[MattDavey]

Here's my latest Longhive. Also referred to as a Long Lang or Horizontal Hive.

The length is the equivalent of three 10 frame Langstroth bee hives beside each other.

It has now had the bees moved into it and the hive has two queens, one on each side divided by a vertical queen excluder. This is why it curently has 4 deep supers on it

You will notice that there is access to the broodnest on the sides without the need to take the hive apart.

I made the lids half width (of a 10 frame box) to allow for supers to be placed on top with multiple configurations. Like a pyramid shape for example. But because of this it requires a cover to be placed on top.

I am currently testing a clear sheet of PVC carpet protector as it is covered in little bumps on one side (for grip) which allows air to get underneath the plastic and dry out any moisture.

 

[Spinner]

Nicely crafted! Your bees should be very happy.

 

[Sticky Bear]

Sweet! Nice job Matt. :thumbsup:

 

[gmcharlie]

nice woodworking, Is the balance an issue with that leg design?? I would have worried a super on one end would be a problem??

 

[MattDavey]

One or two supers on the end should be fine. I wouldn't go more than 3 supers.

Also remember that half a super would be over the top of a leg.

By leverage calculations you would need 4 times the weight on one edge before balance is a issue. The calculation is:

F = (W x X)/L

F is Force on long length
W is Weight on short length
X short length to fulcrum
L long length to fulcrum.

(100kg x 250mm)/965mm = 25.9kg

http://www.engineersedge.com/calculators/levers/page_levers_1.htm

But I don't plan to put supers all on one edge either. As you can see in the third photo, the supers are between the legs so that the outer edges are accessible.

 

[marshmasterpat]

Matt,

Got me thinking here. I have some 1x12 I purchased to make another top bar, when I first decided to get bees, then helped someone with a Lang, then a second person with a lang, and decided top bar was not the route to go. But I could use that 1x12 to make a long lang.

In picture #2, are those covers built like nuc covers with a shim around the edge on each one. That is what it looked like, but I couldn't tell for sure.

Like that idea a lot.

 

[MattDavey]

The Lids are made like this, only half the width:

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?283526-Multipurpose-Hive-Lid-Base-with-Top-Bottom-entrance

They are what took the most time to make and paint. Marine grade plywood and paint. The rest is quite easy and quick to make.

 

[MattDavey]

Can't really see it in the photos, but there are two crossbars under the floor which can be slid out. This allows the floor to be dropped about an inch so that it can be slide out, to allow for easy cleaning.

 

[MattDavey]

Temperatures got to 38°/100°F today and this hive didn't even look hot. No sign of bearding at all.

It's in the shade, but there were only 3 or 4 bees (total) fanning at the bottom entrances. Typically one bee at each entrance.

The top entrances are about the equivalent width of a 10 frame box. The bees we're just coming and going at the top, no one fanning up there.

 

[bentonbee]

NICE JOB Matt!!! you can get some very big crops with one of those!!

 

[bentonbee]

O. O. Poppleton

http://books.google.com/books?id=J3...CkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=O. O. Poppleton&f=false

 

[bentonbee]

Even more on Mr Poppleton and how he worked his bees and extracted. Very interesting reading. It would of been quite the life to be motoring up and down the river on a launch to your bees! Mike here is the link-

http://books.google.com/books?id=rL...&pg=PA193#v=onepage&q=O. O. Poppleton&f=false

 

[rhaldridge]

Hey, thanks for those links! The Poppleton hive is fascinating. One thing that I think is quite significant is that the top bars form a continuous roof over the colony, as in the top bar hive. The bees would probably prefer to have only one frame at a time pulled, instead of having the whole broodnest exposed-- this is something that proponents of top bar hives promote as being less stressful.

I've been thinking of trying one of the extra deep long Russian hives described by Fedor Lazutin. The only issue is that I'd either have to make my own deep frames or fasten a couple of standard deep frames together-- which has the problem of breaking the comb at the halfway point. But if I used Poppleton-type frames, making my own would be less labor intensive.

 

[Tigger19687]

I just want to bump this thread as it has Very good info on it for Long Lang / long Hive /
Thank you Matt and hope Australia is fun this time of year

 

[DirtyLittleSecret]

Nice job! Love my "Longstroth" hives (have a couple). I've found that they still like to build upwards for winter survival in our area (also added quilt boxes and SBB's). My biggest head scratcher remains how to allow them to create draft with so much ventilation. Also, have mine mounted to plastic beer pallets as they're cheap, and perforated for ventilation yet provide good buffering of winds.

 

[ChrisBex]

Some good info here: http://www.beebehavior.com/modified_european_long_hive.php

 

[Brian J]

Very nice woodwork ! Looks good.