Hi I am in France at the moment and have found a shop selling hives all well made roof 2 supers 1 brood etc at a tempting price but which one should I go for ???
Ok honest opinion time . I have English Langstroth , these are not the same size as the rest of Europe or the rest of the world , the same applies to French Dadant and other Dadant variations . So my comments are based on English Langstroth and French Dadant only and so to let you know I spend spring and summer in France and the rest of the time in the Uk
The English Langstroth brood frame is smaller than the French Dadant brood , the supers works out about the same area , the French Dadant being slightly shorter in length but deeper . If you want a couple of pics i will take them for you .
The cost is the major difference , which you have now discovered , the only drawback is when you want more bits you have to do a trip across the channel . If you plan ahead it will work but there may be the odd occasion when you need a bit and you do not have it . When you come to extraction , my extractor takes both sizes of frames , but you will need to check yours .
Personally the cost difference is so vast that i am converting to Dadant frames , and building Langstroth footprint hives which take Dadant parts . This way the costs drops and i can keep all my present equipment . Also allows me to go out and get French bits locally , like a nuc if needed and then swap the parts to the main hive , things you may have to consider .
You will also have to consider resale value as not many in the Uk have French Dadant but there have been several cases on Ebay where people thought they had bought Langstroths which were in fact Dadants and paid English prices .
hope that helps .
