Roof

Start by cutting a piece of 11mm thick OSB measuring 505mm by 505mm. You can use plywood if you want - I have used OSB because it is cheaper and lighter. Our cat "Lucky" likes to help me when I'm making hives!

Next cut some strips of 18mm thick plywood 150mm wide. From these strips cut two pieces 505mm long, and two pieces 469mm long. These will form the sides of the roof. The following photo shows one piece of each length.

Mark a line 18mm in from the ends of the 505mm long pieces and then mark and drill the holes for the screws.

Glue and screw the 469mm long pieces to one of the 505mm long pieces as shown in the following photo.

Then glue and screw the other 505mm long piece to complete the sides of the roof (see photo below). Check that the structure is square and true before the glue dries.

Now run a bead of glue along the top edges and nail the 505mm x 505mm piece of OSB in place using 5 or 6 nails along each edge.

Turn the roof over and fit some insulation under the OSB. I've used 50mm thick rigid high density foam insulation that I had left over from insulating a roof, but you could use ordinary white expanded polystyrene insulation. You can glue the insulation in place if you wish but I found that if you cut it to the correct size you can squeeze it in so that it stays in place without glue. The insulation I used was in two separate pieces so I put some gaffer tape along the join to seal it.

Before fitting the final roof covering it's a good idea to give the plywood sides of the roof (including the bottom edges) a coat of wood preservative, but make sure it's bee friendly! I use boiled linseed oil because it is safe for the bees and I like the honey coloured finish it gives to the wood.

Now you must decide what type of roof covering to use. Perhaps the most economical is roofing felt. I've used thin felt as sold for use on garden shed roofs. First of all cut a square of felt about 700mm by 700mm and place the hive roof upside down in the centre of the piece of felt.

Keeping the felt as tight as possible, fold it up over the sides of the roof and nail it in place using large headed felt nails. Do this on one side and then on the opposite side. Then fold the felt as shown on the following photo and secure the remaining two sides.

That's it! The basic structure of the hive is finished. The following photo shows the floor, brood chamber, super and roof assembled, but please note that all the external surfaces of the floor, brood chamber and super still need to be treated with wood preservative (in my case boiled linseed oil) to complete the job.

In future posts I'll go through how to make a simple crown board and clearer board, as well as how to assemble the frames and wax foundation that you'll put in the hive. I would recommend that you buy "flat pack" frames from one of the many suppliers - I don't think it's worth trying to make your own from scratch.