Is this the best beginners beehive kit for you? Total build of the kit. 

what? that observation cutout works great. I observed them all on my face.

US people are lucky to have such an energetic and enthusistic mentor. hope you keep it up. best wishes

In the beginning of my Beekeeping journey I was never taught that all boxes are not created equal. I bought some from a couple of different suppliers and surprise...when you interchange boxes they don't line up when you stack them on top of each other. A lot of money for cedar and the little extras that aren't functional. Seems the best thing about it is the wax dip.

Good job critiquing the bee boxes. Thank you for sharing your videos with us. 🇺🇸

I just put mine together, glad to see a video about it!

Thanks for the insight Mr Ed.

Good review. Let me know when I can come pick up my frame jig. 😀😃😄

Morning Mr Ed. Hope all is well in your neighborhood sir. Take care

Mug up from NH, where it is a sunny[ in 20 minutes when the sun hits my windows], 20 F with 15-20 mph winds with gusts to 35 mph. Supposed to drop to -7 F by tomorrow morning. I got about 8" of snow since yesterday am. Haven't harvested enough honey yet to even think about a label, but this may be the year! Jeff it is always a pleasure to start the day with your smiling face, thanks for sharing, peace, Brice

I appreciate the work you do. SDG

Bought one like the last one you reviewed, nice product. Thanks Jeff.

Thanks Mr. Ed!

Thank you for being so honest on this review. I hope they take the comments to heart. While I agree with you that these should have been more accurately machined and checked, I think the price point isn't bad. I don't know if you've priced cedar out lately, but WOW...the lumber in that alone is probably close to $50~$75. A single 12' 5/4 Cedar Deck Board is STILL about $30 in my area. Milling the lumber is time consuming for sure, and even with all those machines, there are still people manning it. Cost of labor and overhead is not cheap to be sure. Sorry, my old estimating habits coming out... As for those observation ports? Yep...100% agree, get rid of them. That's a few ops you can delete from your build and cut some costs.

Thank you Jeff you help so many 👍🏽❤️❤️❤️❤️

Good to know

Thanks for the review. I’ll stick to the supers I already use. Hope the company will use the review to correct the milling of their product.

I appreciate your honest review of the beehive.

Mr. Ed you are awesome. I love your energy and I can feel it though the screen. You have a wonderful personality and a beautiful soul. Please don't let the world change your fantastic you, and please keep putting out these wonderfully educational videos. Thank you with all my heart. God bless you.

I don't have my bees as yet. I'm just volunteering at an apiary, but when I get mine I'll send you a label for my honey from Barbados. :o)

God bless you and your family and friends 🙏 ❤

YAAY for someone. All I can do is try not to mow over the bees. God Bless and Happy Weekend, WOOLY!

I'm a beginner, and the first time around I bought my boxes and frames already assembled. I figured that I already had enough to learn and remember to just get started and get my hives set up and go through the motions of being a beekeeper, so I didn't want to overwhelm my brain...lol...However, now I wanted to learn how to assemble...its cheaper and its the pride of knowing how to do everything for my bees, not just care for them.. This video was extremely helpful, and I learned things about what to look for in these kits that I never would have thought of, till they started to fall apart, or started splitting of course.. And your right, for the amount of money that u pay for them, they should come out of the box being right from the get go. Also, the original frames I got had wire strung across them, and I was never sure how to tighten or adjust them when putting in the new wax.. Or replacing them when needed...not sure if that was the old way of doing it or what???? But I like the groves in the newer ones that allow u to just pop the wax right in.. Also I love the frame jig...that looks like it works very well. I'm just a hobbyist, but getting older and with arthritis in my hands and fingers starting, that jig would make things much easier for me...and I could always share the use of it with my other bee loving friends. So, thank u so much for making this helpful video.. And I have subscribed to your channel. June Bug, from Southern Oregon.....Soon to be moving to the Reno, NV area...

The first two hive kits I bought were firewood due to sloppy milling (the frame rests measured 18-7/8 when the standard measurement is 19-1/8). Mann-Lake hive bodies also have issues with not sitting flat or having air gaps between the boxes. Most of these production companies don't care about quality and ship Good Enough quality. I did get a super box from Bee Castle, it assembled with screws and the frames were high quality wood shipped from Amazon. .

Nice kit. Ty

:) I loved the guts of using the square rule and not editing lol very brave :)

Good morning Mr. Ed!!! My VEVOR is all ready to go, my Nuc will be ready for pick up end April beginning of May. If you have an email I’ll send you pictures. Have a blessed day.

Thanks for the honest review of this VEVOR product. 🇺🇸

Thanks!

Love your honesty.

Appreciate the honest assessment!

Hi Geoff/ Mr Ed. David here from Brisbane Australia. Have sent you my honey labels for your honey wall. Don’t know how long it will take. All the best to you Geoff. Love your videos. David.

