How is an Eco Bee Box “Eco”? On “WiseGeek.org” “Eco-friendly” is described as good for the environment, or “ecologically friendly,” and “environmentally friendly” or “green”. Eco-friendly includes items constructed in an environmentally friendly way of making lifestyle changes designed to benefit the environment.
- One suggested finish on an Eco Bee Box is made of 100% natural water-proof ingredients. This is used instead of paint to water-proof. Paint has fungicides. Older boxes can have paints still laced with lead. This natural finish saves paint, labor, and is safer for the bee, and honey.
- The finger-joint style of building a beehive has lumber that crisscrosses on the corners to provide strength. This over-lap method of box building uses about 3 lineal inches more lumber per box compared to an Eco Bee Box. An Eco Bee Box saves lumber and labor.
- Eco Bee Boxes can be made of local lumber and utilizes just simple straight cuts. This saves transportation costs, electricity, and labor.
- Local lumber is a key in an Eco Bee Box, but an additional factor is you can use recycled materials just as easily as new materials. Laminated and vintage cracked lumber too can be used with the bracket. This saves transportation costs, shares the need for lumber around the country to local suppliers, and allows beekeepers to recycle- reuse-repair in a way not previously known. Saves labor, lumber, time, electricity, and transportation costs.
- The traditional finger-joint box or box joint can warp and crack, sometimes even prior to assembly. These joints require a perfect fit. With time lumber expands and shrinks causing box breakdown. Eco Bee Box brackets hold the lumber from warping at the corners, no conflicting expanding lumber to crack, and panels can be easily replaced if needed. Saves lumber, time, electricity, and transportation costs.
- In the industry, there are many types of boxes and beehives. A deep, 3/4 California or Montana box, Medium, and Shallow, comb box, Nuc, queen rearing, observation, top-bar, Warré, 5 to 10 frame boxes, and in Canada some equipment is 1″ lumber instead of 3/4″. Then there are a variety of materials: cedar, cypress, pine, and on. This shows that beekeepers WANT variation, and have specific needs. The industry can’t meet the evolving varied needs of the ever-growing beekeeping population. Eco Bee Box takes all the above styles of boxes and equipment and wraps it into a system of beekeeping focused on the bee and the beekeeper. Conservation and flexibility in boxes i.e. a full Langstroth can be quickly reduced to a Nuc if needed just by changing the ends. With regular boxes, you would have to maintain two separate boxes. Less equipment needed to serve the same ends. Saves space, time, labor, transportation costs, lumber, and electricity.
- Eco Bee Box has a 1/4 box that is used for queen rearing but can also be used for honeycomb. There is a 1/2 box that is used for a Nuc, swarms or honeycomb, but can also be used as a hive by itself. Four 1/4 boxes fit the size of a Langstroth. Two 1/2 boxes also fit on a Langstroth hive. 1/4’s or 1/2’s can be made in Deep or Medium box styles. The 1/4 and 1/2 boxes have foundation-less frames, incorporating a top-bar and long box style hive with full-frame. Great for honeycomb, queen rearing and ALL Eco Bee Box equipment can have observation type windows in glass or acrylic. Equipment can be used in a variety of ways avoiding boxes being stored until a future need. Saves space, time, labor, transportation costs, lumber, and electricity.
- Eco Bee Box honeycomb box was developed to make honey production easier. Backyard beekeeping usually involves 10 hives or less. Many purchases or rent an extractor (crank or electric), with an uncapping tool, strainers, buckets bottles and on. The public gets bottled honey and is reluctant to pay what it is truly worth, especially when compared to the time and costs acquired by the hobbyist. The backyard beekeeper can’t prove sanitary clean honey as issues like sweat falling into honey, reclaiming spilled honey, mixing additional ingredients such as corn sweeteners and water are just a few of the potential contaminants. Quality control is through the eyes of the beekeeper. The Eco Bee Box comb box with foundation-less frames fit on any Langstroth hive and can be sold with honeycomb in the frame. This ensures quality control is maintained by the bee. Customers can purchase small frames of honey and can simply remove the natural honeycomb from the frame, place it into a baggie, squished it and leave settle or strain through holes or a colander. Once settled in a baggie it can be squeezed out like icing or let drip. Customer then essentially does the extracting, ensuring quality and sanitary conditions. Saves equipment, labor, energy, costs, shipping, and on.
- Eco Bee Box uses light-weight recycled aluminum and recycled copper. Copper adds beauty to beekeeping and has introduced many new beekeepers due to an attractive beehive in their garden or flower bed. This increases those who are beekeeping and exposes many others to the experience, excitement spreads. The more yards with bees and an understanding of bees the better our local crops, farms, orchards, and gardens will be. Increases bee sales, equipment sales, and hands on experiences with honey bees in communities across this nation.
- The locking clips also save time and accidents when a hive needs to be moved and can be used instead of straps. Prevents accidental tip overs.
- The metal rabbets also save boxes and wood by ensuring the beekeeper does not accidentally break the weak board or can be used to repair broken boxes quickly, easily and is extremely durable. This also saves labor, electricity, and lumber.
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It takes less than four minutes to fully assemble an Eco Bee Box, whereas a traditional box needs a jig and glue to square it up and hold it tight.
Eco Bee Box LLC is dedicated to making beekeeping easier, cheaper, more attractive, and safer to both the beekeeper and the honey bee. Eco is a good fit for this box and will save countless trees, time, labor, electricity transportation costs, and space required for unused specialty boxes.
