Something I should have blogged about a long time ago especially when more than one person asked. Better late than never. 🙂
Hive boxes, they come pre-cut and pre-drilled. It’s just like putting Legos together. Just ensure the handle side is on the exterior and the flat handle part is all facing up. You can glue all the fingers but if not, there’s one spot that must be glued or else it will warp. You must glue the most top corner. It’s thinner than other fingers. You can see the orange-yellowish glue on the picture below. I use standard wood glue. Don’t use anything fancy with fumes.
Frames, all pre-cut. I assemble the entire thing first, then nail. Top bar, I place two nails on each end as shown below. If you wish to glue you can.
Bottom bar, one nail on each end as shown in the picture below.
Los Altos Honey Bees 
Hi Jack – how long does it take to make a frame, and a hive body, once you’ve gotten comfortable with it? Also, how about painting or varnishing to weather the elements, or is it OK to leave the hives bare?
Hey Paul,
I buy all my woodware from Mann Lake unassembled. Because they are pre-cut, it’s like legos. I can put them together by hand pretty fast. I bought a nail gun before but returned it. My dad and I can pound the frames and hive bodies out pretty fast. Of course another pair of hands do help but still pretty fast with one person. If I had to put a duration per frame, I would say less than 1 min per frame. I drive four nails on the top bar. Two nails on the bottom bar. Hive bodies I only glue the top small portion. Then it’s all nails. I’ve seen some people use wood/drywall screws but it does not look good to me and the screw head goes too far in.
Painting, I don’t paint my woodware because I want it to breath naturally. My practice in the Winter is to cover my hives with a roof of some sort. It keeps the hives dry. I like the natural look. 🙂