How To Assemble a Bee Frame

Inside the bee hive are frames that hang vertically. These frames hold the comb which the bees use to store eggs, brood, nectar/honey, and pollen. Where we buy our bee supplies, the frames come in pieces and we assemble them. Here's how it all goes together.


Above is a photo of the parts. At the top is the top of the frame (upside down), then the bottom of the frame, then the two sides. The top is wide and the bottom is narrow. Both of them have a channel cut into them where the foundation (pre-formed sheet of bees wax onto which the bees will build their comb) is inserted. The top also has an extra lengthwise cut that hopefully I can explain with the next photo.


It's hard to see because of the wood grain (clicking to view large might help), but the top piece is cut so that in addition to the channel where we will insert the foundation, there is a second lengthwise cut on the side that allows you to easily remove the wood that forms one side of the channel. You can use a utility blade but I found this carpet knife first so that's what I used. You only have to score it; it's cut almost completely off already.

In the photo above you see the top piece (turned bottom-side up for the moment) with the full thickness away from you, half thickness toward you, and the removed bit in the foreground.


Place the top of the frame into the two side pieces and use a tack hammer to place a single tiny nail on each end. See how the nail is off center? The nail goes into the side of the top that you did NOT cut away.


Then place the bottom of the frame in place and secure at each end with two tiny nails. The wood frequently splits where you nail it because it's so thin. Don't worry about it. You can see the channel that will receive the foundation; it runs the entire length of the bottom piece.

Now you can insert the foundation into the channel in the bottom piece of the frame. Leave the frame upside down for the time being; we have work to do which is more easily accomplished upside down.


The foundation I use has thin wires pressed into it, to give it strength and stability. The wires stick out a little on one side. The side without wires went into the slit in the bottom piece of the frame. The wires that stick out rest on the top piece where we cut away a bit of wood.


The cut away piece is repositioned and nailed in place with some super tiny nails. I use needle nosed pliers to hold these nails while I hammer them in place. They're too small for me to manage with my fingers.

Now we hang ten of the frames inside a wooden box and that make our hive where the bees raise their young and store their food, or maybe a "super" where the bees store extra honey. Yum!