Beekeeping is an interesting activity that can grow from a hobby into a serious source of income. However, not everyone can be engaged in beekeeping and the more so earn on it. It requires serious knowledge, extensive experience, a person must wholeheartedly love the work in which he is engaged and, importantly, have some physical strength, since the beekeeper accessories and devices, as well as the products actually produced, have a decent weight.
The hive "Boa", developed by Vladimir Davydov, is compact and easy to maintain, as well as comfortable for bees. The complexity of servicing this bee house is small, and the result, which is pcheloproduktsiya, fully justifies the efforts.
Description and design features
"Boa" is a small-format compact multi-body beehive, the frame area of which is one-fourth of the frame area of the hive "Dadan". Here the frame dimensions are 110 × 280 mm.
You can also make your own alpine and multicase hive.
Framework "Boa" wide and thin, the upper bar has a propyl through which the entire region is placed in the frame. Additional fixation with wire is not required due to its small size. A standard sheet of honeycomb under the Dadanovsky hive is divided into four parts without remainder, such a quarter ideally becomes framed in the "boa".
Did you know? A bee is capable of carrying a load 320 times its size itself, provided that it does not go on a smooth surface.Roof made of plywood or chipboard, its specific design provides a 30-mm airbag, which, if necessary, warming is filled with foam layer. It is provided with a hole for ventilation with a diameter of 13 mm, usually it is closed.
Hive case "boa" has dimensions of 375 × 360 × 135 mm. It fits 9 frames. In the front wall of each there is a notch of 19-millimeter diameter. When the whole body is filled with honey, it weighs 12 kg, the weight of the empty one is 3 kg. 
At the detachable bottom there is a sliding insert and tap hole. The specific design of the bottom allows you to successfully deal with ticks, provides ventilation, makes it easy to transport hives and care for insects.Did you know? Bees overwinter huddled together in a certain tangle, the surface of which has a dense structure, and the core - more loose, with insects constantly replacing each other. If it gets colder, they are pressed together, and the tangle is reduced in size, warmer - expands. In this way, the bees manage to maintain a temperature not lower than 24.5 degrees inside their club.
The design of the hive "Boa" is quite simple and at the same time very easy to maintain and successful for the bees, and most importantly, it is quite possible to make it with your own hands if you have the right tool. This will be the best option, since the beekeeper, who made the hive himself, thoroughly studied its design and can modernize it according to his own needs.Hive "Boa" has certain features:
- it does not have any pillows for warming, nor a podpryshnik, the small size of the frame and the compactness of the structure allow maintaining the temperature balance;
- the structure consists of sections, which, if necessary, remove or, on the contrary, add, and this principle allows you to care for the bees in such a way that even in a fairly cold time their home does not cool down when the section is replaced;
- during the treatment of ticks, which is made twice or thrice a year, a specifically designed bottom comes to the rescue, which allows you to remove harmful insects without disassembling the entire hive;
- those who use the Boa hive are more likely to divide families artificially instead of swarming;
- the frame "Boa" has a sufficiently small size in order not to use nucleus hives in addition, when it becomes necessary to remove females;
- in winter, due to the small size of the frame, the bees are, firstly, able to maintain a comfortable temperature, and secondly, they fully master the frame.
Pros and cons of hives
Consider the pros and cons of this design. The hive "Boa" gained recognition in the beekeeping environment thanks to its advantages:
- Due to the fact that the body has a small height, it is not necessary to knock down the shields during its manufacture.
- Fold fastenings give the structure stability when the cases are mounted one on another.
- When the section is full, it weighs about 12 kg, in order to lift and move it, it does not require much effort and there is no need for an assistant.
- Due to the small size of the frames, it is not necessary to additionally strengthen them with wire.
- Medogonka cassette holds two small frames "Boa" at once.
- A standard sheet of honeycomb, divided exactly into four parts, is suitable to fill the four frames of the Boa, leaving no waste.
- Plowing takes a few seconds and occurs through a slot in the upper part of the frame.
- Frames, due to their small size and lack of wire, are very convenient to sell honey.
- All parts of the hive are standardized, unified, which makes it much easier to work with it.
- Due to the fact that the framework of the same size, it is easier to collect the nest, preparing it for winter.
- The total volume of the hive is not fully used due to the fact that the sections and frames are quite small and there is a lot of unoccupied space. However, this empty space allows bees to easily maintain cells and cells, having access to them, as well as navigate through the streets and freely contact with the uterus.
Hive "Boa" is good because its design allows you to control the state of bee colonies and the level of honey produced, and also has excellent ventilation due to the abundance of letkov.