Very informative. Good seeing you Mr. ED

Thanks for an honest review! I do wonder if it were a first box for a new bee keeper (no experience), this wouldn't be a first choice due to the fact of having to assemble it and problems (like getting correct orientation of outside pieces plus if sides are not equal length.) And I wouldn't nail it cause --no nail gun. But of course, if you have one, good idea to do. I am not crazy to assemble wood pieces someone else drilled or measured due to slight descrepancies . I put together a raised bed garden and I had to drill out all their predrilled (supposedly ready to assemble! Not) holes and lots of other little bits to glue. Very lengthy process --won't do again. Your project puts a new meaning to the word "splits"! This company has more improvements to do for sure!

I had purchased another brand you had reviewed. It also came wax coated. The problem was there was so much wax that you couldn’t get it assembled without splitting in the joint. I solved that problem by heating up the wax in the joint so during assembly the wax was soft enough move.

Do they have an INDOOR beehive kit yet?! 😁🤪👍👍🇺🇲

Great review. I appreciate your hard work to save us from hard work. Now we know what to expect without going through the purchase and build ourselves, to only find out what you just demonstrated so well.

I agree with your assessment. Appreciate the honest review. I’ll send you a label soon. Thanks for the video. Take care and God bless.

I made a box using a Lock miter router bit to make the corner joint's. They are strong and easy to make if you have a router table. They thing i like is there is no exposed end grain on the joint.

thank you for the work, now I know what to look for when buying boxes...

I have used these boxes and i had to do alot to make them fit and not split the wood. They could be great boxes if they would adjust them a little. Thanks for the video.

The labels are really neat!

Honest review, MrEd . Thank you

Love the honest review. There's no excuse for milling being off that much. Need some QC. Lable on the way. Thanks.

Great video!

I enjoyed the thorough review. I was excited to see the observation windows but like you said without the plexiglass it's useless! Thanks for sharing!

Very good information! Love watching the bees and the carpentry involved in building good hives. Enjoyable and educational. Thank you, Mr. Ed!

Good Explanation, thanks

Looks like a fun time in the shop and rewarding too.

As a beginner, I was looking for a good “bang for the buck” starter hive. I bought the single deep with 10 frames just like the extra box you had in the video. I had the same issues you had with yours. Out of square, bad milling, etc. I used it as a guide to build everything else. It could be better, but the bees don’t seem to mind. One other problem was that I had to trim the ends of every top frame piece by 1/16” on each end just so they would fit down in the box properly. Thanks for the great videos! I especially enjoy the collaborations with Mr Dirt Rooster! Keep up the good work!

I bought a non-cedar hive from Vevor. I received a lot more broken parts (I saw yours had a little foam and cardboard box stiffeners, I’m glad they tried to fix that). It also was built of “composite” boards, I’ll see if the seam lasts a year before I order another. Additionally, in their advertising I couldn’t tell if the windows had plexiglass, now I know they’re worthless holes. Thanks for saving me money! Peace

Looking good there Mr. Ed … where’s your Dirtrooster hat 😉😏

Detroit michigan oakland county. We used to have six good hives. Kind of hard Mowing the grass. Then my dad passed on. It was goodwill lasted. You try telling the beast to behave. They're like fighter jets going towards your head

Thanks, Mr. Ed! You're the best. God bless!

Thank you Jeff.

I hope to one day keep my own bees. This information is extremely valuable. I appreciate this in-depth review, very detail-oriented.

Luv those bird houses!!

Thanks for posting!

Glad I watched !!! Absolute beginner here and I need all the advice I can get ..love your channel and I have watched many videos . Please keep up the good work ..maybe one day my wife and I will take a quick trip to come see y’all’s outfit if that’s ok !!

Brother...its gettin close ta haircut time😄💇‍♂️

I always do it backwards the first time!

That box is made for a special kind of bee. They are known as "Sketchy Bees".

Try hoover hives they are wax coated and same kind of joints. Good hives

Vevor website initial description states that the hives are made of "natural fir", but says cedar in specs. Also, the deep & honey super kit is on clearance.

Great review Mr ed you are so right open ports no good thanks for sharing mr ed GOD bless and keep on wrangling these bees they need more caring like yourself

Informative. I've been on the fence about keeping bees for the last couple of years. Currently stewing on if I'm going to get myself a Hoover Hives starter box. Really like the dovetail fittings and wax coating.

I would have never thought of having Martin boxes near an apiary.

I don’t know about the glued scraps to make a side but they do look good.

Jeff, when my husband buys things that need to be assembled, he puts it together first THEN reads the directions.

Am I the only one who got surprised and thought there was a bee on my phone when I saw the Studio Bee logo on the lower right hand corner? 😜😃

This is the second review on this hive I've watched today. Both came to the same conclusion. It's a shame these issues were not ironed out before going on sale. The missing plexiglass is a huge oversite. Could you imagine Ford selling you a car without wheels?!?

Very good for you to give this review! Its VERY helpful to know all of the problems you had and you are a pro beekeeper! This is not for beginners!

You could check all the sides for length and use those the same to help make square boxes. Me, I found the rebate type joints sufficient. As you said, the observation ports should be in the front or back end of the box. I also applaud the use of joined pieces to make the sides. The glue would need to be of great strength. Thanks again for good video.

