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Author Topic: Langstroth Long Hive  (Read 22687 times)

Offline capt44

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Langstroth Long Hive
« on: July 12, 2015, 12:35:07 pm »
Here is a picture of a Langstroth Long Hive I built and just got setup.
It holds 31 deep frames and has 2 follower boards.
I have 4 inner covers made and in place so you don't have to open the whole hive at one time, just sections.
I moved a colony of bees from a 5 frame Nuc into the hive a few days ago.
I figured they would be clustered where the old hive was located but no they accepted the long hive right off.
I have 2 inner covers with feeder wholes, 2 3/4 inch, for a quart jar type feeder.
For the entrances I drilled 1 1/4 inch holes at an angle up to deflect rain.
I also mounted the hive to a 4x4 treated post on each end set in the ground 24 inches.
This hive will be extremely heavy so I set it up permanent.
While it was in the wood shop I kept calling it my casket.
Richard Vardaman (capt44)

Offline Maggiesdad

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #1 on: July 12, 2015, 12:46:04 pm »
Nice!

Offline NeilTheCop

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2015, 10:18:24 am »
As a newbie beek may I ask, what are the advantages/disadvantages if this type of hive.
It would seem that this is far more practical than stacking boxes on top of each other?
Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints

Offline Eric Bosworth

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #3 on: August 03, 2015, 12:29:56 pm »
As a newbie beek may I ask, what are the advantages/disadvantages if this type of hive.
It would seem that this is far more practical than stacking boxes on top of each other?
Advantages I see are lack of lifting boxes and always working at a convenient height. You never have to worry about boxes that you can't reach. You really only need to lift 1 frame at a time that is pretty nice.
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Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. ---Benjamin Franklin

Offline NeilTheCop

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #4 on: August 03, 2015, 08:05:15 pm »
With so many advantages why is it not used more?
Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints

Offline Eric Bosworth

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #5 on: August 03, 2015, 09:09:19 pm »
Not sure. I use them in the summer and then I use split boxes in the winter so I can have 2 colonies keeping each other warm.
All political power comes from the barrel of a gun. The communist party must command all the guns; that way, no guns can ever be used to command the party. ---Mao Tse Tung

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. ---Benjamin Franklin

Offline Joe D

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #6 on: August 03, 2015, 11:53:22 pm »
One of the disadvantages is the weight when and if you decide to move it.  It is like a TBH with frames that will fit perfectly in another hive or extractor.  I haven't built one yet, I have a TBH with kind of triangle frames.  I like it but the interchangeable frames and being able to run the frames through an extractor will be nice.

It does look nice Capt.



Joe

Offline little john

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #7 on: August 04, 2015, 05:46:30 am »
I have over a dozen Long Hives and will be making another 10 or so over winter. They're my favourite hives, but not ideal for every purpose - so I have quite a few vertical hives as well which are used for queen-rearing and the development of nucs.
I have one or two Long Hives with legs which are static - but the rest are kept as simple boxes. Living either on a trailer, or two to a plastic pallet.

I gave up on the idea of multiple occupation, as I discovered that partition boards (for some reason called 'follower' boards - but not sure what it is that they follow ...) can seldom be made bee-tight. So - I cut-off 1.5" from the bottom of each partition board, and now make the boxes 32" long, enough for 20 frames, and fit battens to each end of the box so that they can be easily lifted when empty. Any longer and I couldn't get my arms around them ... :)
If I were in a more nectar-abundant area, then maybe I'd add 3 or 4 small supers overhead, but I'm not, so there's no need for this right now. But maybe in the years to come ... ?

I once tried central side entrances and found that my bees got 'lost' in not knowing where the back of the cavity was, and so created divided stores areas. As this could have led to winter starvation, I make entrances only at one end now.

In general, I find that Long Hives require just a little more management than vertical hives, in order that store combs don't create a barrier to brood chamber expansion - but otherwise they're far more flexible than vertical hives in that just one or two frames can be added when needed (rather than a box-full at a time) - or a few pinched to make-up the odd nuc - without there being any need to worry about filling-up a box with dummies or empty frames to prevent wild comb being drawn.

LJ

Almost forgot - I also fit Open Mesh to roughly one-quarter of the floor area - along one side - so that the hive can be tilted slightly during winter in order that any excess condensation may exit via that mesh.
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Offline NeilTheCop

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #8 on: August 04, 2015, 01:04:58 pm »
Looks like a winter project for me.
Any input on which would be better, deep or medium frames?
Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #9 on: August 04, 2015, 04:39:59 pm »
>Any input on which would be better, deep or medium frames?

I would use whatever your standard brood frames are in your operation.
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Offline little john

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #10 on: August 04, 2015, 05:41:57 pm »
I agree 100% with Michael. One of the worst decisions I've ever made was to make one hive with a different frame depth to any of the others.

