[beechet]

What are the chances of finding a supplier that would double the length of the sidebars for some double deep frames? Thanks!

 

[Akademee]

Everyone I know who uses double deeps made the side bars themselves (most made the whole frame themselves). I would think trying to get a custom order would be prohibitively expensive.

 

[GregB]

Overseas they will do easily.
The double-deep frames are offered off the get-go.
1 minute search:
http://rusuley.ru/en/ramki/ramka-470-s-2mja-razdeliteljami-vilochkoj-i-dolnym-pazom-detail

But here?
Here is your Lang.
Just attach them yourself in the doubles - easy enough.

 

[Absinthe]

This had been brought up earlier, someone mentioned a supplier that would make them to size, but I don't remember whom

 

[JWPalmer]

Easiest way to get a double deep lang frame is to cut the ears off of one and screw two of them together.

 

[crofter]

A double deep would be something else to heft when full of honey. Even a double medium would be a handful. Though if the idea is to have a stationary brood box, I guess you would not be doing a lot of pulling frames.

Pictured below on your left is a regular deep in front of a dadant depth frame and on the right is a medium frame in front of a double medium. I wont be putting bees on them till next season.

 

[GregB]

Here is a potentially good site - https://lazutinhives.com/

For those that want to use a standard Langstroth sized honey extractor you can use the Lazutin Extra Deep Split Frame Model #LXDSF
Just unscrew the brackets on the sides and frame will split allowing insertion in a standard honey extractor. 2 inches of starter foundation is sealed to the top bar on this frame. If you have standard deep Langstroth wood frames you can attach a lower frame to it. Part # LBF1.

Pricing and availability will soon follow.

 

[GregB]

A double deep would be something else to heft when full of honey. Even a double medium would be a handful. Though if the idea is to have a stationary brood box, I guess you would not be doing a lot of pulling frames.

Pictured below on your left is a regular deep in front of a dadant depth frame and on the right is a medium frame in front of a double medium. I wont be putting bees on them till next season.

That's the idea - not much work is to be done in such a big box - it is pretty automatic (as long as the bees don't die without treating).
http://www.deepsnowpress.com/keeping-bees-with-a-smile.htm

 

[odfrank]

I tried that years ago and quickly quit. Do a Beesource search for Gargantua hives.

https://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?224934-Gargantuan-Brood-Chamber-Drawback

Frames too big and heavy to work them. No way to extract. Too much honey stuck in brood chamber. If you do it, use a five or eight frame hive to push the honey up into the supers.

 

[little_john]

I tried that years ago and quickly quit. [..] Frames too big and heavy to work them. No way to extract. Too much honey stuck in brood chamber. If you do it, use a five or eight frame hive to push the honey up into the supers.

Although I favour deep hives myself, there has been one example of the opposite philosophy which continues to haunt me - it was a video which Greg posted about a commercial guy who runs an operation based on what are essentially 6-frame nuc boxes. He increases the hive to 12 frames (2 boxes) only at the beginning of the season in order to generate the required size of work-force - but as soon as that is reached, he reduces back to a 6-frame brood box again, which proves to be of sufficient size to maintain the number of workers throughout the season. Although it's a method contrary to what I do myself - I can certainly see the logic behind it. If I was a honey-farmer, that way of working would be very appealing.
LJ

 

[Clayton Huestis]

Humble Abodes makes custom frames. Search there site. You have to call them, don't email.

 

[WaverlyBees]

As others have suggested, you can simply mate two deep frames together by cutting the ears off of one frame and attaching it to the bottom bar of another frame. This can be done with screws or as shown in the picture below with zip ties.

I chose the zip ties so I could easily and quickly separate the frames if needed.

 

[AstroZomBEE]

Better Bee in new york has made me custom frames in the past, but they may have a sizable minimum order.

Aaron

 

[GregB]

I tried that years ago and quickly quit. Do a Beesource search for Gargantua hives.

https://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?224934-Gargantuan-Brood-Chamber-Drawback

Frames too big and heavy to work them. No way to extract. Too much honey stuck in brood chamber. If you do it, use a five or eight frame hive to push the honey up into the supers.

I read your writings, odfrank.
In Russia they now produce extractors made for the Lazutin frame.

To be sure the Lazutins are NOT for commercial producers; it was never the thing.
Lazutin was never marketed that way either - I am not sure where the commercial ideas get mixed in.
The original author himself was kind of a side-liner with a stationary yard (he had many other things going).

The thing with the Lazutins is "set it and forget it" style for the the homesteader/farmer types who only get to their bees during the off-season. Honey mixed into the brood nest IS the feature - this is how you don't need to worry of the winter stores in the cold climate - the large frame provides for the bees to setup winter storage completely on their own.

So I am unsure why you even considered the "Gargantua", especially being a highly mobile operator in California.
Mobile operator in warm climate and Lazutin-style hive do not mix well - that much is clear to me.

 

[GregB]

...... video which Greg posted about a commercial guy who runs an operation based on what are essentially 6-frame nuc boxes...... If I was a honey-farmer, that way of working would be very appealing.
LJ

Yep.
Me too - I think this is about the perfect setup for a highly mobile and 100% beekeeping centered, honey-farmer.
Those "nucs" kick some serious butt.
You have to be with them at all times - which some people do anyway.
If you sleep and eat with your bees all summer long - why not just go with the "nucs" and be nice to your own body.

With the long/big hive you do not need to sleep and eat with your bees all summer - that's where Lazutin lands.

 

[beechet]

Just attach them yourself in the doubles - easy enough.

Elaborate on that GregV, I am currently using zip ties and not liking it at all. Those in the link would be like heaven to me.

Thanks

 

[GregB]

Elaborate on that GregV, I am currently using zip ties and not liking it at all. Those in the link would be like heaven to me.

Thanks

Well, if the zips are not your favorite, why not do this - still a very low tech/low skill project made from standard stuff.

 

[odfrank]

A double deep made with two connected frames does not accomplish a very large comb not broken by bars. Not much different than a double deep.

 

[GregB]

Well, if the people are unwilling/unable to make/buy the true frame, that is what that get.
The true option is always available.

 

[crofter]

I am doing it just for a trial so I simply made a set of longer sidebars that use either my own or Mann Lake top and bottoms. The really deep frames should have heftier sidebars if you want to crosswire without having a mid frame spreader. If you do vertical wiring not so important. You might even go larger dimension on all parts and go to 1 1/2" spacing which probably was more common when the really deep frames were more in style.

Wired wax on wood frames Dadant depth are nearly 9 dollars a piece from Propolis Etc., based out of Que. Canada