BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > TOP BAR HIVES - WARRE HIVES - LONG HIVES

Nectar management in a long hive

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Michael Bush:
Walt's view is that the bees are trying to reproduce, but only if they have the resources to do so.  The concept of "Nectar Management" is to fool the bees into thinking they don't have the resources when they actually do.  Once you get past reproductive swarming, it's easy enough to just make sure they don't run out of room.  That point where they decide to swarm or not, he calls "swarm cutoff".  If you can get past "swarm cutoff" then they focus on honey.  Checkerboarding (alternating empty drawn comb and capped comb) makes them unsure of how much stores they have and keeps them thinking they should wait for swarming.

Bob Wilson:
Tigger.
Sorry for the late reply.
It is true that I had difficulty with the deep long langs.
It seemed to me that the queen tended to stretch out her brood nest through 2/3 of the hive body, leaving only 10 frames or so of nectar, which never seemed to cure. The deep frames are only 9 or so inches deep.
Since then, I have been steadily moving towards Layens hives. I like the depth a lot better. They seem to give me all the best parts of a deep long langstroth, but without the problems. The colonies in them are building up nice, big populations, without the cramped quarters and resulting swarming, and yet they still have a lot of room for nectar. I will know more about Layens honey production at the end of this season.

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