Getting into beekeeping seemed like a great idea, a fascinating hobby that could potentially provide delicious honey. But I quickly realized I needed a reliable home for the bees, something sturdy that could withstand the elements and be easy enough for a beginner to manage. Ignoring this crucial first step, or choosing a subpar hive, would mean risking the health and survival of the colony, making the whole endeavor frustrating and ultimately unsuccessful. Finding the right beehive kit was paramount to giving the bees the best possible start.
Embarking on the beekeeping journey requires careful thought, starting with selecting the right equipment. A beehive is essentially the foundation of your apiary, the protective structure where your colony will live, raise brood, store food, and produce honey. Without a well-designed and durable hive, the colony is vulnerable to pests, harsh weather, and disease, making successful beekeeping incredibly difficult. The ideal candidate for getting a beehive kit is someone ready to commit to learning about bee biology, management practices, and isn’t afraid of some manual labor and occasional stings. It’s perhaps not the best fit for someone looking for a completely hands-off experience or who has a severe allergy to bee stings without proper precautions. Before purchasing, potential beekeepers should consider the hive type (Langstroth is standard), the number of frames (8 or 10 frame are common, affecting weight and capacity), the material (wood type and treatment), ease of assembly, durability, weather resistance, and the overall cost. Thinking about how you plan to inspect the hive and harvest honey will also influence the type and components you need.
- Complete Beehive Kit: Includes 2 deep brood boxes, 1 medium super, 24 wax-coated Langstroth wood frames, CellTech foundations, telescoping top cover, solid bottom board, queen excluder, inner cover,...
- Wax-Coated for Durability: All wooden components are dipped in 100% natural beeswax, providing superior weather resistance and eliminating the need for painting.
- Premium Fir Wood Construction: Built from high-quality fir wood for increased strength, reduced warping, and long-lasting performance in all weather conditions.
Introducing the Hoover Hives Complete 8-Frame Setup
Stepping into the world of beekeeping is made significantly easier when you start with a comprehensive package designed for durability and ease of use. The Hoover Hives Complete 8-Frame Beehive Kit aims to be just that, promising a sturdy, weather-resistant home for your bees right out of the box (after assembly, of course). This specific kit arrives with everything you need to get started, including two deep brood boxes for the colony’s main living space, a medium super for honey storage, all the necessary Langstroth wood frames with CellTech foundations, a telescoping top cover, a solid bottom board, a queen excluder, inner cover, and entrance reducer. Compared to standard painted wooden hives, the Hoover Hives kit distinguishes itself primarily with its unique wax-coating process, which replaces the need for painting and supposedly enhances weather resistance. This particular 8-frame configuration is ideal for beekeepers who might find the traditional 10-frame hives a bit too heavy when full, offering a lighter, more manageable option. It’s well-suited for beginners looking for a complete starting point or experienced beekeepers wanting to add more hives without the hassle of separate component purchases and painting. However, if you prefer a traditional painted hive or require the higher capacity of a 10-frame system, this specific model might not be your first choice.
Here’s a quick look at some pros and cons based on my experience and general feedback:
Pros:
* Complete Kit: Includes almost everything needed to get started.
* Wax Coating: Provides excellent weather protection and eliminates painting.
* Fir Wood Construction: Feels solid and durable.
* Lighter 8-Frame Design: Easier to lift and inspect compared to 10-frame hives.
* Standard Dimensions: Compatible with other 8-frame Langstroth equipment.
Cons:
* Assembly Can Be Tricky: Tight joints due to wax can make fitting pieces together challenging, potentially leading to splits if not careful.
* Inner Cover Issues: Some users report minor craftsmanship flaws, like tapered boards causing gaps.
* Top Cover Vent Notch: Designed with ventilation in mind, which requires modification if you prefer a sealed top cover.
* Wax Durability Concerns: While generally good, at least one long-term user reported the wax coating showing significant wear relatively quickly in harsh conditions.
- Complete Beehive Starter Kit: Includes Wax Coated Assembled Deep Brood Box, Solid Bottom Board, Telescoping Top Cover, Inner Cover, Queen Excluder, and Entrance Reducer
- Premium Quality Construction: Hoover Hives' Original Beeswax Coated Beehive Kit is crafted with precision and durability in mind, ensuring years of reliable use in your beekeeping endeavors.
- Spacious Design: With dimensions of 18.1" x 22" x 29.5", this 30-frame Langstroth beehive from Creworks provides ample room for brood and honey production, ensuring your bees have the space they need...
Examining the Key Attributes and Advantages
Having used the Hoover Hives Complete 8-Frame Beehive Kit for a while now, I can delve deeper into the features that make it stand out, and where it might fall short for some.
