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Author Topic: Doolittle's "Six-Frame" Hive:  (Read 5186 times)

Offline little john

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Doolittle's "Six-Frame" Hive:
« on: October 26, 2016, 03:27:47 pm »
Here's a hive not many people know about ...

The beehive favoured by Doolittle, and described by him in the ABJ during 1884, measured 24" Long, 12" wide and 12" deep, housing a maximum of 15 frames, and which can have a second identical box placed above it, providing a 30 frame hive suitable for the production of Extracted Honey.

When used as a single box to produce Section Honey, Division Boards were inserted 5" from either end in order to make cavities suitable for housing sections.  These Division Boards were made from 0.25" wood to slide into vertical slots 0.25" wide and 0.25" deep which had been cut into the box sides. The Boards were made such that 'slots', or 0.25" gaps were created at both top and bottom, in order to give bees access to the sections within the end cavities.

When a hive of 24" length is thus fitted with two fixed-position Division Boards, a 13.5" x 12" x 12" Brood Chamber results, into which may be placed nine 11.25" x 11.25" Gallup Frames.  However, this Brood Chamber may be reduced in size by the use of one or a pair of moveable-position Division Boards, made from 1" thick wood and fitted with a top bar to form dummy-frame boards, with a half-inch (or thereabouts) gap left at the bottom.  Moveable-position Division Boards are used soley for contracting the effective size of the Brood Chamber, and with their use between 5 and 8 frames may be employed during over-wintering.

Prior to winter, sections are removed and two pieces of cotton cloth placed over the frames and draped down over the Division Boards, with the now empty cavities at the sides being filled with chaff, and a chaff or sawdust cushion placed above the frames in the Brood Chamber.

The Hive Entrance is a 3/8" slot at the bottom, 13.5" long, and regulated by entrance blocks.

Although the above details are of a 15-frame beehive, it is called a "Six-Frame Hive" by Doolittle, as he frequently over-wintered colonies on just six frames within it, by courtesy of the Division Boards and the use of chaff insulation as described.

LJ
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Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Doolittle's "Six-Frame" Hive:
« Reply #1 on: October 27, 2016, 10:47:01 am »
Something is off on the dimensions.  12" wide will not hold 15 frames.  It won't even hold 8 frames.
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Offline little john

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Re: Doolittle's "Six-Frame" Hive:
« Reply #2 on: October 27, 2016, 11:11:46 am »
The term 'length' is being applied to the longest dimension.  So - the 12" width will hold a 11.25" frame.  The 24" length will hold 15 frames @ 1.5" spacing.
LJ


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Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Doolittle's "Six-Frame" Hive:
« Reply #3 on: October 31, 2016, 01:40:36 pm »
Dimensional terms have been pretty standard for bee hives for a long time  Depth is in the vertical direction.  Width is the narrowest direction and length is the longest direction.  So are you saying the hive was 12" in the direction of the frames (the length of the frame fits in that direction)? 
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Offline divemaster1963

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Re: Doolittle's "Six-Frame" Hive:
« Reply #4 on: October 31, 2016, 07:22:22 pm »
sounds like he was duplicating the way a wild hive builds in floor joists. they will seperate the brood camber from the honey chamber in the floors.

john

Offline little john

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Re: Doolittle's "Six-Frame" Hive:
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2020, 06:52:55 pm »
Thought I'd revive this thread from 2016.

Quote
The beehive favoured by Doolittle, and described by him in the ABJ during 1884, measured 24" Long, 12" wide and 12" deep, housing a maximum of 15 frames
Quote
October 5th, 1852. US9300A 'Bee Hive', L.L.Langstroth, page 5, line 46
The inside dimensions of the box containing the combs, as I usually construct it, are as follows: Lenth, eighteen inches and one eighth. This will give room for twelve movable frames. Breadth, twelve inches and one eighth. The extra eighth of an inch is to enable me to have sufficient play for slight variations in the glass. Depth below the rabbets nine or ten inches

Langstroth's 18 inches houses 12 frames.  Doolittle's 24 inches houses 15 frames (and a couple of dividers). I don't see the difficulty in understanding those dimensions.

Here's an 18" Langstroth Hive with Gallup frames (sections in the upper box) - the only difference between Langstroth's Hive and Gallup's is the depth of frame - 9 inches as opposed to 11 inches.




What Doolittle did was to extend the length of Langstroth's hive by 6 inches, and fit Gallup's frames in it - and he had very particular reasons for doing precisely this.
LJ
A Heretics Guide to Beekeeping - http://heretics-guide.atwebpages.com