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National Standard FloorAssembled Cedar £24.02 Assembled Red Deal £18.55
Flat Pack Cedar £18.96 Flat Pack Red Deal £15.54 National Varroa FloorComes with slide out tray for Varroa inspection.
Assembled Cedar £27.52 Assembled Red Deal £24.76 National BroodAssembled Cedar £41.52 Assembled Red Deal £27.89
Flat Pack National BroodCedar £33.96Red Deal £18.68 
National SuperAssembled Cedar £30.96 Assembled Red Deal £22.21
Flat Pack National SuperCedar £24.65Red Deal £12.30
National 4" RoofAssembled Cedar £39.97 Assembled Red Deal £26.50
Flat Pack National 4" RoofCedar £30.22Red Deal £20.52 
National Gabled RoofAssembled Cedar £52.60 Assembled Red Deal £39.45
National Stand W Landing BoardAssembled Cedar £21.22 Assembled Red Deal £14.86
Flat Pack National Stand W Landing BoardCedar £15.96Red Deal £12.54 National 14x12 Brood BoxAssembled Cedar £52.87 Assembled Red Deal £34.54
Flat Pack National 14x12 Brood BoxCedar £42.25Red Deal £27.66
National Nucleus HiveSuitable for 5 Hoffman frames with high roof to take liquid feeders. Choose a timber and Assembled (Assm) or Flat Pack (FP)
National Nucleus Hive 14x12As above but 14x12. Choose a timber and Assembled (Assm) or Flat Pack (FP)
Castellated Spacers and Metal Runners
Metal Runners 94p per pairPorter Bee Escapes. 85p 
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British National BeehivesBased in a small workshop in Tideswell in the Peak District we make British National Beehives out of 1st grade Western Red Cedar, high quality Red Deal or, when available, locally sourced Western Red Cedar according to the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) Modified National Hive Plans. Everything we sell we make here in the Peak District. The driving forces behind peak-hives.co.uk are sustainability and quality workmanship. Sustainability because, well it matters quite a bit we think and quality workmanship because customer satisfaction is paramount. Flat Pack National Hives
Fully Assembled National Hives
blog...The rest of the centre column is (thanks to Wordpress) an ongoing blog of what's new at peak-hives.co.uk and other items of interest...veg garden...renewables etc, but please don't let reading about the allotment distract you from placing your order...:-)The first batch of locally sourced Chatsworth Western Red Cedar has been milled up by Simon at Rowsley Sawmill and I’ve just stacked and ’sticked’ it to air dry. Simon’s milled it into 2″ waney edge boards which I can then machine up into either national hive rails or slice down the middle for hive ends/sides. Kiln drying would be too expensive so we’ll stick it cover it to protect it from the rain and wait…  Air Drying Chatworth Western Red Cedar I’ve had quite a few requests to produce top bee space national hives. Got an order finished this morning so just before my lunchbreak I decided to ‘jig up’ for offering top bee space nationals. Basically the difference in machining requires the production of a deeper top rail for supers and brood boxes and a suitable mortice in the brood/super sides to accommodate the deeper rails. Anyway to cut a not very long story shorter here’s a couple of pics showing the standard British National Hive option of bottom bee space and the new optional top bee space…  Bottom Bee Space National Hive  Top Bee Space National Hive I’ll update the site to allow choosing top bee space as an option later tonight. Hi. Rich came up on Wednesday to the Peak Hives workshop and picked up his flat packed national hives. Was good to see him again and Steve who came along too. Rich is an experienced beekeeper so by agreement (and the fact that they wouldn’t fit into his car otherwise) I didn’t seperate them out into individual units. Here’s the kit he took…  Rich's Hives I’m getting plenty of enquiries about making up batches of frames and will endeavour to have a go this weekend (I do have to make a special meal for the oldies though on Saturday as it’s their golden wedding anniversary). The other thing that I need to respond to is enquiries about ‘top bee space’ national hives. It’s technically sorted but I want to have a go at machining some up before offering it as an option. Coming soon, probably tomorrow. Allotment news is that I made some space this afternoon for another fruit tree in the garden…it’s getting tight on space and I’ve another two trees to plant. I wonder if the farmer who owns the field across the road would mind. All the best and as usual, happy beekeeping 2010! A quick post to show a detailed view of our lock joints on a standard national hive roof. Originally I was using a dovetail jig but thought it was worth while investing in the required tooling to make the roofs as per the specification laid down by the British Beekeepers Association Modified National Hive plans which are the mainstay of all Peak Hives products. I’m hoping to find some time in the next couple of weeks to make up a few observation hives…those dratted orders keep getting in the way though. Happy beekeeping 2010!  Lock Jointed National Hive Roof Hi. I thought it might be informative to show the workshop (or the ground floor machining area at least). This is where all our national hives are made. Upstairs there’s an assembly area and shelving for hive parts. As you can see it’s an old building which in it’s time has been a cow shed, a hen shed, a joiner’s workshop, an electricians workshop (The whole of Tideswell was electrified from here), an artists studio, a joiner’s workshop again and now peak-hives. The image is several shots stitched together using ‘hugin’. All the best and happy beekeeping for 2010!  