# starter kit from dadant



## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

Dadant in Paris is all I have used. Never been there. Their phone service is great. They have always done me right. Welcome to the forum and beekeeping James.


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## BeePrepared (Jan 22, 2021)

Hambone,
I am new to beekeeping. I have Langstroth sets starting because I don’t want to miss this coming season. I keep reading though. I found this on the Aussie beekeeper forum. I am curi if you could shed some light on this modified Datant and It’s potential effectiveness. You’ve been running Datants since forever. I figured you might have a pre decent reason.
Thanks in advance for your response.








Recreating the Modified Dadant / Dadant-Blatt brood frame


One thing that may become obvious when i’m posting photos of supers is that I prefer Ideal depth frames which are far shallower than a standard Langstroth frame. An example here: There are several reasons why I prefer this depth of frame for honey supers, including the fact that they take...




forum.canberrabees.com







Hambone said:


> Dadant in Paris is all I have used. Never been there. Their phone service is great. They have always done me right. Welcome to the forum and beekeeping James.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

BeePrepared, just to let you know you are responding to a 12 year old post. Hambone has not been seen since 2015. There are other beeks that use the Dadant deeps, maybe one will chime in with their experiences.


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

Bee Prepared; It would be helpful for anyone giving advice to know your location. Also if you will have support from a club or an experienced mentor and have you the equipment and experience to make your own hive equipment. My reason for this is your interest in that particular specialized equipment scenario; having other than standard frame dimensions is a big potential handicap for someone getting into beekeeping. Frame foundation is not at all easy to obtain in the Dadant depth and is expensive. I am experimenting with some of the non standard deep frame sizes and stacked boxes but I make my own.

There is many hours of reading here on the forum on just such discussions. Lots of Pros and Cons. Try doing some searches and if you dont get anywhere, post back and some of us can give you some advice on how to word your search parameters.


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## BeePrepared (Jan 22, 2021)

crofter said:


> Bee Prepared; It would be helpful for anyone giving advice to know your location. Also if you will have support from a club or an experienced mentor and have you the equipment and experience to make your own hive equipment. My reason for this is your interest in that particular specialized equipment scenario; having other than standard frame dimensions is a big potential handicap for someone getting into beekeeping. Frame foundation is not at all easy to obtain in the Dadant depth and is expensive. I am experimenting with some of the non standard deep frame sizes and stacked boxes but I make my own.
> 
> There is many hours of reading here on the forum on just such discussions. Lots of Pros and Cons. Try doing some searches and if you dont get anywhere, post back and some of us can give you some advice on how to word your search parameters.


Thank you for responding, Frank. We’re located fairly close to Iron Mountain in Michigan. I have the means, tools, and the facilities to build components. What I’m lacking is experience and a good mentor. I haven’t been able to find a beekeeper close to me geographically. My internet searches are dead ends and I‘m running out of time before the season starts. We both know that we’re dealing with organized colonies of living organisms. Book knowledge and forums will only get me so far. It is a shame that without the help of an experienced beekeeper I will inevitability make mistakes that will prove deadly to my bees. I am determined to get started and will not miss another season.You can rest assured that I will continue to read the forum posts. This is all great information even if enormously fragmented. BTW, I am fully aware of the financial investment necessary in this endeavor. I am therefore that much more sensitive to the fact that this is the perfect time for me to make the decision regarding the type of hives I want to pursue propagating. Think about it. Would you be willing to switch to Datants if you were wading in Lansthroths 50-100 deep? Very few of us have the means to do that and even if, we must realize that from a financial standpoint it would be an absurd decision. It’s because I keep coming across posts in this and other forums talking about better production as well as better overall housing for the colonies that I am interested and exploring Datants. I am not in a habit of throwing money down the drain for sport. There is a reason for beekeepers who keep bees in Dadant hives to go against the entire industry. I want to know what you know ‘cause I think you know more than an average bear. Have a great weekend, Frank.


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## BeePrepared (Jan 22, 2021)

JWPalmer said:


> BeePrepared, just to let you know you are responding to a 12 year old post. Hambone has not been seen since 2015. There are other beeks that use the Dadant deeps, maybe one will chime in with their experiences.


Thanks, JW. I realize that. I was hoping for any response from anyone familiar with Darants. I know it’s going against the grain but I see a lot of very prominent names here in this community. I know that there are folks here who forgot more about keeping bees than I will ever have the time to learn in what is left of my lifetime. Since I don’t appear to be skilled or lucky enough to find a beekeeper nearby I need to pick your brains.


BeePrepared said:


> Hambone,
> I am new to beekeeping. I have Langstroth sets starting because I don’t want to miss this coming season. I keep reading though. I found this on the Aussie beekeeper forum. I am curi if you could shed some light on this modified Datant and It’s potential effectiveness. You’ve been running Datants since forever. I figured you might have a pre decent reason.
> Thanks in advance for your response.
> 
> ...


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

Bee Prepared; There is lots of logic in your fact gathering process but it falls victim to trying to arrive at the perfect solution when future developments will *undoubtedly* change. I have been and possibly still am a victim of this.
One quote that needs some thinking about to help cure the disease "Perfection is the enemy of practicality", another is that "He who studies and studies and does not what he knows, is like one who ploughs and ploughs and never sows".

I think the first thing needed is bee knowledge; the natural instincts and requirements of bees: there is no substitute for this, no matter what configuration of hives. There is a lot to be said for starting out with the most common equipment since it makes it much easier to get pertinent advice. Also if you choose to go to another hive configuration that equipment is easy to sell or simply used for raising bees to augment the ones in your final configuration. You cant be standard Langstroth from this perspective.

Your opinions and even physical capabilities will likely change. A few percentage point difference in theoretical efficiency is really insignificant when the major controlling factor in success will definitely be the beekeepers ability to keep the bees alive. 

Your physical capabilites should factor into whether you select 8 or 10 frame box widths. A mix of deeps and mediums is a common choice as would be all mediums. You are in a hard winter area so look at what gives good winter survival.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

BP, I agree with Frank on this. Far easier to learn beekeeping when you are using the same type of equipment as everyone else. Learning to manage the bees and ensuring their continued survival is more important than anything else. A 16 year-old may dream of a high performance sports car as his first car, but is it really a good idea when he is still learning to drive?


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## Fivej (Apr 4, 2016)

Bee Prepared: some great words of wisdom given. I will add to Frank's quotes : walk before you run. My Mom said that but pretty sure a lot before her gave that great advice. J


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