3-Level Gabled Hive — Wax-Dipped Mesh Bottom Board

Three Boxes, One Hive, Endless Flexibility

If you’ve been keeping bees for a season or two, you already know that a hive’s needs change throughout the year. Spring calls for maximum brood space so the colony can build its population before the nectar flows begin. Summer is when a strong colony needs room to store honey. The right hive for a serious beekeeper isn’t just a box — it’s a system that can be configured to match what the colony needs at any given time.

This three-level gabled telescopic beehive gives you exactly that flexibility. Three full-depth boxes, a ventilated gabled roof, inner cover, galvanised queen excluder, and an upgraded wax-dipped mesh bottom board with beetle trap — all assembled and painted, ready to go. At $380.70 (reduced from $423), available in 8 or 10-frame with optional wax-embedded frames, this is a serious hive for beekeepers who think ahead.

Three Boxes — Run It How You Need

Three boxes sound straightforward, but the real value is in how you configure them across the season. There are two main approaches, and both are genuinely useful depending on where you are in the beekeeping year.

Running two brood boxes and one honey super is the setup favoured by experienced beekeepers in spring and early summer. When colonies are building fast, and the queen is laying at full capacity, a single brood box can run out of space quickly — and a crowded brood nest is one of the leading triggers for swarming. Two brood boxes give the queen plenty of room to lay, the colony room to raise large populations of foragers, and the whole hive room to build the strength it needs to make the most of the season’s nectar flows. When the colony is at its peak, and the super is filling up, you have a productive, swarm-resistant hive working at full capacity.

Running one brood box and two honey supers is the configuration for peak production. When your colony is strong, the foragers are bringing in nectar in volume, and you want maximum storage space without having to keep adding boxes. Two supers above a strong brood nest means you’re not restricting the colony’s ability to store, and you’re harvesting more honey per visit when you do extract.

The flexibility to move between these configurations as the season changes is what three boxes gives you that two boxes can’t — and it’s the reason experienced beekeepers consistently reach for the three-level setup once they’ve grown beyond their first hive.

The Gabled Roof — Built for Australian Weather

The gabled telescopic roof is immediately visible as the thing that sets this hive apart from a standard flat-lid setup — and it earns its place on practical grounds. The pitched peak sheds rain cleanly off both sides, which means water runs away from the hive quickly rather than pooling on a flat surface and working into the timber at the edges over time. In parts of Australia that experience heavy summer storms or persistent winter rain, that difference in water management adds meaningful years to the life of your hive.

The ventilated design allows hot air to rise and escape through the peak rather than sitting directly above the top box and radiating heat down into the colony. On a hot Australian summer day — which is also when your hive is at its most populated and generating the most internal heat — that ventilation makes a real difference to how comfortable and productive the colony stays. The gabled roof also gives this hive a distinctive look that stands apart from the standard white box setup, and in a garden or apiary, it looks genuinely considered.

22mm NZ Pine — Thicker Than the Standard

The boxes are made from 22mm New Zealand pine — 3mm thicker than the 19mm standard used in most imported hives. Thicker walls mean better insulation through Australian temperature extremes, greater resistance to warping and cracking over years of outdoor use, and a hive that holds its structural integrity well into its second decade with basic care. The exterior is painted white — UV-resistant and water-resistant — and the interior is left as natural unpainted pine, which is the surface bees settle into most readily.

Wax-Dipped Mesh Bottom Board — Beetle and Varroa Control

The wax-dipped mesh bottom board is one of the most important features this hive comes with — and it earns its place on two fronts that a solid bottom board cannot cover.

The first is small hive beetle control. Bees naturally herd beetles toward the hive floor, and the stainless mesh lets them fall through into the removable tray below, where they can’t climb back out. Fill the tray with diatomaceous earth — a natural, chemical-free powder — and you have continuous passive beetle management running every day without any effort from you. In Queensland, New South Wales, and other parts of Australia where small hive beetle pressure is serious, a wax-dipped mesh bottom board is not a luxury — it’s a sensible baseline.

