Hi Greg - I had a ferret around the guys playlist and found several videos of how he cleverly makes nuc boxes from rigid foam sheet. Russian guys are so inventive ...
There's also a video there showing the inside of the bee-shed he built onto his workshop - he's got a serious number of hives in there, stacked 2 and 3 deep.
Any idea how high he makes those 300x300 boxes ? They look somewhere around 6" (150mm) to me.
LJ
For this particular model, the standard frame is height is 102 mm.
Because the frame is so small (1-2 kilos of honey max) it can be staple together from any scraps and requires very little strength requirement (and hence can be done light and fragile) - a big deal.
Another big deal - the frame requires no time or effort for any scaffolding (wires, strings... none of that nonsense).
IF you are natural comb runner, it does not even require foundation - just a trivial starter strip - the small size makes running 100% natural comb a non-issue.
We are talking serious savings all way around.
The box height is 135mm I believe.
So the production yard units can run up to 10 boxes high - which is approaching 150
cm indeed - which is not a big deal since every individual box is equal to 2 Dadant frames in comb coverage/weight - up to 8-10 kilos max.
IF people start saying - wow - so many little frames to flip through..
No one serious and busy enough ever flips through the mini-frames - no need; it is by-the-box management (add a box/remove a box/etc).
The only time you flip through - when looking for a queen - the queen is typically found in one of the brood boxes (the lower boxes) - just look in a targeted fashion.
The brood never goes above the box #5 - naturally - all above is honey (naturally separated) - no QEs are practiced as not necessary.
Just look here for the exact specs:
https://www.google.com/search?q=уле...AUIEigC&biw=1920&bih=938#imgrc=kVvXL_FCRbjzjM
This Siberian guy (Aleksandr Loginov) is a real deal in the 300x300 mini world.
He runs ~50 units (as in winters ~50 units),
He typically winters the units in 3-4 boxes max if in shed; the wintering video has many details demonstrated.
I studied and understood the wintering config for these 300x300 minis - stupid simple and very effective (will not discuss now).
In the summer, the # of course doubles and triples (tons and tons of 1-2-3 mini box nucs - I LOVE this standardization - like I said - a single box/frame,
properly dimensioned, does it all - from honey to queens and anything in between; ... butches few units for royal jelly production too - that basically kills the colonies as he describes).
He took the ideas of the original inventor of this particular design (this guy, Vladimir Davydov -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkNX2WBDy9g)
.. and took it further.
They have annual beekeeping conferences at his place - mostly around alternative beekeeping (alternative as in different from conventional Dadant/Lang models).
Aleksandr Loginov is a very good presenter (sorry - no English - but skip around and make sense out of the video).
I keep track of him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdm-olIR2g8