The Comprehensive Nature of the Kit:
One of the biggest draws for a beginner, or even someone expanding their apiary, is getting a truly complete beehive kit. This Hoover Hives kit lives up to that promise. It comes with the foundational components you absolutely need: the bottom board, the deep brood boxes (two of them, which is great for northern climates or strong colonies), the medium super for honey, the inner cover, and the telescoping top cover. Beyond the main boxes, it includes essential accessories like the entrance reducer and a plastic queen excluder. Crucially, it also provides the frames and foundations – 24 deep frames with foundations and 8 medium frames with foundations. This means you’re not left scrambling to buy these separately. For someone just starting out, this convenience is invaluable. You receive one large box (often double-boxed for protection) containing everything required to assemble a functional hive structure. The benefit here is simplified purchasing and knowing that all the included parts are designed to fit together (mostly, we’ll get to assembly quirks later). It solves the initial problem of figuring out *what* exactly you need to buy to house your first package or nuc of bees. It provides a ready-made solution, allowing you to focus on preparing the hive site and learning about bee care rather than tracking down individual hive components.
The Distinctive Wax Coating:
The signature feature of Hoover Hives is their wax-coating process. The product description mentions a proprietary blend and then a dip in 100% natural beeswax. The visual result is a beautiful, golden-hued wood that doesn’t require painting. This is a huge benefit for many beekeepers. Painting hives is time-consuming and requires specific types of paint safe for bees. The wax coating not only protects the wood from moisture and UV damage, acting as a sealant against the elements, but it also gives the hive a lovely, natural aesthetic that many find appealing. From a functional standpoint, a properly sealed hive is essential for the bees’ health and comfort. It prevents water from penetrating the wood, which can lead to rot and reduce the hive’s insulation properties. It helps maintain a stable internal temperature, reducing stress on the colony as they work to heat or cool the hive. While the initial look is fantastic, I’ve noted, and seen in other reviews, that the long-term durability of the wax in harsh, exposed conditions might be less than that of high-quality exterior paint. One user specifically mentioned significant wear and wood rot on the bottom board after only 4-6 months, which is a potential disadvantage depending on your local climate and hive placement. However, for many users, including myself, the wax provides sufficient protection and the convenience of not having to paint is a major plus. There’s also a theory that the wax coating might help reduce the amount of propolis the bees use to glue boxes together, potentially making inspections easier, though this can vary greatly depending on the bees and location.
Premium Fir Wood Construction:
The choice of premium fir wood for the hive components is another key feature. Fir is known for its strength, stability, and resistance to warping compared to some other types of pine often used in hive construction. The description specifies that the wood is 3/4″ thick, which is notably thicker than the 1/2″ minimum sometimes found in industry standards. This added thickness provides better insulation for the bees during both cold winters and hot summers. In winter, thicker walls help retain the heat generated by the bee cluster, reducing the amount of honey they need to consume to stay warm. In summer, it helps keep the hive cooler. This improved climate control inside the hive means the bees can spend less energy and fewer resources managing the temperature and more time foraging and producing honey and comb. The dovetail joints, precision cut into this solid fir wood, are a classic woodworking joint known for its strength and stability. They are designed to interlock perfectly, creating strong corners without relying solely on fasteners. While the tightness caused by the wax coating can sometimes make assembly require a bit more persuasion (and careful technique to avoid splits, as some reviews mention), the resulting joint is very robust once together. This strong construction is crucial for a hive that needs to withstand the weight of honey, bee populations, and environmental stresses over many years.
The Lighter 8-Frame Design:
Traditional Langstroth hives are commonly found in 10-frame configurations. The Hoover Hives Complete 8-Frame Beehive Kit offers a significant advantage in its lighter 8-frame design. While it means slightly less capacity per box compared to a 10-frame box, each box filled with honey can be incredibly heavy – 10-frame supers can weigh upwards of 60-80 pounds. An 8-frame super is inherently lighter, making lifting and handling much easier. This is a major benefit during inspections, when you need to lift supers to access the brood boxes, and especially during honey harvest. It reduces the physical strain involved in beekeeping, making it more accessible for people with back issues or those who simply prefer a less strenuous experience. The claim of being 20% lighter than 10-frame hives seems accurate based on handling both types. While it might mean needing an extra super sooner if you have a very strong flow, the trade-off in ease of handling is well worth it for many beekeepers, myself included. It directly addresses a common barrier to entry or continued practice in beekeeping: the sheer weight of the equipment.