But, as it happens in most cases, he has some disadvantages that are rather features:
- Because of the small volume of the Boa hull, they need about five for the wintering of a bee colony, which requires only one Dadan for this purpose.
- The small area of the bottom makes the structure less stable, but the low windage of the whole bee house, on the contrary, adds stability.
- It takes a little time and material to make the section "Boa" relatively, however, if you consider that it contains two and a half frames of the hive "Dadan", the conclusion is that it is still quite laborious.
Beekeepers often practice feeding bees. To do this, you can make honey or Candi.
Making "Boa" do it yourself
The master, who decided to build his own hives for the bees of the Boa structure, should be stocked with the necessary knowledge, patience, materials and tools. At the beginning of constructing the body, then you need to check its size. This is the basis of the future hive, and when it is ready, proceed to making the bottom and cover. After the hive is made, its wood should be painted to extend the life of the product.
Materials and tools
For the "Boa" hive, you will need:
- boards 35-40 cm long, 5 cm thick and 14-15 cm wide;
- a circular saw;
- small carnations (25 mm), with which you will collect the frame;
- hammer;
- furniture stapler and staples (14 mm) to it;
- vise for fixing the frame when plowing;
- nails 50 mm;
- self-tapping screws of the same length;
- electric drill and 12 mm drill bit;
- ruler and protractor;
- Bulgarian;
- means for painting the hive "Healthy Home" or "Pinotex".
Step by step production
The hive tree must be well dried to avoid deformation due to swelling or drying out during operation of the finished product. It should be borne in mind that during drying the board is also deformed, as if arching on one side and sagging on the opposite. How to prepare the base surface blanks for the further manufacture of the hive, see the video.
Hive case fabrication "Boa"
First make the body of the hive, then measure it, checking the correctness of the obtained dimensions. External dimensions of the case: 375 × 360 × 135 mm, internal: 335 × 300 × 135 mm.
Did you know? In collecting honey at the same time, between 25 and 50% of working bees are occupied, the others have other business: they take care of brood, build new honeycombs, take nectar and process it into honey, ventilate the room and so on.
Using a circular saw, you need to prepare two billets 135 × 400 mm from a 50-millimeter board, these are the future front and rear walls, and one billet 135 × 360 mm is the basis for the side walls, which are 20 mm thick, so that the resulting billet is to be cut into two appropriate sizes.
The thickness of the front and rear walls of 30 mm, so that the workpiece from which they will be made, should also be brought to the desired size. Thus, you get two blanks 375 × 135 × 30 for the front and rear and 340 × 135 × 20 for the side walls of the case.
The video shows in detail how to prepare correctly, what tools to use, and some nuances are indicated.
Did you know? Bees, djealous inhabitants of the forest, sensing smoke, identify it as a forest fire. And if so, you should eat more honey before a long-distance hearse in search of a new home. The bee who has gorged himself before the heap loses its flexibility and is not able to use the sting. This instinct and use beekeepers, fumigating their pets.On the existing blanks, select the quarter, or make a fold:
- 11 × 15 mm - to connect the enclosures;
- 11 × 15 mm - under the frame;
- 20 × 20 mm - to connect the front and side walls;
- 15 × 20 mm on the front and rear walls of the case.
How to choose quarters on a circular saw or a milling machine, described in detail and shown in the video.
Using a milling machine or a circular saw in the side wall, you need to make a groove for a handle for ease of operation on the size of your own hand, and also drill a 13-mm notch in the front wall.
Important! It is better to do a letka with a small external bias for convenience of a leakage of the got rain water.Having prepared all the details, you can proceed to the assembly of the case. In order to do this quickly and accurately, you must make a jig in advance, in which the right angle for the guides is observed.
Having set the workpiece with the help of the conductor at an angle of strictly 90 degrees, they are fastened with the help of nails or self-tapping screws. If unnecessary protrusions remain after assembly, they are removed with a sander or circular saw.
In the video, all the above operations are shown in detail and with nuances.
Frame making
Frame rails have the following dimensions:
- top - 320 × 23 × 3 mm;
- lower - 280 × 23 × 3 mm;
- lateral - 106 × 35 × 7 mm.
Thus, the dimensions of the finished frame are 280 × 110 mm.
In order to quickly, safely and conveniently unpick the bars on the slats for the framework, you can build a jig, as shown in the video.
Having dismissed the bars and received a sufficient number of rails, you can begin to assemble the framework. A conductor is also built for this, as it is long, inconvenient to work with each frame separately, and it is practically impossible to observe right angles.
Among experienced beekeepers gaining board beekeeping popularity.
The author of the video proposes a technique for making a conductor, with which you can simultaneously assemble 9 frames at once, as long as it takes to fill in one body "Boa".
Fasten the slats with small studs or a furniture stapler.
Important! Please note that the size of the finished product can much distort, if you use different ways of attaching the side plates to the bottom.Making the bottom for "Boa"
The Boa has a combined bottom, it is equipped with an anti-barrotic grating, which also serves as the floor. Under it is a plywood liner that can be extended. This may be necessary for additional ventilation of the bee house. By varying the position of the liner, the beekeeper regulates the temperature both in the roast and in the cold season.
The bars of the combined Donets have dimensions:
- the front one is 375 × 90 × 30 mm, a quarter of 11 × 15 mm is selected at the top, 20 × 20 mm on each side, it is equipped with a 335 mm notch through which the mesh insert is inserted at an angle, and it moves in grooves made in the side bars . On the front wall is a removable transfer board with dimensions of 316 × 60 × 16 mm.
Important! It is important that the flight board is not painted and absorbs moisture when it rains. If you paint it, it will immediately get wet, and the arriving bees, sticking their wings to it, will die on the doorstep of your own house one step before salvation.
- rear - 375 × 50 × 30 mm, upper fold - 11 × 15 mm, side - 20 × 20 mm. The rear wall is retractable, it is attached to the movable plywood.
- lateral - 340 × 90 × 20 mm, the upper quarter - 11 × 15 mm, after the bottom is assembled, remove 1 mm fold, protruding on the sides.
Important! All compounds in the hive must be folded to preserve the hive microclimate in any weather and convenient to work with it without fear of venting and killing insects.Very detailed manufacturing technology of the bottom is shown in the video.
Making a cover for the hive "Boa"
The product has dimensions of 375 × 360 × 70 mm and consists of:
- front and rear wall - 375 × 65 × 20 mm with side and lower folds 20 × 11 mm, in the front wall there is a notch 13 mm in diameter, which can be closed if necessary;
- side walls - 342 × 65 × 20 mm with a selected quarter of 20 × 11 mm;
- plywood sheet for the roof top - 375 × 360 × 4 mm;
- plywood sheet for the "ceiling" - 354 × 339 × 4 mm with a 30-mm-diameter hole in the center;
- foam 335 × 318 mm;
- tin blanks for roofing - 415 × 400 mm with a 2-centimeter bend on the sides.
Learn how to make a wax refinery and honey extractor with your own hands.
At a distance of 20 mm from the top along all four walls, a groove was made for ceiling plywood 4 × 6 mm.
The manufacturing techniques of the cover are shown in detail in the video.
The content of bees in "boas"
The hive of this design does not take much time and effort for maintenance. Bees often overwinter in five buildings. After the end of the wintering season, they make the first fly-around, and after that some attention should be paid to their striped pets.
As a rule, there are no bees in the first and second (lower) enclosures; they should be removed, the bottom of the accumulated debris should be cleaned, the bees' habitat should be examined for brood and the number of bees should be estimated. With a satisfactory result, the hive must be closed.
Did you know? The old bee, sensing the approaching demise, in the summertime will never allow itself to die in the hive: it flies away from the dwelling. Dead bees in the hive are only during wintering.
Further it is necessary to proceed from temperature and other weather conditions. At the right time, you need to add a frame containing a thickness and additional housing. After the first flight, a week later, the first corps, equipped with a wrinkle, is added. It is placed where there is a nest with brood, located in the section. The following corps, when necessary, are placed above the previous ones. 
If there is a need to replace the uterus or to prevent swarming, create artificial swarming. The case, where the uterus is located, is withdrawn, and one more is added above and below it. Three days later, this new hive is placed near the old one, from which the flight bees will soon move to a new one. If the next inspection it turns out that they are too constrained, you need to give them more honeycombs in the amount of one body.
From what plants honey is collected from his taste and healthy qualities. Read about the properties of chernoklenovogo, lime, buckwheat, hawthorn, pumpkin, espartsetovy, phacelia, rapeseed, coriander, chestnut honey.
When the main honey collection arrives, the first and second corps should be removed, they are often empty or full of perga. From the rest of the frame deflate the contents. For the winter, bees should leave two bodies with printed honey, during this period bees eat 6-8 kg of honey.
The hive "Boa" is convenient for beginner beekeepers, as well as it is useful during the wanderings. On average, a beekeeper from one hive receives about 50 kg of honey, as well as other bee products. Beehive "Boa" has its fans, paying tribute to the convenience, compactness and thoughtfulness of the design, which can be improved if necessary, adjusting to your own conditions, especially if it was made with your own hands.
