All About the Layens Hives

[Murox]

Of course insulation works both ways. Layens were not really designed to be moved much. The idea was a box which could be expanded or contracted to suit all on one level. It was good for using in remote apiaries that only got visited a few times a year. Have a trawl/ read of Hurpin's writings about simplified beekeeping.

 

[fian]

One detail that has not been mentioned is that originally the entrance is arranged parallel to the squares (on the narrow side) so the nestling accumulates from the inside side of the first square onwards; As Lislarybees says, they usually occupy 6/7 frames, accumulating honey in the back half.
Other points that were disadvantages have already begun to be modified.
-Trunk format is in disuse, stackable format if supers are used.
-Health fund
-Top closure of the boxes.
-Despite its breadth, it is a format that tends to cause swarms.
Finally, and under the maxim that the habit does not make the monk. The use or not of a format does not imply the follow-up of all the premises that were followed by the developer to arrive at it. In beekeeping, the beekeeper's perceptions weigh much more than data or scientific-technical news.

 

[Murox]

...................-Despite its breadth, it is a format that tends to cause swarms.
Finally, and under the maxim that the habit does not make the monk. The use or not of a format does not imply the follow-up of all the premises that were followed by the developer to arrive at it. In beekeeping, the beekeeper's perceptions weigh much more than data or scientific-technical news.

I have not found that it tends to cause swarms at all, that could be for many reasons of course.
doesn't it just. Layens must have been way ahead of the game when he advised using hive types to suit the area you were in, to use "local bees" and practice non invasive management techniques amongst other things.

 

[Adam Fletcher]

I have not found that it tends to cause swarms at all, that could be for many reasons of course.
doesn't it just. Layens must have been way ahead of the game when he advised using hive types to suit the area you were in, to use "local bees" and practice non invasive management techniques amongst other things.

What size hives are you using?
From what I've read some of the reasons for larger frame counts is to stop swarming.
I wonder if the average temperature affects swarming compared with frame count (I am assuming Scotland is on average cooler compared to Spain)

 

[Murox]

What size hives are you using?
From what I've read some of the reasons for larger frame counts is to stop swarming.
I wonder if the average temperature affects swarming compared with frame count (I am assuming Scotland is on average cooler compared to Spain)

12 -18 frame sized homemade insulated hives. Space alone won't stop swarming, its what bees do. Yes where I live is cooler than most of uk even, in fact where I live its a marginal area for beekeeping. I also try to run those hives with dark bees from known sources.

 

[fian]

12 -18 frame sized homemade insulated hives. Space alone won't stop swarming, its what bees do. Yes where I live is cooler than most of uk even, in fact where I live its a marginal area for beekeeping. I also try to run those hives with dark bees from known sources

Does someone who usually works with double breeding in a national standard have swarming problems?
I say this because the space of a 12-square layens hive is somewhat less than two 2*8.5" British national breeding chambers. In addition, the main trigger for the swarm is overcrowding in the frames. If we take into account the dimensions of a bee, a layens box can contain 1500 bees on each side and that means that from 36,000 bees we would begin to have overpopulation that is critical during the night.It is this population of foragers that presses the breeding nest towards the half-highs.

 

[drex]

I run double brood Nat boxes and usually have no problem with swarming. Certainly no queen cells in this very swarming year. It does happen occasionally though. I think space is just one of the triggers

 

[grady lambert]

Regarding the dimensions, the original internal measurements for a Layens frame are 310mm wide and 370mm high. I seem to remember that the original number of frames was 20 (horizontal hive) although due to the fact that transhumance is carried out in the Mediterranean, its number was reduced to 12 and in the last decade the increases have become fashionable.

I am trying to find stable dimensions for the Layens frame. Horizontalhive.com has plans for Layens' frame; length of 14-5/16" for the top bar. That is 365.5 mm. The 310 mm is going to fall into the hive! I am ready to just make the frames and hive to my own dimensions as I cannot get one set of dimensions for the frame and hive that are consistemt. To make it worse, I work in mm in a country that is still in inch fractions.

 

[fian]

I am trying to find stable dimensions for the Layens frame. Horizontalhive.com has plans for Layens' frame; length of 14-5/16" for the top bar. That is 365.5 mm. The 310 mm is going to fall into the hive! I am ready to just make the frames and hive to my own dimensions as I cannot get one set of dimensions for the frame and hive that are consistemt. To make it worse, I work in mm in a country that is still in inch fractions.

Internal measurements of the frame or the wax sheet 310*370 mm. Using pieces of 10*25 mm as section of the bars.
Lower bar 310+20=330 mm (13").
Side bars 370+10= 380mm (15")
Top bar (section 25*25mm) with adjusted ears 310+20+25+15= 370 mm (14+1/2").
The box are 400mm (15+3/4") high. The adjusted interior width will be 355mm (14") and depending on the separation between frames and the separator format, you will obtain the required length.
If you don't want to make the boxes yourself. Take a standard box and a super box that is 8.5"+6.5"=15". Build a 460*460mm and 1/2" thick frame to house the upper part of the boxes that will rest on the super. Design the box that best suits the internal measurements, leaving at least 10mm of space between the walls and the box. This will allow you to port swarms to handle them in a layen format.

 

[grady lambert]

Thanks,
This clears a lot of cobwebs! I'll get back to work today.