Post 29 of 29 in the AZ Hive series

Five years in, the design has earned my trust. The bees’ survival rate is better than most, the back doesn’t hurt because of beekeeping, the apiary works the way the schematics promised it would. But there’s no such thing as a perfect build, and a few things would change if I started over.

Here’s the list.

Horizontal slots for the support rods. On my current hives, the rod slot on the right side is vertical only — the rod drops in and rests there. On the next build, I’d add a small horizontal channel at the bottom of each rod slot, so the rod could be pushed sideways into the channel. That turns the rod from a passive support into an active clamp, holding the chamber divider down underneath it.

Metal where I have plastic. Two places I’d upgrade from 3D-printed plastic to metal:

• IPM trays. Currently plastic. Metal would be easier to clean and wouldn’t warp.
• Frame spacers. The plastic versions on the doors break with rough handling outside the hive. Metal would solve that. Already in progress — I’ve upgraded the honey-super spacers to stainless steel screw-in versions. The brood-chamber spacers are next.

A real ferrous sheet behind the chalkboards. The chalkboards on the outer doors are painted over iron-particle primer so magnets stick. They stick — but not as well as I’d like. A thin sheet of actual ferrous metal under the chalkboard paint would solve that.

Bigger shed or fewer hives. Six hives in a row inside one shed means the entrances are close enough that bees drift between colonies. A wider shed, or fewer hives along the wall, would let me space the entrances further apart.

D-rings for stubborn inner doors. The walnut handles have never failed, but on the days propolis is being particularly stubborn, a steel D-ring at the two bottom corners would give me something to hook a tool into. Still might add these.

Future Upgrades:

Venturi vacuum. A planned upgrade. I don’t like leaving bees stuck between the inner and outer doors. The bees inside the hive tend to them, and they seem to survive longer than I first expected — but it still bothers me. I remembered a venturi vacuum from shop class that runs off compressed air. With one of those, I could suck stuck bees out from between the doors and release them in the yard in front of the hives. More on this in a future post.

Bee Sweeper. When pulling honey frames I want a device to drop the frame into and have it sweep the bees down off frame into box that has a bee escape to outside.

Temperature monitoring. Essentially done — there’ll be a post on it too. Since the shed has power and internet, monitoring brood temps is easier here than it would be at a remote apiary.

None of these are emergencies. The hives work. Nothing ‘needs’ changed — but in life, nothing stays the same either.

That’s the series. Five years, six hives, twenty-nine posts. Thanks for reading.