so it will hold the feeder on the landing board, and you're all set.

No leaks, no hole to cover and you can stack them with feeders in place should you need to go Condo.

[DaveinDeal]

what are the measurments for these boxe's

i only have my blackberry to look at and the photo's on Pbucket are small and when zommed in you can see black smudges were your measurments and marking are (all i can make out is what each part is where you have wrote top, bottom etc)

[odfrank]

I have entrance disks on all my nuc boxes because I use them primarily for bait boxes, and the disks make them so much more secure for closing up and moving. I used the plastic ones first, but they are already deteriorating after a few years from ultra violet light. I bought the sheet-metal ones from Kelley this year which will be a lifetime purchase. They are also small for shallower nucs and to stay out of the way of the handle cleat I add to all my boxes.

Side note: never stack bait boxes laced with lemongrass oil in close proximity. It confuses the bees and this swarm divided itself up into three parts.

[USCBeeMan]

Have 3 of the 4 built with 2 coats of primer and 1 coat of paint. Now if I could just cut a straight line with my skil saw I would be doing okay.

Decided to just take some 4 X1s and split them into 2X1s then cut them in lengths of 8.5 inches to use as the cleats under the ends of the top.

Have split some treated 6X2 to 6 x .5 X 20". Will screw each one to a different nuc to use as a swarm trap. Will drill a hole in the treated wood near the top using a door knob drill cutter.

Put a nail in a tree about 5 feet up and then hang the trap on the nail through the large hole.

Put some old comb and comb frames in the trap and just walk away. Come back in a couple of weeks and either I will have a swarm or not. Haven't heard of any swarms in my area yet. Little early but should be long.

Have already hung one up (not one of these four). Hopefully will hang up 2 more over the weekend. One at a house that has bees in the wall for over 3 years. Will do a cutout when it gets a little warmer but will have the trap there in case they swarm before the cutout.

[My-smokepole]

A tip for you in making straight cut with a skill saw. Take a piece of 1/4 plywood and make a strip say 2" wide glue and staple it to a piece that is say 14" wide re cut bottom piece Lay your new straight edge on good ply wood mark your cuts clamp and cut For your first cut use what ever you have that is straight.
*****_____
_____l l____
l______________l
7 2 2
so on the end view it will look like this. I have made them for all of my saws with two spring clamps they work great. I hope this make sense.
David

[Mtn. Bee]

Excellent plans, Thanks for sharing!
I am definitely planning on making a bunch!

[USCBeeMan]

Thanks David for your suggestion. But I can't get it straight in my mine's eye. I am a smart person but I do have ADD and even with meds sometimes things just don't jump out at me. And this is one of those. Do you have a picture?

Ken

[Hambone]

Now if I could just cut a straight line with my skil saw I would be doing okay.

That's why I buy caulk by the case.

Case and point.




I have D's plans printed and plan on making a few this weekend.
We shall see How I do.

[Joseph Clemens]

I went and got myself two, 4' x 8' sheets of 15/32", 5-ply, exterior grade plywood - they were almost $15.00 each. Initially I cut along both long sides of one sheet creating two strips 19-1/8" wide and 8' long. I took the remaining central piece and cut it down to a 7-1/2" width, then I cut this 8' x 7-1/2" piece into fifteen 6" x 7-1/2" end pieces on my band saw, enough for seven and one half nuc boxes. Then I began cutting 6-5/8" strips off the 19-1/8" wide pieces, creating 6-5/8" x 19-1/8" side pieces. I also cut 8-1/2" long pieces of 1x2 to use for cleats. I used a hand-held circular saw to cut enough side pieces to assemble three nucs, which I did assemble using 1-1/4 inch nails and Titebond III. I haven't painted them yet, but they went together very well, some of the nails did not drive straight, poking out of the sides of the plywood, but they and the glue are still holding well. But all the corners are square and the sides and ends are straight. I plan to cut the remaining and future side pieces on my smaller table saw.

The smaller pieces of plywood, left over from cutting out the ends and sides is wide enough and long enough to make cleats from, so I will use some for the cleats on the next one I build. I like having cleats of 1x2, but will try the plywood cleats to see if they will suffice. It would be an even more efficient use of the material. It seems difficult to find other uses for the thinner scraps.

Thank you again, D Coates