The second is varroa monitoring. With varroa now established across much of Australia, monitoring mite levels is part of responsible hive management. Varroa mites that drop off bees during natural grooming or after a treatment fall straight through the wax-dipped mesh into the removable tray below and cannot climb back up. Slide the tray in with a light coating of petroleum jelly or vegetable oil, leave it for 24 to 48 hours, and count the natural mite drop. That gives you a clear, reliable picture of your colony’s mite load without opening a frame or purchasing additional monitoring equipment. The wax-dipped mesh bottom board makes varroa monitoring a simple, routine part of managing your hive.

The wax-dipping treatment means the board needs no painting, recoating, or seasonal maintenance. Natural beeswax penetrates the timber fibres from the inside out, permanently sealing the wood against moisture. It lasts, it requires nothing from you, and bees are completely comfortable with it from day one.

Inner Cover and Queen Excluder — Included

The inner cover sits between the top box and the gabled roof, providing additional insulation and helping the colony regulate temperature more efficiently through both summer heat and winter cold. It also makes roof removal at inspection time cleaner — bees propolis the inner cover rather than the roof itself, so the gabled lid lifts off easily without disturbing the colony or tearing comb.

The galvanised queen excluder sits between the brood area and the honey super, allowing worker bees to move freely while keeping the queen confined to the brood boxes. Clean honey supers at harvest time — no brood, no eggs, no complications. With three boxes giving you the option of one or two supers, the queen excluder is essential to keeping those supers exactly as they should be.

8-Frame or 10-Frame — Which to Choose

The 10-frame version includes 20 full-depth frames and is the Australian standard — it offers maximum honey capacity and is compatible with virtually all Langstroth accessories. The 8-frame includes 16 frames and is lighter when full, which suits beekeepers who prefer easier handling or are working in tighter spaces. Both come with the same gabled roof, inner cover, queen excluder, and wax-dipped mesh bottom board.

Wax-Embedded Frames — Optional at Checkout

At checkout, you can choose the hive without frames if you already have stock on hand, or add a full set of wax-embedded frames — 20 for the 10-frame version and 16 for the 8-frame version. For most beekeepers, the wax-embedded option is the better choice. Wiring and embedding frames is a multi-hour job that requires specific tools and some practice — having them ready from the start means you can install your colony and let them get to work immediately.

How This Compares to the Two-Level Gabled Hive

If you’re deciding between the two-level and three-level gabled hive, the key question is how you expect to manage your colony across the seasons. The two-level hive is a solid, complete hive for a colony building up or for a beekeeper who prefers to start simple and add a box when needed. The three-level gives you the flexibility to run two brood boxes in spring and summer for maximum colony strength and swarm prevention, then reconfigure with two supers for peak honey production — all without needing to purchase additional boxes later. Both hives share the same gabled roof, wax-dipped mesh bottom board, 22mm NZ pine, and overall quality of construction.

Specifications

• Brand: OZ ARMOUR — trusted globally since 2018
• Configuration: 3 x full-depth boxes — fully assembled and painted white
• Timber: 22mm New Zealand pine — knot-free, dimensionally stable
• Exterior: UV-resistant, water-resistant white paint
• Interior: Unpainted natural NZ pine — bee-friendly
• Roof: Gabled telescopic with ventilation — superior rain shedding and airflow
• Inner cover: Included
• Queen excluder: Galvanised — included
• Bottom board: Wax-dipped mesh with beetle trap — no painting required, maintenance-free
• Beetle control: Removable tray — use with diatomaceous earth
• Varroa monitoring: Removable tray for natural mite drop counts
• Recommended spring/summer configuration: 2 brood boxes + 1 honey super
• Peak production configuration: 1 brood box + 2 honey supers
• Frame options: Without frames OR with wax-embedded frames (choose at checkout)
• Frame count: 20 frames (10-frame) OR 16 frames (8-frame)
• Sizes: 8-frame or 10-frame Langstroth
• Price: $380.70 (was $423.00)
• Lifespan: 15-20+ years with basic care
• Rating: 4.9/5 stars