[Gus979]

I could use some help. I am going into my second year and am still fascinated by honey bees. I plan on expanding my hives from 3 to 7. My brother who also finds them interesting but won't admit he wants 2 hives.

More to the point. My 66 year old father would like his own beehive as well. I would like to get him a horizontal beehive to help him with lifting. Books I have read say yes horizontals are great. People I have talked to in Wisconsin say that horizontals are silly because we live in Wisconsin. Recent temperatures would seem to indicate that things may be severe for a horizontal. My langstroths have survived so far. I don't mean to create a debate but are horizontals ok in milwaukee, wi?

 

[beepro]

I don't live in your area so the only way is to experiment with one this season to see.
In other country it is called a honey cow hive. I would say in the winter time wrap this
hive with a -F sleeping bag or heavy traps or house insulation sheets. Make sure to put
in materials that will absorb the excess moisture from the hive too. Warm and cozy should
do it along with plenty of feed inside. Look up TBH to modify it with the medium Langs frames.

 

[stan.vick]

Maybe someone will respond from your area that has or have tried horizontal hives.

 

[Sticky Bear]

Not in your area but my two long Langs survived our winter which typically starts 1st of December with 5-8 weeks of temps never getting above freezing during the day and dropping to below zero at nights. I built these as an experiment to see if they would survive our harsh winters. As for summer use they built up faster than my double deeps. I plan to add two more this year. I did not cover them since that wouldn't be a valid test comparing to my double deeps. I've had my lower spine fused in three places and I am moving away from deeps over the next season.

 

[Michael Bush]

>People I have talked to in Wisconsin say that horizontals are silly because we live in Wisconsin.

We get a lot of -10 F some -20 F and when I was in the panhandle of Nebraska, some -40 F. I've had horizontal hives off and on for 40 years and never seen any difference in survival. I've had bees in horizontal hives continuously since about 2011. Most of mine are in eight frame medium Langstroths, but I always keep a couple of horizontal hives often top bar hives and sometimes Langstroth hives.

 

[David Edwards]

@gus979:
A Russian named Dr. Fedor Lazutin has a large apiary of horizontal hives about a hundred miles from Moscow. I believe he said he's in climate zone 4. He's written a book called "Keeping bees with a smile." Bing or Google that for some information. His editor, Dr. Sharashkin has a web site on horizontal hives :http://www.horizontalhive.com/. There are free plans for building them. The Russians use enormous frames, but you can modify dimensions to fit the frame size you use. As always, Michael Bush has a lot of practical advice based on considerable experience. Check his posts and web site.

 

[Michael Bush]

> I've had bees in horizontal hives continuously since about 2011.

That was supposed to be 2001... sorry for the typo...