This came about when I decided to convert a 4ft KTBH to a framed Long Hive - it was a case of either making something useful out of it, or put in on the bonfire. And - by trying to generate as little extra work as possible, what resulted was a 'Dual' Long Hive, dimensioned for 12" deep frames. Which was a really bad decision, as every other hive in my apiary has 9" deep frames.

Here's the culprit - you can clearly see it's KTBH origins on the end panel.



And here's what it looked like after a coat of paint, just before I put any bees into it.



But it's a decision I still regret having made, as the lack of inter-changeability of frames is proving to be a real pain in the backside.

LJ
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Offline Eric Bosworth

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #11 on: August 04, 2015, 09:17:57 pm »
Unlike laws one size fits all works great with beehive components.
All political power comes from the barrel of a gun. The communist party must command all the guns; that way, no guns can ever be used to command the party. ---Mao Tse Tung

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. ---Benjamin Franklin

Offline NeilTheCop

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #12 on: August 05, 2015, 02:00:19 pm »
Thanks.
I have plenty of medium plastic foundation, so I'll stick to that size.
Time to break out the Solidworks and start designing. At 102 degrees it's too hot to do anything outside anyway :cool:
Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints

Offline Eric Bosworth

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #13 on: August 06, 2015, 10:03:57 pm »
One other advantage... You can't smash bees between boxes.
All political power comes from the barrel of a gun. The communist party must command all the guns; that way, no guns can ever be used to command the party. ---Mao Tse Tung

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. ---Benjamin Franklin

Offline Marysia2

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2015, 01:40:23 am »

I have two long Langs (some wit called them Longstroths), each of which are the equivalent of 3 deeps placed horizontally.  I use Kelly Bees foundationless deep Lang frames in them; currently there is a colony of Russian hybrids in each. 

I have 2 top bar hives which I like, but the lack of standardization for top bar hives makes it difficult to swap or borrow comb from another tbh beek.  As mine were built by 2 different people (big mistake), I can't even swap combs with myself.   :tongue:

I'm a short woman, I'm unable to lift 60+ pound boxes filled with bees and honey; long hives, whether long Langs or TBHs, work very well for me.

Offline Marysia2

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #15 on: September 11, 2015, 01:51:14 am »
With so many advantages why is it not used more?
For one thing, it's "different," and a lot of old beeks just don't like anything "different."  Possibly also it has to do with "real estate":  if your available space for hives is limited, stacked vertical boxes will have a smaller footprint.  You could fit 2 vertical hives in the space of one horizontal.  To me, they were a perfect solution to issues I had with hefting boxes and inspections.

Offline capt44

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #16 on: October 09, 2015, 05:02:55 pm »
I built 2 of these long hives, one for me and one for a student I am teaching how to keep bees.
I used the deep langstroth frames for that is what I use in my vertical deep boxes.
I drilled 3 four inch holes in the bottom and covered them with #8 hardware cloth.
I made covers to go over them and so I could treat the hive with oxalic acid vapor for varroa mites.
So far the hive is doing great.
I just move the follower boards out and place 4 empty frames and foundation in.
Since the post are in the ground 24 inches I installed 2 rachet straps to the top so thunderstorm winds wouldn't lift the top off.
So far the bees are doing fantastic.
Now to see how they do over winter.
Richard Vardaman (capt44)

Offline Bombus_perplexus

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #17 on: November 19, 2015, 02:45:32 pm »
Another reason that it is not used more is that it takes up more space, both in the bee yard and on a truck. They will probably never be used by the commercial beekeepers due to that fact. The need them to take up as little space as possible to be able to fit as many on a transport truck or in a bee yard as possible.

I personally had 5 top bars of my own design last year and loved them, but they were for personal pollination at my small 11 acre local farm. I have been playing with designs back and forth for varying purposes.

Offline dunderi

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #18 on: November 19, 2015, 06:13:02 pm »
This is really brilliant.  I've acquired a couple of ten frame ideal boxes and want to run all ideal frames,  but also would like to try top bar style specifically for ease of access and lack of lifting while I'm learning. 

When fitting a nuc into one of these would you put them in the middle,  letting them expand side to side, with the entrance to the centre of the long side (coolwise?) or to the middle of the short end (warmwise?) with the bees at the front door end of the hive and expanding towards the rear?

Also,  once full,  would you then be able to add a section vertically,  say an 8 frame super, or even a couple of them for honey flow?

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Langstroth Long Hive
« Reply #19 on: November 20, 2015, 12:55:04 pm »
"When fitting a nuc into one of these would you put them in the middle,  letting them expand side to side, with the entrance to the centre of the long side (coolwise?) or to the middle of the short end (warmwise?) with the bees at the front door end of the hive and expanding towards the rear?"
Place the nuc near the entrance. That is where bees prefer to have their hives when they pick the location.

"Also,  once full,  would you then be able to add a section vertically,  say an 8 frame super, or even a couple of them for honey flow?"
Yes you can add a box on top. This is done with top bar hives and long hives.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin