Okay, let’s start from the ground up, shall we?

1.  First comes the Elevated Hive Stand which lifts the entire hive at least ten inches off the ground. It is not optional. It keeps your hives away from skunks, mice and other pests, and makes it easier to work with.

Wait a minute! Where’s the Elevated Hive Stand on the diagram? Surprise!  It’s not there…

A lot of people use concrete blocks as Elevated Hive Stands.

But this is a blog about Beautiful Beekeeping. Concrete blocks are not beautiful. Ever.

You wouldn’t use concrete blocks for a Hive Stand, would you? Good! I didn’t think so.

So what do you do?  Well, you could make your own. Like this one.

Or you could use a pretty table, like this…

Or this…

Or you could buy one and paint it to match your hive, which is what I’m doing…

2.  Next comes the Hive Stand.  It’s the first part of the exploded diagram. Again, it’s not optional.

Yes, I know it’s confusing that the first two parts of the hive are named the same thing. Get over it!

You want to paint the Hive Stand to make it look pretty. Or even add little stairs, like on the Fortnum hives.

To make it even more confusing, you can make or buy your Hive Stand and Elevated Hive Stand in one piece!

I like to give my bees a little more landing room, so I place a pretty piece of wood between the two Hive Stands.

Whew!!  All that and we’re only through two parts!!  Well, I guess there will be an “Exploring the Mysteries of the Langstroth Hive, Part III.”