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Author Topic: Modern Top Bar Hive = Dartington?????  (Read 3697 times)

Offline dawgdrvr

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Modern Top Bar Hive = Dartington?????
« on: August 09, 2015, 07:34:43 pm »
Hi there all .
                   I  have been looking into building a Double or Triple long Lang. I came across this site. http://www.moderntopbarhive.com/   

 The reviews on this hive from a Google search are calling it revolutionary .  I am thinking that it is VERY similar to the Dartington hive . In his video he states "Bee's work vertically, they DO NOT work horizontally.  efficiently".    does anyone have thoughts on this hive or the Dartington .

 I plan to use deep frames . So how many should I use ? X2 long lang W suppers? X3 long lang W suppers? or just go all out and do a 40 frame beast with no supers at all.

any input is appreciated

Thanx
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Offline little john

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Re: Modern Top Bar Hive = Dartington?????
« Reply #1 on: August 10, 2015, 04:24:11 am »
That link is just a sales-pitch targeted at the unknowledgeable beginner-beekeeper. There's nothing 'revolutionary' about this hive, and despite what the vendor says about it having being "patented" - when this site was discussed a few weeks ago, I did a Patent search - and nothing whatsoever came up.

Bees are incredibly versatile and flexible creatures - they will set up home in almost any shape and size of cavity. Whilst it is almost beyond dispute that bees will over-winter better in northern latitudes within narrow vertical hives than they would do in horizontal cavities - provided a horizontal hive is suitably top-insulated it should survive without any problems in all but the most severe conditions.

The Dartington ? - another over-rated 'design' which offers nothing new over-and-above the basic trough hive which has been around for centuries. The only novel feature perhaps is his use of 3x one-third-size supers - the 'design' of which came about by accident, as Robin needed to make smaller-sized boxes in order to carry them down some narrow circular stair-wells, as the hives themselves were positioned on the roof above (if memory serves) an old church. There are other bits of unnecessary add-ons, such as folding carrying handles, and a 'periscope' entrance - neither of which are needed.

My advice would be to initially make yourself a simple, single trough hive, dimensioned to fit the same number and size of frames you have (or would have) in a regular-sized Langstroth, and see how you get on with that for one season, before making any larger versions. Then - if you don't get on well with that style of hive - it happens - you can simply swap the frames over to standard Langstroth boxes.
I suggest you make the Long Hive entrance at one end, and NOT at the side, so that the bees can easily figure out where the back of the hive is, and thus know where to locate their stores.

I've been using framed Long Hives for many years now, and find them to be very useful - they're simple and cheap to make - and perfectly straightforward to use. Just make sure you physically expand the broodnest as required.

BTW - Michael Bush's site is always worth consulting for advice re: Long Hives.

LJ
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Offline NeilTheCop

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Re: Modern Top Bar Hive = Dartington?????
« Reply #2 on: August 10, 2015, 10:41:48 am »
I also could find no patents issued to Mr. Roland O. Reed, and the video doesn't show anything the patent office would accept as a new idea

Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints

Offline ugcheleuce

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Re: Modern Top Bar Hive = Dartington?????
« Reply #3 on: August 10, 2015, 05:27:05 pm »
I  have been looking into building a Double or Triple long Lang. I came across this site: http://www.moderntopbarhive.com/

Pity he calls it a modern "top bar hive" because it's not a top bar hive.  It's a frame hive, with a shape that reminds beginner beekeepers of a top bar hive.

The selling points of the top bar hive are that (a) you can make the hive cheaply and (b) you can make the hive without precision.  The only important measurement in a real top bar hive is "35 mm" (the width of the top bars).  The Roland Reed hive is expensive and it must be made with great precision, otherwise it fails.

Older beekeepers will know that the Roland Reed hive's design has been around for quite a while (similar hives existed in the mid-1850s, even).

If you think it's worth shelling out $500 for a beehive, I'd say: go for it.  Will you have success with this hive, as promised?  It depends on your climate and your available flow.
   
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The reviews on this hive from a Google search are calling it revolutionary.

Those aren't reviews.  Those are newspaper articles written by journalists who are not beekeepers themselves and who fall for the spin after the barest of research into the topic.

His web site claims that bees only build their honey stores vertically, above the brood nest.  That's is not strictly true.  Bees store honey not only vertically but also horizontally.  They store the honey not only above the brood nest but also to the sides of it.

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I am thinking that it is VERY similar to the Dartington hive.

I think the Dartington hive is deeper and longer, and the Dartington puts smaller supers on (and puts then on top of the entire hive, if possible).

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Or just go all out and do a 40 frame beast with no supers at all?

If you're going to make a 40-frame beast, why not make it with two parallel rows of 20 frames instead of a single row of 40 frames?  (and while you're at it, google for "golz beute").  A 40-frame beast in a single row will suffer the same problems as a vertical hive in which you never add or remove any boxes -- they won't fill the entire hive.
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Samuel Murray, Apeldoorn, Netherlands
3 hives in desperate need of requeening :-)