# My Long Hive design



## Daddy'sBees (Jul 1, 2010)

I posted my design for a long hive for those DIY. It uses medium frames for supers and thus is less weight to lift when full of honey.
http://picasaweb.google.com/110129302850842696588/LongHive#5557695384944817442
Enjoy!


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## NDnewbeek (Jul 4, 2008)

I built one just like this last winter. Had bees in it this past summer, but they didn't make it. 32 medium frames long - designed as three medium supers (side by side). If I can get bees to take to it - I was planning on supering it.


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## Daddy'sBees (Jul 1, 2010)

Nice long hive! Thanks for the input. I hope you have better luck this up-coming year. I finally settled on this design for all those new hives I'm building this winter. 

I understand that bees will fill up any space available. When doing bee cut-outs, I find many similar hives in a house's eve or roof overhang. They seem to not mind the horizontal space afforded to them in these spaces.

The long hive only gets resized(with the follower board) over time to adjust to the brood size. But, the 8-frame medium supers are the only lifting necessary. This assumes this super to be full of honey and weigh about 45 lbs. Add, stack, and/or replace them as needed.

One advantage is that all frames are the same size(medium 6 1/4 in height) and thus interchangeable. This offers many benefits such as starting mating nucs and moving frames here and there as needed. Also, I like foundationless frames. 

Another benefit is, this style offers less hive disturbance when doing inspections. You don't have to separate the brood boxes to get to one further down. I also use the "planks" to only expose one frame for inspection at a time. This follows the TBH concept of less disturbance on inspections than the traditional Langstroth design. This could possibly have some benefit of more honey produced. Just my theory here though. I also like the benefit of raising the brood box up a little higher off the ground(away from critters), yet it doesn't stack as high as the full Lang approach.

According to Michael Bush, 3 medium 8-frame brood boxes = 2 deep 10-frame brood boxes. This long hive is exactly that, it is as long as 3 medium 8-frame boxes lined up side-by-side.


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## NDnewbeek (Jul 4, 2008)

I used foundationless frames in it and the bees drew and filled 28 of the 32. I had a follower board keeping the broodnest compact, but they just didn't survive the first serious cold (-27F). 

I plan to super with mediums, but I also have 3 queen excluders that I am going to use because I want the queen to stay in the long hive. 

I also build the top in two sections (which I probably wouldn't do again - it was difficult stopping water from leaking into the hive), so that I can run just a single stack of supers over just the one end if I want to.


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## Konrad (Oct 7, 2004)

I don't really see the advantage....in the contrary, bees love to go up and it's nice and warm too.


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## waynesgarden (Jan 3, 2009)

Konrad said:


> I don't really see the advantage....in the contrary, bees love to go up.


Tell that to the bees living in countless hives in the floor cavities of houses. And isn't it the complete opposite of what you say in the case of a hollow tree trunk in nature; don't the bees actually "love" to go _down_?

These hives have been around for a long hive. I think they take the best of a top bar hive and combine them with the standardized equipment of a Langstroth. I've built one deep long hive for next year and will be building another over the winter. I like the idea of working deep boxes for the brood without having to lift them, or being able to check them with all 20 frames available (when honey supers are not on) by tossing a cloth over half or more of the frames.

I see that NDnewbeek has casters on the end of his design. I guess that idea, though probably a bumpy ride for any bees in the hive, satisfies the objection I often hear about how to move the hive. I don't plan to move mine often (how often does anyone's hive get moved to a new location?)

Dennis Murrell writes on his web site that his deep long hives were his biggest producers. That in itself was enough to make me want to experiment with the idea.

Wayne


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## Duboisi (Oct 7, 2009)

I am thinking that a shallow long-hive will loose a lot of heat during winter. The heat-dispersion would be fine in TX but not in ND.
-But then again, if it works it work.

BTW: I thought the design of NDnewbeek reminded me of the "bienenkiste".


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## NDnewbeek (Jul 4, 2008)

waynesgarden said:


> I see that NDnewbeek has casters on the end of his design. I guess that idea, though probably a bumpy ride for any bees in the hive, satisfies the objection I often hear about how to move the hive. I don't plan to move mine often (how often does anyone's hive get moved to a new location?)


Wayne,

You are correct. I have a handle bolted to the other side. I can latch the lid down securely, close off the entrances and tote it around if necessary.

An all medium like that might not be able to make in through the ND winter, the first try sure didn't - but I don't know. If I ever build another one, I might make it an all deep. Mostly though, I just built it for the fun of building it and the fun of working it. I don't have very high expectations for it. I run over a dozen traditional Langs - this was just something to put a swarm in if I caught it or house a package if I got the urge to buy one.

If it makes me honey and overwinters - all the better.

Mike


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## Konrad (Oct 7, 2004)

Duboisi said:


> I am thinking that a shallow long-hive will loose a lot of heat during winter. The heat-dispersion would be fine in TX but not in ND.
> -But then again, if it works it work.
> 
> BTW: I thought the design of NDnewbeek reminded me of the "bienenkiste".


Looks like we think the same, a hive like this would not make it here in winter. I had two deep's
starve on me, they never went to the side where all the honey was, this with good insulation.
When looking for food they seem to go up, usually they never touch the last one or two side frames.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I have overwintered a 3 frame medium hive every winter for the last six or seven at least with no issues. We get -27 F for a week or two now and then. Did last winter and they did fine.


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## Konrad (Oct 7, 2004)

waynesgarden said:


> Tell that to the bees living in countless hives in the floor cavities of houses. And isn't it the complete opposite of what you say in the case of a hollow tree trunk in nature; don't the bees actually "love" to go _down_?
> 
> Wayne


It just happen that the rotten wood or entrance was a floor cavity
Personally I've seen more wall cavities.

And I can explain bees in hollow trunk going down.
Most bees that look for new homes are old birdhouses what have been excavated by woodpeckers,....naturally they go down, not up. One hive I had in a duck house, yea they had to go down because entrance was on top.

Here is a yellow shafted Northern Flicker exacting a tree.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c97/fruitnut_/Northern Flicker/IMG_4754_1_1_1.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c97/fruitnut_/Northern Flicker/IMG_4631_1_1_1.jpg

Konrad


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## Daddy'sBees (Jul 1, 2010)

Thanks for all the input/thoughts. I'm just going with the medium based long hive for the reasons I listed. Mostly to avoid lots of lifting. In reflection, I think about 2/3 of my cut-outs have hives of a horizontal nature, I.E. floor, awning, etc. As for some of you who live WAY up north from me, I gotta think something like those Slovenian bee houses may be more in line!


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## souficoufi (Dec 10, 2016)

La ruche horizontale donne beaucoup de couvain mais pas beaucoup de miel .


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## little_john (Aug 4, 2014)

souficoufi said:


> La ruche horizontale donne beaucoup de couvain mais pas beaucoup de miel .


Cette discussion est de dix ans - ne vous attendez sérieusement une réponse?
LJ


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