[HawkI]

Ive been keeping bees for a few years, I started out with 4 Warre hives that I built with observation windows – these were very successful and 1 Langstroth , all in my garden. I managed to attract swarms in all my hives in a week or two. Link to my Warre post - https://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?349459-First-Warre-hive-slightly-modified. Over the past 2 years, I have moved from Warre to Langs.

Currently a very warm Spring in South Africa and my hives are packed with Bee’s and they look in great shape.

I wanted to try something new so built this Horizontal hive in my spare time over the last week – it takes 30 Layens frames. Wish me luck…

 

[HawkI]

One more pic

I got most of my inspiration from this sub-forum and also some clips on YT with Dr Leo. I took the Layens frame dimensions from Dr Leo's site and designed my hive around those frames. I did not opt for the double walled/insulated hive but rather just reasonable quality ply wood. We only really have 1 or 2 moons of cold weather a year and the hive is quite sheltered so Im hoping that will be okay.

Put the first 5 frames in with a follower board and put a few drops of lemongrass oil in the hive - lets hope I am able to attract a swarm.

 

[GregB]

Looks great.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Honeyeater]

I got most of my inspiration from this sub-forum

I'm also getting a lot of inspiration from the great people here. And thanks for sharing I'm always looking for horizontal hive ideas I can pinch....

 

[little_john]

Wish me luck…

Well - I'll certainly wish you luck - but as a beekeeper it appears that you know full-well what you're doing, so my guess is that luck won't be needed ...

.. except perhaps in the catching of a swarm. But - if that should fail, you could always make a split from one of your existing hives. You may need to be a little 'creative' in order to accommodate top-bar length differences, but on balance I think any hassle in doing that is worthwhile in order to more-or-less guarantee getting another colony up and running, rather than relying on a chance event.

But - whatever the outcome - keep us posted.
LJ

 

[HawkI]

...you could always make a split from one of your existing hives. You may need to be a little 'creative' in order to accommodate top-bar length differences, but on balance I think any hassle in doing that is worthwhile in order to more-or-less guarantee getting another colony up and running, rather than relying on a chance event...

That never crossed my mind - but sounds like good advice, never done it before so will research it further...

 

[HawkI]

So - its 1 month later and for some reason catching swarms both in the horizontal and Lang hive has been difficult for me. Everyone else round here has no issues but I have had no luck this year. I did seriously consider taking a split as suggested by Little_John - to be honest I was not confident enough to a. do the actual split and b. move from Lang frames to Layens. So I opted for the easy way out and bought a swarm from a fellow beekeeper. The swarm is in a swarm box situated right next to my hive and in a couple of days, I will move the comb onto the Layens frame - with the help of the swarm seller - he has a LOT more experience than I have. I will report back in a weeks time...

 

[JWPalmer]

Looking forward to the update. Since you are familiar with Dr. Leo's site, I use swarm traps from the plans there and have pretty good luck with them.

 

[HawkI]

My first attempt at introducing a colony ended badly. A bee guy and I moved a colony in, we transferred 5 large combs filled with brood, capped honey, pollen and a queen onto the layer frames and then loaded into the TBH. within the first day, the bees didn't seem to like their new home and were already forming into a big bunch in then roof section of the hive. I tried to coax them back into the hive entrance by shaking them onto a piece of cardboard at the entrance. I suspect at some point in the evening or early next morning they left. So now I have a hive packed with SHB larvae and some decimated comb.

Second attempt - my bee guy took 6 Layens frames away with him and he is building a temporary box out of a deep lang super and adapting it to take the layens frames. the plan is to transfer some comb off lang frames onto the layers frames and giving the colony a chance to get used to the new frames and then move the new frames back into the TBH at a later stage...

 

[HawkI]

Any tips on what to treat my TBH to get rid of the SHB larvae?

 

[JWPalmer]

Freeze the comb and open the box up so that sunlight can bake any remaining maggots. You can wash the comb with a sprayer on a hose but not outside on the ground or you may end up making the problem worse later as the SHB larvae pupate in the ground.

 

[Murdock]

If you google... LAYENS HIVE...there is a great article in BEE CULTURE, February 2017 about this hive and frame manipulations. Good Luck!

 

[HawkI]

If you google... LAYENS HIVE...there is a great article in BEE CULTURE, February 2017 about this hive and frame manipulations. Good Luck!

thanks - that is a great article, I have read various snippets of that article but never seen it in one place - most valuable. Even better I haven't come across Bee culture, that seems like a great source of information defn bookmarked that for further reading.

 

[Murdock]

Another site you might glean for info is ...ScientificBeekeeping.com...Randy Oliver gives a lot of good information. As always, remember that beekeeping results/needs are all depending on locality {weather,available resources, pests}. What works for me might NOT work for you. Relax, take a deep breath, and enjoy your bees.

 

[Murdock]

I built 2 long hives to play with and included OIL PANS and screened bottom boards. The oil pans help me manage the SHB and I can control ventilation. Swarms can be finicky so I use the same frames/bars in my swarm traps as the hive they are will be placed in. Wait until the rescued swarm is bringing in pollen (queen is laying) then move the swarm into their new home by moving the bars/frames the bees have built out.

 

[Gray Goose]

Hawkl
you could try a "shook Swarm" remove a strong hive from its location, place the new long hive there.
Shake a bunch of bees into the new hive, if possible include the queen, or a ripe cell from somewhere, or a purchased queen. Take the original hive to a new place, either allow it to re queen itself or requeen it. somewhat like putting a package into a new hive, but you are leveraging the location, for the field bees and shaking in some nurse bees as well.

the idea of making a box to hold the Layens frames, adapted to your lang or Warre is also a good one, let the bees build and occupy it then split off a portion and put it in the new long hive.

good luck

GG

 

[Gray Goose]

Hawkl
you could try a "shook Swarm" remove a strong hive from its location, place the new long hive there.
Shake a bunch of bees into the new hive, if possible include the queen, or a ripe cell from somewhere, or a purchased queen. Take the original hive to a new place, either allow it to re queen itself or requeen it. somewhat like putting a package into a new hive, but you are leveraging the location, for the field bees and shaking in some nurse bees as well.

the idea of making a box to hold the Layens frames, adapted to your lang or Warre is also a good one, let the bees build and occupy it then split off a portion and put it in the new long hive.

good luck

GG

could also make frame adapters that hold a lang frame in your new hive, they would be shorter so tape up a cardboard box for under to block the space, make 6 or 8 move a split into it. slowly over the season , with entrance placement entice the bees to shift into the layens frames, removing the langs.