# Home made OH



## brushwoodnursery (Feb 10, 2012)




----------



## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

So they are two frames wide? How often do you see the queen?


----------



## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Looking at the pic thumbnail I saw 3 standard frames and 1 half frame for a
total of 4 frames. Maybe the other side by the wall have the plexiglass to see
through also. If you cannot find the queen on one side then maybe she's on the other side.


----------



## brushwoodnursery (Feb 10, 2012)

It's 2 mediums over 6 deeps, so a double wide. It pivots on the shutter hinges and has plexi on both faces. The queen is regularly on one of the faces but is sometimes on the inside halves of the frames and can't be found.


----------



## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

You will see the queen about 25% of the time you look for her. Although viewing the queen is always nice. It is but a small part of an Observation Hive. 

Nice Job, However You will come to regret using the plexiglass. When you do, replace it with 3/16 inch safety glass!


----------



## Clairesmom (Jun 6, 2012)

Why oak instead of something lighter, like pine?


----------



## brushwoodnursery (Feb 10, 2012)

Clairesmom said:


> Why oak instead of something lighter, like pine?


Because I'm a fool! Not only is it a heavy wood, there's massive overkill in the structure. When it was installed at the school, it was 75 feet and up a flight of steps to get it outside. Now that it's at home, it's only 15 feet across the room to the deck.




Tenbears said:


> You will see the queen about 25% of the time you look for her. Although viewing the queen is always nice. It is but a small part of an Observation Hive.
> 
> Nice Job, However You will come to regret using the plexiglass. When you do, replace it with 3/16 inch safety glass!


 Right. I know she's there based on a nice pattern of eggs and young brood in a couple of places.
Thanks! I cleaned the plexi once already and it wasn't too bad. I did make very tiny scratches with the scrubber sponge. I'll probably change it out in a couple of years. Then again, I may sell/give/donate this one and build something nicer. There are a couple of places in town that offer tempering of custom size glass.


----------



## mgolden (Oct 26, 2011)

I manned a booth on bees with an observation hive for the day at a large 10 day exhibition. The fellow making up the OH put in an unmarked virgin queen. She was hard to locate and near impossible when the bees became quite active mid day.

The OH was a great crowd attractor.

However, I wish I had a dollar for every time I was asked - Is there a queen in there? and then, Where is she? Think another time an older marked queen would be a much much better queen to not only show the queen size and characteristics.


----------



## RichM (Dec 22, 2015)

I have had success cleaning the plexiglass of my observation hive using denatured alcohol to remove the propolis, followed by scraping the wax off with a plastic gift card. The bit of wax residue left can be removed with dry paper towel and a little elbow grease. It is best to have a clean spare plexiglass to swap out, so you can clean it at your leisure.


----------



## brushwoodnursery (Feb 10, 2012)

RichM said:


> I have had success cleaning the plexiglass of my observation hive using denatured alcohol to remove the propolis, followed by scraping the wax off with a plastic gift card. The bit of wax residue left can be removed with dry paper towel and a little elbow grease. It is best to have a clean spare plexiglass to swap out, so you can clean it at your leisure.


:thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------