The bug farmer noticed the same problems with the boxes. I hope the company listens.

These boxes are massed produced and neatness is not a priority. I have found wrong parts in Vevor Kits before.

Watching you work with work was so interesting. Thanks for mentioning the kind of nail you use. I noticed that you didn’t use any glue when putting the deep and medium boxes. I have some furniture to put together so this video was very helpful. Thanks for sharing and keep on sharing - Bill

Hey man, you should put a swarm in it and raffle it off! The Abbey can use the money to sponsor something….🤔🤔🤔

My first hive was from VEVOR, but the one I received was solid wood, not glued pieces together. I am happy with my hive. Maybe you just got a lemon?

the hole is for the flo hives

I ordered one of their 2 deep 2 medium complete hive kits from a popup ad on sale for $176 with free shipping ad said in-stock, as soon as I gave the card info and clicked confirm order, the site popped up a box saying out of stock please reorder, so the next morning same ad popped up again, so I placed a reorder purchase, 3 days later UPS drooped off the package on my front porch, the box had ratty rough looking corners, but all was fine inside, I ran into the same problems with the joints as you did, I had to file fit most of the joints, next day another package showed up on my porch this one had open holes in the cardboard shipping box the ends to 4 of the medium supers were missing the bottom board rails had a knot holes running through it with chucks broken out already the telescoping cover had obviously been dropped on and the rim separated from the plywood and metal part, I was in a tight and had to repair and use them, but I'll never order anything from Vevor again.

Liked seeing your purple martins. I used to have a nice colony but, I moved and the European house sparrow and starling population in the area is too strong. And I can't take a pellet rifle to them because I have houses all around me. We usually start seeing our first scouts up here around Mar 15th most years.

💕👌👍

Another thing I thought he missed was how the saw dust/wood shavings were stuck to the black wax tray. Simple fix to that is to place the black wax center to the tray and ship it in a plastic bag of some kind

Hello Mr Ed, muito boa tarde, belíssimas caixa,que material esse que o senhor colocou nos cachilhos de ninho e melgueira?É acrílico oi plástico?Elas aceitam bem esse material?muito moderno e facilita o trabalho, parabéns pelo vídeo, que DEUS abençoe seu trabalho. 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

I am sure these are imported based on the workmanship and the materials. Have a great season. I hope you received my honey label. God Bless.

Thx, Mr. Ed, for this look at this hive. I was looking at these hives for a mentee of mine but might avoid them for now. Although, with my help, it might be a good teaching moment. I have put together a lot of hives, and sometimes you have to use a chisel to make things fit. My old bee books taught me that. Wouldn't the glued boards making wider wood quality depend on how waterproof wood glue is? Al though folks making bee-ware out of pallets comes to mind. Very helpful video. VEVOR is a weird company, I have gotten some decent beekeeping equipment from them; I have 5 of those cedar hives left to assemble.

Mr. Ed, great video. I'm not a beekeeper, and only an amateur woodworker, but you referenced finger joints as being used for hives, when they are actually "box" joints. Keep the great videos coming.

OMG barely reconized you with that mope on your head lol. How has it been going bud, been a long time love the labbels idea, sending you a few. Did you get the honey I sent way back not sure if I had the wright adress.

Mr. Ed, Great Video. Are bee's very particular on where they live? Could you make these out of plastic square containers?

I have my bees on order, now i need to figure out which hives are the best value for a beginner beekeeper cost wise. Trying to keep costs under control.

Mr Ed, I live in So Cal and I was wondering if you could give me your advice/opinion with treating mites during the early Spring time, so the honey flow isn't affected by using a certain type or chemical or spray for treating mites.

Jeff you're absolutely right the quality is really low however vevor is ripping you off I got the two-deeps plus to shallows for $103 prime amazon. I too had the splitting issue putting the box together also notice no plexiglass so I contacted the manufacturer and said you've got wood putty you've got splitting boxes and you've provided no plexiglass what uses the observation windows The manufactures answer was to credit me $49 So two-deeps to shallows 40 foundations 20 mediums 20 deeps all for $54 that made it acceptable

Enjoy your vids. Just curious as to who does the grading? And hi from Riverton Wy.

Jeff, I don't think you would be able put both plexiglass and wooden plank in at the same time , but good Jobe on your reviewing

They are not observation window's. They are for expanding your colony sideways, pop out the cover of two boxes and slide the two openings together, now you can expand up and sideways, just like a hamster cage

Hey Mr. Ed, I thought you was going to shoot the box with an AK-47 Lol not a Nail Gun

They must have cut the side board wet and it shrank. That would also explain why it's thinner. Is another brand, such as Dadant, better quality, even if it comes assembled?

👍🏻🐝🇧🇷

If you squart honey into a beehive will it attract honey bees 🐝

Thanks for this! I purchased a Vevor hive that I still need to assemble, but it does not have the windows. They have copied those windows from the Flow hive I think. Did you not glue because of the wax coating? These hives are a great price!

Mr Ed. Looks like you are due for a haircut before a swarm moves in. Lol.