[Absinthe]

Now I remember why I hate working with reclaimed lumber so much... This stuff wasn't so much bowed or warped as it was more like twisted like a rotatini.

Needs a touch of the sander, and a coat of a serious primer and at least 2 coats of paint. But otherwise it seems okay.

 

[AR1]

Looks fine. I doubt the bees will notice!

My first hives were made from whatever I could scrounge, which was burnt wood from my dad's barn. A car caught on fire and large areas were scorched. Fortunately the fire department got there and saved the building. But lots of wood is charred on one side and very curved. It was a pain to learn to build square corners with curved wood, but still using those boxes. Bees seem top like charred wood, my first swarm catch was in one of those boxes.

 

[Absinthe]

Cool! This was kind of twisty and had some sort of liquid stains on it, and it had adhesive backed vinyl on it that I peeled off, but it was still sticking to everything. Once I am done with this junk-wood, I will go back to the cheap HD stuff.

 

[JConnolly]

Someone has a serious dust collection system. (Dusttopper cyclone + shopvac + swapping hoses here.)

A couple of years ago I started screwing the bottom boards onto my nucs. Last year instead of a two piece nuc I started making the boxes taller and screwing a 3/4" Advantec or CDX plywood insert into the bottom of the box. I got tired of fiddling with them and it always seemed like the nuc bottom boards were just more prone to slide off. Making a bottom board was as much work as a nuc box with an integrated bottom. Anyone else doing that?

 

[Absinthe]

Someone has a serious dust collection system. (Dusttopper cyclone + shopvac + swapping hoses here.)

A couple of years ago I started screwing the bottom boards onto my nucs. Last year instead of a two piece nuc I started making the boxes taller and screwing a 3/4" Advantec or CDX plywood insert into the bottom of the box. I got tired of fiddling with them and it always seemed like the nuc bottom boards were just more prone to slide off. Making a bottom board was as much work as a nuc box with an integrated bottom. Anyone else doing that?

I have seen several people doing them that way. I figured I would do one this way first, figuring I could drive a screw up through this if need be, or perhaps pick up some hive staples. I was going to ask, when people do the integrated floor, do you make the box 3/4" deeper 10-3/8" maybe. I assume I will have nucs as a sole thing. But I do want to be able to do 5x5's at some point as well. So maybe make soime with integrated bottom, and others just a little shorter?

 

[AR1]

Many of my hives/nucs have solid, attached bottoms. Some pluses and minuses. Easy to pick up and move around without bees scattering everywhere. Adds weight. No change to depth and doesn't seem to matter to the bees. There is still enough bee-space for them to move around.

 

[JConnolly]

II was going to ask, when people do the integrated floor, do you make the box 3/4" deeper 10-3/8" maybe.

It depends on whether you cut the floor to overlap the sides and screw the floor onto the bottom, or cut the floor to fit inside and inset the floor into the bottom. I make my floors inset to protect the plywood edge from the weather. A standard 1x12 is 11-1/4" wide. An inset floor leaves you 10-1/2, which is 7/8" clearance. That is just 1/8" more than a 3/4" rimmed bottom board and I like the little extra bit of clearance in case I want to put a frame with a queen cell on it in the nuc.

At first I was concerned about it making my gear less flexible, such as if I needed a 5x5, until I started counting the integrated nuc as a bottom board; either way I've either got a bottom board or an integrated box. The integrated box is simpler. I've still got nuc boxes that I can add on for a second story.

 

[coalsmok]

I made a bunch of nucs two winters ago from reclaimed plywood. Half have a integrated bottom and half are not. I like the flexibility that gave me. Moving bees is much easier in a box the bottom doesn’t fall off of and when they grow out I can add a box.

 

[AR1]

At first I was concerned about it making my gear less flexible, such as if I needed a 5x5, until I started counting the integrated nuc as a bottom board; either way I've either got a bottom board or an integrated box. The integrated box is simpler. I've still got nuc boxes that I can add on for a second story.

That's my experience. I may not make any more like that, but I'll certainly keep using the ones I have.

 

[Steve in PA]

Someone has a serious dust collection system. (Dusttopper cyclone + shopvac + swapping hoses here.)

Anyone else doing that?

Yes, I started making them this year after just screwing the bottom boards on last year. So far I really like it. I add 1 inch to the front and sides then cut a 4 inch opening in the front. As of now, I could not be more happy with how it is working. This is a picture of some 6 frame nucs I made to try a multiqueen hive. 10 Frame supers on top. I am experimenting with another that is 5 frame nucs with 8 frame supers on top.

 

[JWPalmer]

I make my nucs as a separate box and SBB, then screw them together. The utility of a one piece unit and the flexibility of separate pieces if I want. Takes more time to make, but that is why God made winter.

 

[odfrank]

Being in my fiftieth year of beekeeping, I learned long ago to make hives with the best of materials as durable as you know how. I made about 50 migratory covers out of pallet lumber that bent and twisted and then rotted in just a few years. We use the survivors for super pile pallets now.