****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I'm giving this 5 stars for the value. Bear in mind, my expectations were set low by some of the other reviewers before my purchase. I agree with their assessment that this on the cheap side. The wood is pine after all. Not all the pieces fit together as snugly as one would expect, but I've purchased top-of-the-line hive kits with this problem also.I caught a swarm from one of my other hives this Spring and needed another hive in a pinch, at a time year when the supplies for hive components are now. This kit was the only one I found with a screened bottom board (my preference for where I live), and essentially the other parts I needed to supplement my existing stock of hive equipment on hand. Buying the pieces individually would have been another $50-100 easy and I felt I was already over my beekeeping budget this year.I took a chance on this kit and was pleasantly surprised. Do I expect this to hold up as long as my cedar hive boxes dipped in wax? No, but if I get a couple years out of it I'll be satisfied.The one quirk with this kit was that they sent me a bottle of glue and no nails. The glue they provided was quality Titebond II, which is what I use anyway for gluing my hive components, so I can't complain for receiving another bottle. I did have to spend a couple bucks on nails. You definitely want to use nails, glue alone is not going to cut it when your frames are full of honey. This wasn't an issue for me, but if this was my first time assembling a hive, I might be confused about what kind of nails to use for the frames (the small #16 or #17 nails will work - four on the top of your frames and two on the bottom). I also drilled out and used regular 2" screws to add more support for the hive body and super.Otherwise, assembling the hives was easy and after a coat of good exterior paint the hive is in place. Can't say the bees are unhappy with their new home.
