I just finished Lazutin's book and am currently reading Layen's book. Of course that has triggered impulsive surfing of Horizontal Hives and misc other deep box videos. I'm struck with a couple questions that some of you may be able to answer. First some context... I have all medium lang equipment. I am located in northern IL... 6 miles from the WI border so it gets pretty cold here for months on end. My bees never winter particularly well. I am stationary, so transporting hives is not a concern.
I'd like to repurpose as much equipment as possible. I have of course found the plans for double deep lang long frames... ie 2 deep lang frames connected. In my case, that would equate to 3 medium langs. It's doable, but my concern is the amount of wood between usable wax. Is it enough to be concerned with? It seems that continuous wax long frames would be better from a winter cluster movement standpoint.
I have a lot of drawn frames, so I'm aiming toward giving them as much as possible. I've seen plans for a jig to install 2 medium langs sideways in a Layen's hive with a shim on top. Is this only intended to be temporary so brood could be hatched out once a transfer is made? I assume the drawn med frames could not be left for the bees use afterward because the angle of the cells is 90 degrees off what it would be naturally. So that would leave the option of a medium lang on top with an open "extension" attached which would provide a continuous area for brood. Again, will this likely be an issue for the cluster to access the honey in the medium portion of the frame in winter?
It seems the simplest would be an insulated lang width deep box. That way, my equipment would all fit. But there seems to be endless debate on whether this is too much area, aka too wide, for the bees to effectively heat, even with division boards. The layen's widths seems much more accepted and has an extractor available to accept it. The extra deep lang does not that I've seen. I currently own an extractor to fit medium frames, so that has me leaning toward somehow utilizing (screwing together) some of the frames I already have.
I realize this has been much debated, but I'm looking for more recent feedback from some of you who posted about it several years ago. It seems most of the posts on the subject here are older. How have the various techniques worked in colder climates? Any advise, insight will be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
I'd like to repurpose as much equipment as possible. I have of course found the plans for double deep lang long frames... ie 2 deep lang frames connected. In my case, that would equate to 3 medium langs. It's doable, but my concern is the amount of wood between usable wax. Is it enough to be concerned with? It seems that continuous wax long frames would be better from a winter cluster movement standpoint.
I have a lot of drawn frames, so I'm aiming toward giving them as much as possible. I've seen plans for a jig to install 2 medium langs sideways in a Layen's hive with a shim on top. Is this only intended to be temporary so brood could be hatched out once a transfer is made? I assume the drawn med frames could not be left for the bees use afterward because the angle of the cells is 90 degrees off what it would be naturally. So that would leave the option of a medium lang on top with an open "extension" attached which would provide a continuous area for brood. Again, will this likely be an issue for the cluster to access the honey in the medium portion of the frame in winter?
It seems the simplest would be an insulated lang width deep box. That way, my equipment would all fit. But there seems to be endless debate on whether this is too much area, aka too wide, for the bees to effectively heat, even with division boards. The layen's widths seems much more accepted and has an extractor available to accept it. The extra deep lang does not that I've seen. I currently own an extractor to fit medium frames, so that has me leaning toward somehow utilizing (screwing together) some of the frames I already have.
I realize this has been much debated, but I'm looking for more recent feedback from some of you who posted about it several years ago. It seems most of the posts on the subject here are older. How have the various techniques worked in colder climates? Any advise, insight will be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.