Langstroth Horizontal Hive | barbara-westfall

LANGSTROTH HORIZONTAL BEE HIVE

Well, we are finally done building our next horizontal, insulated, one body hive. (2017)

This time, the frames are the 9" deep langstroth frames.

The hive holds 33 frames.

It has a screen mesh made of stainless steel below the frames to inspect for varroa, etc.

The access to the debris trays is at both ends of the hive this time.

We built the inner body using 1" rough cut barn board pine wood since I remember reading that if the surface is rough, the bees will propolize it more. This means a better immune system for the bees.

I wanted a quilt to sit above the frames and fabric but rough cut barn board is only 12" deep.

So we needed to add a small thin piece of plywood to the outside of the barn board to include the height of the quilt.

If you go look at how we built the inside structure (insulation) of the deep Lazutin hive, this is similar.

Starting to look like a coffin. I enlarged the right entrance later on.

Screen Bottom Board:

The screen bottom board sits about 1.5 inches below the bottom of the frames.

It is made of stainless steel, food safe material with punctured holes in it.

It sits on a ridge and is nailed in place.

Underneath it is a removable white debris tray....with red lines to catch debris and let me do varroa counts and see what else is happening in the hive.

Quilts and Front:

The front was insulated and attached.

We are trying many kids of paint on the front of the hive to see how long they last.

There are 3 quilts. In the summer each quilt is filled with Roxul insulation R15 to keep the brood chamber moist for eggs/larva. In the winter, we want the moisture to leave the cluster and so wood chips are placed in the quilts. (All experiments)

The quilt frame is lined with cotton cloth since Tyvek house wrap did not let moisture through it.

Roof:

We went for a simpler roof this time ..... salt box style.

It was insulated with Roxul R15 also and we used cat proof screen mesh to hold it in place.

The aluminum roof was spray painted since I could NOT stand a white roof.

It just isn't pretty!

It is attached at the front of the hive with 4 hinges and opens from the back.

There is a latch on the end so that when the roof is open, it clicks in and will NOT come down on me when I am inspecting the hive (at least my husband says so).

Thank goodness Douggie has a building background.

I wouldn't have been able to figure this out .... he is a God Send gift to the bees.

Legs and feet:

We did the same thing as the Lazutin deep hive.

We put 4 funnels on the posts, upside down, with grease inside to keep out ants and possibly SHB larva (hopefully I will never have to find out if this works).

We then screwed it to the plywood as my hubby wants to make sure it does not blow over in the wind ..... OK.

Here is the final hive in place.

Girls are moved in and collecting a ton of goldenrod right now, September 2017.

It has been a wet summer and most beeks I talk to say there is not enough honey in their hives yet for winter.

So goldenrod, usually considered a junk plant, will be the gold star savior this year.

Debris Tray Inspection:

I can open the hive from either end.

Here is what it would look like to do that.

There is a bit of a compromise with a screened bottom board.

Wax moth can get down below the screen and lay her eggs/larva.....a tad hard to clean out. But I am using a summer hot dog scewer to poke them and get them out. Hmmmmm.....more thought needed here.

September 12, 2017 Inspection:

These bees just keep amazing me.

While they were in the vertical langstroth hive with a screened bottom board, I saw maybe 1 or 2 varroa a week on the debris tray.

The top box was empty and no bees ever moved in.

So, in theory, that extra space could have cooled the brood nest enough to let varroa get a hold. My theory is that bees only have so much energy/time to do all the tasks. If they are spending lots of time warming brood or cooling a hive, then there is less time to groom for hygienic behavior.

We moved the hive on September 2, 2017 from 30 frames to 16 frames now in the horizontal insulated hive and on Sept. 12th I counted a whopping 165 varroa that dropped over 10 days ..... and some are still living and moving. (Average 17 Varroa/day)

I also added 3 shungite crystals at the entrance on Sept. 8th after watching Derek Condit on youtube discus his results with shungite crystals at the entrances of his hives.

Shungite is known to protect from EMF's. This hive is close to 2 cell towers.

Derek Condit's youtube interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=778&v=2x1NBmx-A3Y

So, either a warm hive helps the bees to drop varroa from the brood nest

Shungite crystals help the bees become healthier to drop the varroa from the brood nest

both are working together.

The bees do seem much more vigorous at the entrance.

What really amazed me ... is that when I put the shungite crystals on the landing board .... within 2 days the bees started to GROOM AGGRESSIVELY!!!

I have never seen three worker bees crawling all over a worker to groom her on the landing board. And to watch the girls hang on a drone and groom him as he casually walks on the landing board.... truly a sight to see.

I did see my girls coming in with pollen from other hives.

So they are robbing out another hive ... an indicator of a strong hive.

LESSONS LEARNED SO FAR:

1. Lifting this salt box roof is heavy.

Most of the weight is at the back and not something I want to be doing at 80.

The gable roof is more evenly weighted in the middle and much easier to lift....

although harder to build. To me, it is worth the effort for ease of lifting.

2. The frames just don't seem deep enough for the bees in the winter time.

The deep Russian frame (21") was too deep and this deep lang frame (8") is too shallow, in my humble opinion.

3. The next hive will be a Layens hive with a frame depth of 16" and width of 12". I wonder how many hive designs I will do in my life time before I get the perfect hive ?????

4. I like the end entrance for the tray under the screened bottom board.

But if wax moth gets in there.....I will need to use a flash light and a BBQ hot dog skewer to poke and kill the larva.

5. The grease on the legs needs to be reapplied yearly as it dries out and then the ants get in again.