[IrishDave]

Afternoon all, I’m planning on building a long hive this winter. I only use medium box’s on my hives and like to be able to mix and match as I please, this is why I’d want to use the the medium frames in a long hive. My main reason for the long hive experiment is the idea that I will be able to work the colony without pulling apart the hive .. I don’t like unstacking the hive to do inspections, treatments and swarm management, the bees work hard to maintain their environment and then I come along and pull the roof off ! Anyway, I’ve been looking back through the posts to how / if others have done with the smaller frames in this kind of setup and can’t find much other than a general “bigger is better” in these hives and one post from several years ago that hadn’t had any problems ... anyone out there had any experience with long hive medium frames ?

 

[ruthiesbees]

That was my first Long Lang hive, 20 frame mediums.. However, I'm not a fan of medium frame brood nests. I only used it one year and then built 17 frame deep long langs that I can add honey supers to the top. I did add supers to the medium framed one as well. As just the 20 frame medium, it filled up pretty quickly in the spring.

 

[Gray Goose]

Dave
you are a little south of me, for me I am not sure it would work.
A double medium maybe.

could give it a try and let us know

GG

 

[ruthiesbees]

Here is a video I did on installing the package in my medium frame Horizontal hive. It will give you more of an idea of what it looks like.

 

[crofter]

Dave
you are a little south of me, for me I am not sure it would work.
A double medium maybe.

could give it a try and let us know

GG

I may try a long hive but I think I would have extra deep frames at the one end, then transition to mediums.
Being that our main winter weather slides down from the north side of lake superior I think it an advantage to have the cluster start low and have lots of inches of honey up above to be able to eat their way into. I think much easier than having to expand out laterally. The cluster could be moved back to the deep end as summer ended and an insulated dummy board placed.

I seem to remember GG quoting a figure of so many millimeters a day they need to move toward new stores. A medium depth brood area does not give them much leeway in a 6 month shut in area!

 

[Gray Goose]

Frank

IMO they would in a medium long hive need to move lateral 4-6 frames min during the winter.
In a frame lateral move either the hive need be well insulated or there need be a nice day as they would be leaving a empty frame and taking over a full one. relying on a nice day at the correct time would be a frustrating experience.
this assumes they can either get over the top or around the end. and they know this is the correct way to go. (east vrs west)

Keep in Mind the optimal shape of a cluster is a sphere and in a long medium there would be a pancake effect. so sub optimal heat retention.

The tilted hive GregV showed would allow the decision right or left to have better outcome, as "up" would also be registered , And there would be an east west corridor, several actually.

If the plan is to winter as Ian does indoors then my statements are less important.

I do Have a double deep long hive (well insulated) and feel it is able to winter here in Michigan.

GG

 

[IrishDave]

Thanks for all the feedback, lots to think about .. gonna keep reading. One thought, would it make any difference if I orientated the frames parallel with the long axis of the hive body and installed the entrance on the short end / gable end. Would this provide the bees passageways and a more natural way to move “up” the hive during the winter ? Whichever design I use I will be insulating the hive, was thinking about adding 1” cork sheets over 2x12 cedar walls and a vented, insulated roof. Thanks again.

 

[souficoufi]

[QUOTE = "ruthiesbees, message: 1853140, membre: 96713"]
Voici une vidéo que j'ai faite sur l'installation du paquet dans ma ruche horizontale à cadre moyen. Cela vous donnera une idée plus précise de ce à quoi il ressemble. [MEDIA = youtube] vs3HZk8eHkA [/ MEDIA]
[/CITATION]

 

[souficoufi]

Très belle ruche. Nous pouvons également travailler sur cette ruche verticalement en ajoutant un autre corps de ruche.

English:

Very nice hive. We can also work on this hive vertically by adding another hive body.

 

[crofter]

. One thought, would it make any difference if I orientated the frames parallel with the long axis of the hive body and installed the entrance on the short end / gable end. Thanks again.

You would be creating a space in the center between the endbars of the two groups of frames that would be twice "bee space". I predict it would be bridged and the frames joined with burr and drone comb.

 

[Gray Goose]

Thanks for all the feedback, lots to think about .. gonna keep reading. One thought, would it make any difference if I orientated the frames parallel with the long axis of the hive body and installed the entrance on the short end / gable end. Would this provide the bees passageways and a more natural way to move “up” the hive during the winter ? Whichever design I use I will be insulating the hive, was thinking about adding 1” cork sheets over 2x12 cedar walls and a vented, insulated roof. Thanks again.

Have a look at the Monk Hive. brought to BS by GregV

Monk hive
Now, this is a very original setup (patented in Russia). The hive is to be kept at ~30% angle to allow the bees natural movement along the seems (reminds me one German hive - but not the same). The design inventor is a monk. Пасека - Николо-Берлюковская пустынь...

www.beesource.com

this thread

Monk hive

Now, this is a very original setup (patented in Russia). The hive is to be kept at ~30% angle to allow the bees natural movement along the seems (reminds me one German hive - but not the same). The design inventor is a monk. https://www.berluki.ru/2018/07/%d0%bf%d0%b0%d1%81%d0%b5%d0%ba%d0%b0/...

www.beesource.com

is a couple YouTubes on it as well.

GG