BeeCastle 10-Frame Complete Bee Hives and Supplies Starter Kit, Beehives for Beginners with Beehive Frames and Waxed Foundations (2 Deep Bee Boxes & 2 Medium Super Bee Boxes)

This set is well made and easy to assemble. We wanted to get an unfinished set because it is easy enough to paint and repaint as necessary. We have one other set that was dipped in beeswax and the wax made it a little chunkier and more difficult to assemble. Additionally when boxes need new wax it can be a pain to reapply. This set that can simply be painted assembles with ease, the jointery is clean cut and fits together snugly, and it gives you a good supply of boxes and frames for the money. Just remember to use a bit of wood glue when assembling the frames so the nails dont pull out and fall apart when the frames are full of comb and honey.

Great frame for beginners! Love this hive! Painted and sealed with bees wax. They are awesome! They aren’t hard to put together.

This is my second BeeCastle unwaxed 4 story 10 frame beehive. I love my first hive. The second hive had an issue with one of the panels for a super, preventing assembly. Literally three minutes after emailing BeeCastle of the issue, they asked for a picture. After receiving the picture, they advised they would replace the whole super and provided a tracking number. OUTSTANDING! In the real world there are always issues, it's how issues are resolved that counts. BeeCastle seems to understand and works hard at customer service. In the past I had issues with Dadant and Son Bee co. an item paid for but not sent with order. They failed to resolve the issue. The BeeCastle unwaxed 4 story 10 frame hive is a GOOD hive at the price point. I will be purchasing more BeeCastle hives as I grow.

I have purchased 7 of these in various configurations. Really good quality. No issues with putting any of them together. The joints are perfect and end up making it square every time. The frames are very high quality. I feel like they are the exact same frames you get from Mann Lake. I will purchase several more. This is my favorite source for a complete hive. I’m blown away by the quality of the components. About half the price of a similar config from Mann Lake and way better quality.

Love Bee castle products. My only complaint is that the shipping boxes are always damaged. The driver dropped parts in my driveway and said if anything is missing take it up with the seller. Wish we could pick our shipping options. Bee castle always smells amazing, easy to put together and durable.

Very pleased with your beehive boxes. The joints fit snug and the frames went together very well. Thanks!

I bought 2 unpainted hives this year, this one and one from pollibee. (On a side note I have 2 wax dipped hives, and will only get dipped hives again, I less you want to paint for fun) I assumed all the Chinese ones were the same, perhaps maybe come from same factory with different branding. Not so. This one pales in comparison to the Pollibee one (and no I am not getting paid by Pollibee). The foundations had no wax, but are filthy with mud and saw dust. Also, the foundations are too big for the frames making a bow. Look, you got a ton of choices in Chinese beehives. I have had good experiences with all, except this one. Try a different brand.

I bought this beehive kit based off of reviews. 1st. The inner lid is out of spec. It is deep on both sides, not offset. Meaning the plywood is centered in the frame instead of being 1/3-2/3 so that one side of the lid is shallow and the other side is deep. This is for proper bee space, so expect them to fill the gap with burr comb on top of the frames. The center hole is long and skinny instead of standard size. So if you are using a bee escape that fits in this hole you will have to trim the lid to install it. 2nd. The telescoping lid is 1/4” plywood in a frame with sheet metal over it. Functional yes but standard is built with 3/4” thick wood to act as an insulator from heat and cold 3rd. The dove tail joints are so-so. They are very splintered, like they were cut using very dull blades. The fit is okay. Obvious not tight like a furniture maker would make them but they aren’t super loose either. They are tight enough that you need to smack them with your fist or the palm of your hand to get them together. Overall they come out square when assembled (less than 1/16” out of square) 4th. The bottom board had some loose heartwood that you could just peel away. I filled it with glue and put the big chunks back in. And put extra paint over them to seal any gaps when I painted it. 5th. These boxes are physically lighter than all the rest of my (fir) bee boxes. Maybe cedar is lighter than fir. 6th The frames go together well. Pretty square. But I did have 1 or 2 that the foundation sheets fit extra loose in. I haven’t inspected why yet but a quick guess I’d say the slot in the bottom bar is extra deep since they don’t go very deep into the top bar. They really should supply 2 sizes of nails for assembly. I ended up using my own nails and put cross nails at the bottom connections fore more strength. 7th There is larger gap between these boxes when stacked than other boxes that I have. 8th Be sure to add more way to the foundation sheets before putting it to use. This goes for every beehive kit that I’ve looked at, not just this one. FYI double waxed means one thin coat of wax on each side of the foundation sheet. Not 2 coats in each side