Toby built his first top bar hive today. It came out really nice! Robbyn, he didn’t really follow any design. He mainly talked with a few friends who have built them before and put together what he thought would work well for us. It’s 12 inches deep and long enough to fit 28 frames. It has a partially screened bottom for ventilation, and a tin top that you can lift off to check on them. We had some small cell beeswax, so we cut strips to put in the frames for the bees to build on them. The frames are 3 sided without a bottom, so the bees will probably make more of a rounded comb design.
He drilled some entrance holes for them, too.
I don’t know if we will collect honey from this hive or just let them be. Right now, it’s sitting on some concrete blocks and nicely viewable from our kitchen window. We expect we will have another swarm from our other hive, so we’ll put the swarm in here.
While he was doing that, I closed off a section of the chicken yard and built a little brooding box for Ralph. She wasn’t too happy about being moved at first, but she quickly found her eggs and went back to sitting on them.
And here is the house so far. They need to do all the trim work, but the main body color is done. We were supposed to have a creamy yellow, but the painter called me the night before starting and said he really didn’t think the yellow was a good idea. He said yellow is the quickest color to fade and doesn’t cover as well. He had mentioned this before, but I really wanted to have a yellow… but when he stressed this again I felt like we needed to go with something else. So, we picked out a grey/blue that looked really nice on paper. Unfortunately, I’m really not that happy with how it turned out on the house. I was wanting a cheery, light color that would stand out from the green around it, but still look like it belonged. What I got was a cold color that sticks out like a sore thumb. It’s not a bad color, I just don’t feel like it fits. I know it will look much better once the trim is done. When we get screens, I may paint the frames with a pale yellow or something to lighten up and warm the house color.
Inside, we are done with all the messy work, so we are trying to get things moved in. Then, we can take care of the other little details while we are living in and enjoying our house. Here’s how the kitchen counter tops turned out. We just need to put up a back splash. (I know, it’s hard to see ’cause of all the crap all over them… I’ll take more pictures soon)
Are you able to get the yellow painted over that color? If it fades faster, then just repaint. It’s about what makes you happy. Such a small area to paint anyway.
Everything looks great. You guys have done such a great job with your hands.
Amazing how quickly it seemed to go.
I think yellow trim would be pretty, but I agree with Tammie. If yellow is what you want, yellow is what you should have.
i really like that color. it too will fade. but, yeah, if you want yellow, paint it yellow and just make a commitment to repaint it every year or so.
i’m so excited that you’re almost in!
Looks really nice. I hadn’t been by the blog before and love to see the bees. How far from the house do you keep them?
You guys have worked too hard to build the house you want. Why cut corners now! Color is a big deal and sets the tone for all of your house. Repaint it!!!! The house deserves good karma.
I know! I’m with all of you! I should have the color I want. But the problem is cost. I don’t want to (and can’t, really) spend more money to have the color changed.
I kind of think it’s very elemental–you’ve got the cordwood (earth) below and the blue (sky) above.
Ooooh, Clare, I love that way of thinking. That makes me like the color a lot more 🙂
I like the soft grey-blue, it doesn’t compete with the cordwood below. Live with it for a few seasons and see how it goes! And, many many congratulations about the house. Ella and I went to Shakori Hills to promote the cult and watched Vivien Spiral do her thing for about an hour. Ella was mesmorized by her incredible hooping and now wants one of her own. I thought about you and your hoop-love while we were there.