Larger Layens hives

[Bob Wilson]

I know there are only few long hive beeks in the forum, but I would be interested in hearing how long are your hives.
I still keep one 30 deep frame long langstroth. That's the equivalent to 3 deep boxes on top of each other. I am using it as a nuc producer for selling 5 frame nucs.
I have a 14 frame Layens given to me, but it fills up very quickly in the spring. It is equivalent to a little less than 2 deep langstroth boxes. For the sake of my life, I have a hard time understanding why the Layens community promotes such a box. It is only good for a late start split. Any spring swarm, or over wintered colony overwhelms it.

Therefore, I have made these 30 frame Layens boxes. That's equal to 3.6 deep langstroth boxes, or a single deep brood box and 4 medium supers on top (if my math is right).
I am champing at the bit to see what happens.

The photo is both the 14 frame and the 30 frame boxes.

[Ben Framed]

I still keep one 30 deep frame long langstroth. That's the equivalent to 3 deep boxes on top of each other. I am using it as a nuc producer for selling 5 frame nucs.

Bob I don?t have long langs but I bet it is convenient to use this type box for making up 5 frame Nucs. Do you also have standard Langstroth hives?

[cao]

Mine are 4 ft long.  I have 3 deep frame and 2 medium frame.  Last year the medium frame ones were a couple frames from being full before I pulled several frames of honey.  The deep ones filled about two thirds of the box.  I do pull frames for splits throughout the year.

[Bob Wilson]

Ben Framed.
No. I have never kept standard vertical hives. I suppose I should for the sake of education...but I doubt I ever will.

Cao.
I knew you had some horizontal hives. Your advice in earlier years helped me a good bit.
I can imagine the medium horizontals filled up. Even my 30 frame deep horizontals filled. The brood stretched through the first 1-18 frames, and numbers 19-30 had various amounts of uncured nectar, which I could not pull. Hence the change to Layens.

[Michael Bush]

I have experimented extensively with long hives.  I think four feet is both the practical limit and the best length.  Wyatt Magnum says you can do five feet but it takes more management to get them to expand that far.

[Ben Framed]

Bob you have been faithful in posting about long hives, I an beginning to wonder if I am missing something by sticking with traditional Langstroth hives... But on the other hand you have not used Langstroth hives, so I suppose we both are limited in the interest of the other. 🤷🏻‍♂️ 🙂

[cao]

I have both traditional hives and long hives and will continue to use both.  They each have advantages and disadvantages.  I am on that likes to experiment and try different things. 

The long hives were interesting to me because I had originally thought about a top bar hive but decided on a long hive because of the interchangeability of the frames. 

The traditional Langstroth hives I have consist of shallow medium and deep boxes anywhere from 3 to ten frame.   

One of the things people don't talk about much is from the woodworking side of beekeeping.  I really get a lot of enjoyment from building my equipment, even before I put any bees in it.  That is one advantage the long hive has Is that I got to design them the way I wanted.