The design consists of a frame, that will be covered with various plywood panels, doors, or face components.

I cut all the frame components according to my design and labeled them.

The house will be painted, so any kind of 2x4 lumber can be used. These were cut and labeled, and are ready for assembly.

I did have a sheet of 1/2” plywood that I would be using for the two side panels of the bee house.

Here I cut a sheet to size so I could use it to align the frame sides and aid in assembly.

I added some temporary gussets to brace the frame sides. These will be removed later once I start adding panels.

The two finished frame sides.

I wanted to do a temporary test access to the beehives so I created a level platform and set the sides in place.

Here is a beehive sitting in the house.

During the test, we had a major wind storm and it caused me to rethink the legs.

The bee house will always be sitting on some sort of platform or blocks so the legs were removed. I also changed the space inside a little.

With the new sides completed I finished the frame assembly in a couple hours.

Moving the house with my tractor.

This is where the bee house will live while I complete the construction. It is located under the structure I built in front of my Amish garage.

Here I have added the outer top panel and painted the structure.

The inside side and top panels and the roof girts have been added and painted.

The gussets have been removed and the frame painted again.

Raised the bee house.

Here I set the partially painted beehive in its position to test its height.

Happy with everything, we painted the front of the hive.

The finished paint job.

Since the bee house was designed for three 12 frame hives, I added some spacers to the 10-frame hive so it would fit properly.

Later this hive will be removed and another 12-frame put in its place.

Two of my 12x3 unfinished hives were put in place and tested for access.

I ended up raising the house so I did not have to bend over to access the hives.

Notice that roof has been installed. It consists of two sheets of Ondura roof panels.

Outside siding.

These were some old fence panels that I had in one of my barns.

The rear panel that I originally designed would not work properly with the current roof design. Instead, I used two side opening rear doors.

When open, they provide a wind break when working the bees.

Eventually the outside of the rear panels will be covered the same way I did the sides.

Because two of the hives are not completed, I made two place holders out of 2” foam insulation. These will be replaced by the new hives once completed.

Notice that the front trim has been added.

Here, I painted the two foam inserts so they would look a little better.

I decided to keep the house in this location for the first year or so.

While I still had a few small things to work on, the bees arrived and I preceded to install my first bee package.

The queen cage was wired to a middle frame. The bees were then dumped into the rear of the hive.

While I did have a rear hive platform, It was difficult to get the bees into the frames.

Next time, I will form some sort of funnel using corrugated plastic or cardboard.

Couple days after the package was installed, the bees are making their orientation flights.

All in all I am pretty happy with the bee house design and location.

I will update this write-up as I install the two other hives.

The other two hives have been installed.

Notice the front gutter has also been installed.