Peak Hives Workshop I’ve just updated the prices/availability regarding the National Hive Gabled Roofs reflecting the fact that we’ve decided not to do them any more in flat pack. The reason is that the roof structure with the top finishing piece is, I think, a weakness (given that its the most exposed part of a hive) and it’s better to have a single one-piece metal roof cover which, thanks to Swift Engineering of Buxton, we can now provide. It means it’s not feasible to send them out as flat pack as the metalwork will get spoiled in transit. We want you to get the best use out of our products for many seasons and this decision was made to ensure that’s the case. My own view is that for practical beekeeping the flat roof might be the better solution as you can turn it upside down and put supers on it etc but I understand the desire for the aesthetics that the gabled roof provides. Feedback, as always, is very welcome. All the best. Nick Just working on orders and there’s a couple of 14×12 nucs in there in red deal so I’m making up a batch of 5. Here’s the brood chamber dry assembled. Back to the workshop now to start on the roofs.  14x12 nucleus hive Our Wadkin BAOS, my favourite machine, died the other day as the wormwheel on the thicknessing feed motor lost it’s thread. Fortunately there are plenty of these machines about and you can still buy spares from places like Advanced Machinery. Very good company to deal with!!! Here’s the BAOS on it’s side hanging from a block and tackle whilst I effected the repair. Remarkable how much weight can be packed into a smallish machine. Took all day (sorry if it’s put your order back) but by the end of the day my fav machine was doing the business again and had been oiled up and greased to boot. Now tomorrow has to be back to production and building up stock of British National Hive parts.  Wadkin BAOS under repair As a quick break from making up a batch of national nucleus hives today I had the chance to test out my new gear for making lock joints for national roofs. previously I’d been using dovetails (which are perfectly suitable and in my opinion in some ways better) but given that all the big boys use lock joints I felt it necessary to follow suit and so here’s the test pic on a couple of bits of scrap western red cedar…  testing a lock joint for national hive roof construction it’s twenty to twelve at night and I’ve just got back from the workshop…covered in grease and mess from trying to resuscitate a machine. tomorrow’s national hive making is going to be pushed back while I try to get the part needed for my Wadkin BAO/S planer thicknesser. If all else fails then I’ll use the older machine that we have in the workshop (thanks to neil) to do the thicknessing but the BAO/S will still need that part and it’s a matter of sourcing it without being stung (no pun intended) for too much cash by the parts dealers. ugh! 2009 has been an ‘interesting‘ year. roll on 2010! Another listing for a national hive super on ebay….here Arrived today. One pricey blade! A quick break from making up orders and stock to perform a test with the new blade. Cuts like a dream. Finishes as if it’s been through a planer. The cut width is a tiny 1.7mm!! This will certainly do the trick of getting the maximum number of National Hive frames out of the timber used. I’ll be making up a batch of frames next week probably starting with DN4 Hoffman’s to be supplied with our brood boxes or sold as flat packs.  Thin Kerf Blade used for making National Hive Frames Not sure how M and T are doing but we’re snowed under with orders. Initially I was working on a just in time ordering system. That’s been binned as I can see that if I don’t have stocked shelves of National Hive parts then I won’t be able to cope. So every order that comes in now is being made up but doubled…one for the customer and one for the shelves… I’m also fretting about delivery times…Adriana is taking charge of running the business as regards that so I shouldn’t be so concerned given that she’s a background in managing businesses very sucessfully… worries gone? not quite but almost… Cheers and here’s to a good beekeeping 2010! Nick We’ve just purchased some tooling to improve upon our National Hive Roof design. Now roofs will be constructed using 1/2″ lock joints. Frames wise I decided that it was worth investing in a thin kerf saw blade for our table saw. Each cut will only waste 1.7mm instead of the usual 3.2mm. When machining up lots and lots of little parts (ie. frame bits) it will be much more economical if each rip through the timber only consumes 1.7mm….that’s the theory anyway and it’s backed up by me getting the plastic out to pay for an expensive saw blade… We hope your bees will be happy in our hives and would welcome feedback in the new season…photos or comments please and we’ll set up a gallery area on the site. All the best Nick here’s the first of perhaps many thousand…a quick bit of jig making and we’re producing Hoffman DN4 frames. More tests to do but the initial test was today and if we can make the Hoffman self spacing frame then the others shouldn’t be a problem. if you’ve a request for a frame type then please mail me.  DN4 Hoffman Frame for National Hive Paul (from Oxfordshire Beekeepers) came up today to pick up 11 Flat Pack Western Red Cedar National Hives comprising standard floor with entrance block, standard brood box, 2 supers in red deal and a 4″ roof with galvanised metal cover. It’s turning into a production line…  flat pack national hives lined up for collection here at Peak-Hives we take hive making seriously. whether it be ripping and planing timber down to size, tenoning top and bottom rails, putting just the right bevel onto bottom rails, morticing out our national brood box and super ends everything is done with precision and care. In the picture you can see 6 well used items from the workshop…getting things square is as you can see very important and that was the main idea behind the photo…but up in the top left you can see the other little tool that has edged it’s way into the shot and deserves a mention…without that calculator there’d have been many a costly mistake it has to be said…trusty little fella has aided me many a time…  squares and calculator used in national hive making |
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