Just made a Horizontal Hive.

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
That's lovely. Good work. I was just watching one of the us YouTubers build an insulated long hive and thought they could be a useful bit of kit.
 
That's lovely. Good work. I was just watching one of the us YouTubers build an insulated long hive and thought they could be a useful bit of kit.
Thank you. It wasn't that hard to build. The planning and getting the calculations correct took a lot longer.
 
So the air can come in through the bottom of the hive and leave through the top to prevent moisture.
Oh my goodness ... all that lovely work and you go and ruin it by turning it into a bee freezer... block them up... terrible idea.

PS
It's a lovely job ... but as JBM says fill that gable roof with Kingspan and start thinking about some clear polycarbonate crownboards to replace the timber ones. Forget the knobs next time - use your hive tool to get the crown boads out so the Kingspan can lay flat on top of the crown boards.

It looks very similar to my LDH so trust me ... insulate, insulate, insulate ... much kinder to your bees.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/99514363@N06/albums/72157634865981506
 
Last edited:
Looks very well made and designed, but take a bit of constructive advice. Find a way of closing the holes in the crownboards, or just make more blank boards and keep those you have for when you need to put a feeder on them. lose the holes in the roof altogether and put some celotex insulation in there. Bees don't need to live in an air tunnel with a through draught, in fact, they will thrive without it.
 
Just a few thoughts, I see you've plumped for a solid floor - is that removeable? if not I would think about having one removeable panel to make it easier to clean any debris off the floor.
Whereabouts is the entrance?
are you planning on making your own frames? is that one shown at 2:23? if so, how far apart are the centres? they need to be spaced at 36-38mm, you also need beespace at the sides.
 
Oh my goodness ... all that lovely work and you go and ruin it by turning it into a bee freezer... block them up... terrible idea.
Before making this hive, I must of watched over a dozen videos on how to make them. Every video shows this same air vent construction. If the bees decide two or three holes is too many they may close one up. If it gets to hot, they will open it again. I have kept the pieces I drilled out for the winter. They will slot back in underneath if needed.
 
I've had my LDH nearly 10 years now ... you watched the wrong videos ... Beekeeping mythology all this BS about ventilation....

Sorry... nice job .. take the advice given and it will be a better one ... particularly for your bees.
 
I've had my LDH nearly 10 years now ... you watched the wrong videos ... Beekeeping mythology all this BS about ventilation....
It's a terrible shame that one little badly written booklet of fictional science written by Wedmore in 1948, that was actually slated by his contemporaries when it was published was then picked up by the BBKA and hailed as the true gospel which has meant that the poorly thought out concept has been maintained and perpetuated for every following generation of beekeepers.
 
Just a few thoughts, I see you've plumped for a solid floor - is that removeable? if not I would think about having one removeable panel to make it easier to clean any debris off the floor.
Whereabouts is the entrance?
are you planning on making your own frames? is that one shown at 2:23? if so, how far apart are the centres? they need to be spaced at 36-38mm, you also need beespace at the sides.
I wouldn't have spent ten days building it and not taken bee space into account. There is exactly 8mm around the sides of the frames; 8mm from the frames to the cover boards and two thirds of an inch underneath the frames. The rebate is 17mm to take the 9mm thick top bar to leave the 8mm.
 
If you choose not to take notice of the suggestions here, perhaps you would take notice of the bees. In my early days I made nucs with mesh covered holes in the crown board. The bees soon propolised them up and in some, which I have not modified, it is still there today.
Top vents are promoted in the USA where bottom entrances can easily get blocked under several feet of snow, but are not needed here in UK.
I have run two long horizontal hives for years. Both have Celotex in the roofs, and a panel in the floors for removing debris ( the latter being very helpful) .
A lovely bit of woodworking by the way, despite the design flaws. Please consider the voices of experience expressed here, it will help your bees.
 
Last edited:
I wouldn't have spent ten days building it and not taken bee space into account. There is exactly 8mm around the sides of the frames; 8mm from the frames to the cover boards and two thirds of an inch underneath the frames. The rebate is 17mm to take the 9mm thick top bar to leave the 8mm.
Can I ask how much space there is between a frame and the centre of your follower board? There should be no space between the side bar and the face of the board making the board effectively the side of the hive. It looks like there is too much
 

Latest posts

Back
Top