Horizontal long hive

[Eyeman]

I'm looking for advice on whether I can simply join 2 national brood boxes together to form a horizontal long hive (22-23 frames). Brood boxes are still flat packed. I can see the need to cut the mortice and tenon tongues off from the locking bars to get them to abut together. Just glueing them together doesn't look like it's going to be strong enough?
Reason for asking is it seems simpler than starting from scratch.

 

[pargyle]

I'm looking for advice on whether I can simply join 2 national brood boxes together to form a horizontal long hive (22-23 frames). Brood boxes are still flat packed. I can see the need to cut the mortice and tenon tongues off from the locking bars to get them to abut together. Just glueing them together doesn't look like it's going to be strong enough?
Reason for asking is it seems simpler than starting from scratch.

Add a couple of lengths of 2 x 1 timber horizontally on the outside on each side top and bottom to brace them ... bear in mind you will have to modify the roofs as well and have you thought about supers ?... two supers on top will be bigger than the two brood boxes when you have cut the tenons off. You might want to add a fillet at the centre join that's the same size as the tenons you cut off so you end up with a hive that would take two supers without overlapping the ends ...

 

[madasafish]

Whilst Pargyle's advice would work, my experience suggests the weight in the middle - aggravated by supporting hives at ends only - may lead to eventual stress movement of the two joining pieces of wood. Once you add supers and roofs, you could have a hive weighing several 100+kgs bending in the middle.

I would use a joining section of 12mm WBP ply covering the entire join vertically and overlapping each side by 100mm.. screwed and glued firmly to the vertical.. and similar at the bottom to add rigidity.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

It might seem simpler but in the long run you might be better making the whole thing in plywood and forgoing the joint in the middle.

 

[oliver90owner]

It might seem simpler but in the long run you might be better making the whole thing in plywood and forgoing the joint in the middle.

Like a Dartington? Easy to make, if you can make cuts accurately. Or buy an omlette beetainer coolbox thingy?

 

[Gwr]

I'm looking for advice on whether I can simply join 2 national brood boxes together to form a horizontal long hive (22-23 frames). Brood boxes are still flat packed. I can see the need to cut the mortice and tenon tongues off from the locking bars to get them to abut together. Just glueing them together doesn't look like it's going to be strong enough?
Reason for asking is it seems simpler than starting from scratch.

I got my 14x12 long national hives from heather bell bees in Truro and I really like them as working them with a bad back is great.

I can use them as either as a single 22 framed hives or put the centre board in and have 2 x 11 frame hives with entrances on either side of the hives.

It has a single long roof which slides off the end and thus does not need lifting off and putting down on the floor.

The only disadvantage is the fact that if you need a super on one end of the hive ( if your running one hive only or have 2 different buildup of bees, you need one on the other to hold the roof up equally.

I also use 5 frame supers so I don’t have to carry a full 11 frame super, again for my back.

 

[Eyeman]

I can see that joining 2 brood boxes together may not be the answer or that simple.
Just rediscovered Little John's plans for: The Mk.II All-Weather Long-Hive
https://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=31968&highlight=all-weather