Beekeeper-Friendly Assembly and Standard Dimensions:
As mentioned, the dovetail joints are precision cut, designed for straightforward assembly. While the wax coating can make the initial fitting tight, requiring some careful tapping with a hammer (and pre-drilling nail holes, as strongly recommended by experienced users to prevent splitting near edges), the process is relatively intuitive. The kit includes nails, so you just need a hammer (preferably a smaller one for the frame nails). The instructions are decent, though like many kits, they might not cover every single nuance, especially for absolute beginners (e.g., placement of the queen excluder or entrance reducer, as noted in one review – but YouTube is a great resource for supplementing this). The key here is patience and ensuring everything is lined up correctly before committing with fasteners. Once assembled, the boxes are square and solid. Another crucial feature is the adherence to Langstroth industry-standard dimensions for 8-frame equipment. This means the boxes, frames, and covers are interchangeable with other 8-frame Langstroth components from different manufacturers. This compatibility is vital for long-term beekeeping. If you need to add more supers, replace a damaged box, or use specialized frames or feeders, you won’t be locked into a single brand. This flexibility future-proofs your beekeeping operation to some extent, allowing you to mix and match components as your needs evolve.
Expanding on the individual components included in this Hoover Hives Northern Hive Kit:
* The Telescoping Top Cover is standard, capped with galvanized steel, providing a weather-tight roof. The small notch for ventilation is present; if you prefer a completely sealed hive top, you’ll need to fill this yourself, which is a minor inconvenience but easily done.
* The Inner Cover sits directly below the top cover and above the topmost super. It provides an insulating air gap and a surface for the bees to cluster on during winter. One review mentioned a poorly crafted inner cover with a tapered board causing a gap; while mine was acceptable, it’s something to check during assembly.
* The Medium Super Box is shorter than the deeps, intended for honey storage. The shorter frames are lighter when full, making harvest easier. This kit includes one, but you’ll likely need more as your colony grows and produces honey.
* The Plastic Queen Excluder is used to keep the queen confined to the brood boxes, ensuring the honey supers contain only honey, not brood. It’s a standard plastic model.
* The Two Deep Brood Boxes provide the primary living space for the colony – where the queen lays eggs, and the bees store pollen and their winter stores of honey. Having two in the kit is standard practice, especially in climates with longer winters, allowing ample space for the brood nest to expand.
* The Solid Bottom Board forms the base of the hive. It’s simple and effective. While a screened bottom board (available separately) offers advantages like ventilation and monitoring for mites, the solid board is a perfectly functional standard base.
* The Entrance Reducer is a small wooden piece used to control the size of the hive entrance, useful during times of weak colony strength, cold weather, or to deter robbing.
* The kit also thoughtfully includes an Oval Bee Escape (fits in the inner cover) and a Mouse Guard with nail plates, demonstrating attention to common beekeeping needs. The bee escape helps clear bees from honey supers before harvest, and the mouse guard prevents rodents from entering the hive during winter.
* The Langstroth Wood Frames with CellTech Foundations are provided for both deep and medium boxes. The foundations are plastic with a textured cell pattern, coated in wax, designed to encourage the bees to build straight comb within the frames. This is essential for easy inspection and honey harvest. The wax coating on the foundations is intended to make them more attractive to the bees for drawing comb.
Overall, the feature set of the Hoover Hives Complete 8-Frame Beehive Kit is quite robust, providing a solid foundation for a new beekeeping venture. The wax coating and 8-frame design are definite highlights, while assembly nuances and potential variability in minor component craftsmanship are points to be aware of.
What Other Beekeepers Are Saying (User Reviews)
Scrolling through feedback from others who have purchased this Hoover Hives kit reveals a range of experiences, but generally leans positive, reflected in its healthy average rating of 4.5 stars. Many customers were pleased with the timely delivery and the completeness of the package, noting that assembly, while sometimes requiring a bit of effort with tight, wax-coated joints (some found pre-drilling helpful to avoid splits), resulted in a sturdy final product. The distinctive wax-dipped finish was frequently praised for its appearance and the benefit of not needing paint. Several users happily reported their bees took readily to the hive, quickly building comb on the wax-coated foundations. Experienced beekeepers adding to their collection appreciated the build quality for the price. However, a few less favorable reviews highlighted issues like potential wood splitting during assembly if not careful, minor imperfections in individual components like the inner cover, and, in one instance, concerns about the long-term durability of the wax coating in extreme weather leading to early wear. Despite these occasional drawbacks, a common sentiment among positive reviews was satisfaction with the product as a starting point or addition to their apiary, with some indicating they would purchase Hoover Hives again.
Bringing It All Together
Starting out in beekeeping, or expanding your existing apiary, requires a reliable and durable home for your bees. Without a quality hive, you risk the health and productivity of your colony, facing potential complications from pests, poor insulation, and structural failures. The Hoover Hives Complete 8-Frame Beehive Kit offers a compelling solution to this fundamental need. Its wax-coated fir wood construction provides excellent weather resistance without the hassle of painting, the lighter 8-frame design makes inspections and honey harvest much more manageable, and the fact that it includes almost everything you need to get started makes it incredibly convenient for beginners. While assembly can require patience and some users have noted minor component variations, the overall quality and features make it a strong contender for your first or next hive. To learn more and see the Hoover Hives Complete 8-Frame Beehive Kit for yourself, Click here.
Last update on 2025-08-24 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API