# Queen Castle Plans



## Skinny bee man (Dec 22, 2013)

I have been thinking about building a Queen Castle this winter.

Does anyone have some simple plans?

I was planning on using an empty deep.

Thanks!


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## BeeCurious (Aug 7, 2007)

I don't have time to reply fully right now but I can offer some suggestions, and eventually provide a few pictures. 

For one, add an additional 3/4" (or more) rim to the bottom edge of your box to give swarm cells more clearance. 

My original Queen Castle was purchased but I prefer the one that I built for a number of reasons. I also have 3 "Queen Tenements" which I generally use as mating boxes. 

I'm pretty busy at this instant but I might be able to help you build a castle that is nicer than the Brushy Mountain model...


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## dsegrest (May 15, 2014)

The "plans" for my queen castle(s) is just a 10 frame deep, with a piece of masonite on the bottom and 2 dado's for dividers. Top is custom cut 1" (3/4") boards. 

The mistake I made with the 1st on was to not make the dividers go high enough to lap the edge of the box. Now my dividers go all the way and have "ears" that go over the edge of the box to the level of the "inner covers". The problem manifested as bees leaking between the sections. The newly designed dividers solved that problem.

I drilled 3/4" entrance holes to access each section. I also drilled a few holes in the bottom and covered them with hardware cloth for ventilation.


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## beestudent (Jun 10, 2015)

my plan for queen castles next year, will be more like queen condos. taking a 5 frame deep, add a 3/4" divider in the center. as well, I have divised a way to put these on top of a regular deep hive!


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## minz (Jan 15, 2011)

If you are going to use an old deep (as in the OP), You just need a circular saw, a straight piece of wood to use for a guide, and two clamps to hold it there. You clamp the wood to the box front (minus the 1.25” for my saw from the foot of the saw to the blade) cut a slot, move it 1/8” do it again. Keep doing this until the saw kerf is the same with as your divider board. Put in a piece of plywood or masonite divider. Cut vent holes along the top of the box my vents on the top rear to confuse robbers (I use 1” with window screen on it, some I have cut too high that get covered by the telescoping cover). Drill ½” entrance holes in the bottoms of each section (I use one entrance on each side of the to help the queen orienting back to the correct section).


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## J Ornouski (Apr 4, 2014)

Made mine like Billy's here is a video 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uuNa6s1WaI


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## rookie2531 (Jul 28, 2014)

I have seen this video before and wonder, why do people use queen castles anyway? Can't you just pull a frame from the hive your breeder queen is in and select the best looking frame and graft from it? What is the big deal, I pull the smallest larvae there is and it works great. No going in 3 days ahead of time to put in a dry comb, which presents another problem, who has dry brood comb lying around? If I have comb, it is being used somehow by the bees. Either brood in it or honey or both.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

Rookie, if you look up a video of Michael Palmer working one of his breeder queen hives he explains why. It's about getting the perfect age larva and not digging through the boxes. For guys like you and I though, it is probably overkill.

Edit: here is the video.


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## BeeCurious (Aug 7, 2007)

A "Queen Castle" is generally not a part of grafting. I believe that the gentleman in the video is mistakenly calling his breader queen box a "castle".


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

BeeCurious said:


> A "Queen Castle" is generally not a part of grafting. I believe that the gentleman in the video is mistakenly calling his breader queen box a "castle".


That was my impression too.


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## rookie2531 (Jul 28, 2014)

So what is the OP about? Mating nuc?

I've seen another like it from fatbeeman and I think he called it a timing box, which to me is a better name.

Here's mine.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vBsQbD3SmUQ


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## BeeCurious (Aug 7, 2007)

rookie2531 said:


> So what is the OP about? Mating nuc?


http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/Queen-Castle/productinfo/687/


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

rookie2531 said:


> So what is the OP about? Mating nuc?


Yeah usually a four way divided box.


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## rookie2531 (Jul 28, 2014)

Thanks everyone, jorn got me thinking off track there. But I still do not call those castles. I call them mating nucs.


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## BeeCurious (Aug 7, 2007)

I use medium frames so when I made my "queen castle" I used the full width of the 1x8. This provides about 5/8" of additional clearance under the frames which helps to avoid damaging swarm cells if that's what you are dealing with. If using a deep box I would attach a rim around the bottom. 

The Brushy Mountain Queen Castle has a solid rim attached to the bottom of the box. 









If sitting on a flat surface the Brushy Mountain Queen Castle wouldn't have any ventilation through the bottom. 

I prefer my box... 







It's not noticeable in the picture but the outer most bottom supports are slightly thicker than the other two. 

The bottom of my box is made with two strips of pine (to support the Masonite dividers), and plywood. 









I used some scraps of mahogany for the two bottom supports to make it a little more rugged. TiteBond III glue was used on all joints/pieces. In addition, I sealed all of the end grain and the tops of fasteners with the TiteBond...










The individual section covers are just pieces of 1X stock. 









Be sure to cut the Masonite dividers to extend about 5/8" higher than the top edge of the box. All that's left is a standard outer cover...


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## crosbyfive (Apr 5, 2013)

http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/downloads/beekeeping/Bushkill4WayMatingNuc.pdf here are some good plans for a queen castle.


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## Caleb E (Feb 20, 2015)

I've seen plenty of videos on making and how a queen castle works..... Do any of you know of vidoes of a queen castle in progress? I want to see what inspections or what the working of a queen castle looks like. Thank you.


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## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

BeeCurious said:


> I prefer my box...



Nice design. Mine is very similar, but I use deeps. I also use 3 frames per compartment instead of the 2 in the brushy design. I start with standard deep (I did special order 50 boxes without the front/rear hand holds), and make a 3/4 inch shim (runs the entire perimeter of the box - no breaks) that sits below the box and on top of the BB. I too use Masonite for dividers. Entrances are drilled holes and use the galvanized entrance disk from Mann Lake. BB are solid, but with two drilled holes under each compartment. These holes have #8 hardware cloth to prevent bees from getting in. Each compartment's "inner cover" has a hole drilled to accept a mason jar. An additional solid outer cover is used to keep it water tight. Of course when feeding an empty box is placed on top. 

I feel 3 frames is more robust in terms of managing their space, and also gives you a better chance to evaluate new queens in larger populations. Of course they take a lot more resources, so I appreciate that not everyone is willing to dedicate that many resources. Somewhat subjective, but I'd rather invest the resources to avoid issues and potentially get better queens. Our flow shuts down really hard near the first of June, so running slightly bigger mating nucs is beneficial.


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## beeguy57 (Dec 11, 2019)

Skinny bee man said:


> I have been thinking about building a Queen Castle this winter.
> 
> Does anyone have some simple plans?
> 
> ...


I was havingthe same problem. However, after searching for a while I found a website that has the plans. The URL is http://honeydrunkapiaries.blogspot.com/2014/11/build-your-own-queen-castle-two-frame.html


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