From a LANG to a LONG

[Wayne Miles]

I intend to convert my one lang (3 mediums) to a long hive, and later in the spring add a KTBH or two.

My current questions are how and when? Should I wait until the weather is warmer ? It has been warm up until now, this is the 1st week we have had with every days highs predicted to be lowere than average..

Do I place the 3 box's end to end on a sheet of plywood cut to fit ? Are migratory covers recommended ? Do I cut an entrance or shim up the cover to serve as an entrance ? Do I take my current frames from the LANG and replace every other one with a top bar? Can I shake / brush the bees from the LANG to the long ?

I know this should be simple...but I need your advice .

Thanks for responding,

[Sasha]

First,why do you want to convert the lang to long?
Second I think you would be better if you left the lang hive as is ,and build a simple long hive.
Migratory covers?Depend if you will migrate the hive
Probably not.What do you want,a tbh or a long hive?
I have ,when I transfered a lang nuc to a tbh,just put down in the hive my lang frames and after them I added top bars as needed.After some time you can just remove the lang frames

Sasha

[Michael Bush]

>I intend to convert my one lang (3 mediums) to a long hive, and later in the spring add a KTBH or two.

>My current questions are how and when? Should I wait until the weather is warmer ? It has been warm up until now, this is the 1st week we have had with every days highs predicted to be lowere than average..

I wouldn't do it until you're getting flying weather most every day.

>Do I place the 3 box's end to end on a sheet of plywood cut to fit ?

I'm not sure I follow your plan. Are you talking about a lid? A bottom? A box? I would build a box that is 48 3/4" long by 19 7/8" wide (outside). I'd make it out of one by eights with a 3/8" wide bh 3/4" deep rabbet for the frame rest down both long sides. For a bottom you can put screen on the bottom of that or cut some plywood to fit the bottom if you want a solid bottom.

>Are migratory covers recommended ?

That's what I did. I just put 1/4" spacer on the first one to make the entrance.

> Do I cut an entrance or shim up the cover to serve as an entrance ?

The problem with a standard tapered shim on the end to make an entrance is that the water will run back to the next crack. If it's leve SOME will but not as much.

> Do I take my current frames from the LANG and replace every other one with a top bar?

That's a bit much all at once. I'd repace a few at a time and not do more until that is drawn and full of brood.

> Can I shake / brush the bees from the LANG to the long ?

Sure. But what will you do with the brood comb?

>I know this should be simple...but I need your advice .

Just don't get in a hurry. You can feed the top bars in a few at a time until you've worked the frames to the outside and then move them out if you like or take them out in a split. Whatever you like.

[Wayne Miles]

Michael & Sasha, thanks for your replies. They give me some insight into how I should go about this project.

Michael, my question was in refrence to a bottom, I visualized putting my 3 medium langs end to end on a piece of plywood,using migratory covers so that if I wished I could super the last one.

Thanks for your input, any suggestions are appreciated.

[drobbins]

Wayne,

I don't follow what you're trying to do
if you sit three hive bodies beside each other on a sheet of plywood with tops on them, how will the bees move from one to the other?
what about an entrance?

I built a couple of long hives kinda following Michael's ideas
I took pics as I went along

http://www.drobbins.net/bee's/lh/lh.html

I figure you need to move the bees out of the lang
boxes into the long hive, then once you get them established you can use the lang boxes for supers

the long hive can be as simple as 4 pieces of 1x8 nailed together
I don't think I'd try to use the lang boxes

you're close by, come by and see em if you want

Dave

[edit]
ya know, on second thought, I believe if I were you, I'd build a long hive and make a split into it following Sasha's suggestion

[ February 07, 2006, 10:21 PM: Message edited by: drobbins ]

[Michael Bush]

>Michael, my question was in refrence to a bottom, I visualized putting my 3 medium langs end to end on a piece of plywood,using migratory covers so that if I wished I could super the last one.

I had trouble getting the bees to work the back half of a double wide with a queen excluder vertically in a groove between them. You'll have a solid wall between them. I think you need a long box to get the kind of communication you need. IF you really want to try it, I'd take a migratory cover and put a 1/4" screen mold (or a 1/4" wide strip cut on a table saw) on each end (the short side) of the inner covers and one on the back (the long side) of one of the migratory covers, so the bees can spill over on both the top and bottom to the next box. But I don't think it will work nearly as well as a long box.

[PaulR]

Speaking of "longs". I came across a reference to a Florida beekeeper, in the late 1800s, by the name of
O. O. Poppleton. All I could find were terse references. Does anyone know where I might get more info on him? Supposedly all he used was long hives in a very succcessful commercial operation.