Long Hives

[Brian Bush]

This year I enjoyed my first year as a beekeeper. I had some issues and a steep learning curve. My winter passion is woodwork and I spent last year building WBC and National Hives.

The WBCs which are in the garden of the Big House have been a success. (His lordship insisted on WBCs for aesthetic reasons).

Having talked to a couple of local beeks I am going to experiment with Dartington Long Hives. I have purchased the timber for a couple, extremely economic!! and will start when thrown out of the house on Boxing Day.

Does anyone have any help, tips, advice they are willing to share with me?

Is there anyone out there who will admit that they use DLD hives?

 

[Finman]

We have discussed long hives. It was very popular 50 years ago in Finland. It was almost "modern". Now no one use it.

Those who has later tried the hive say that swarming is diffucult to handle. Bees cannot handle horizontal space.

Darlingtons hive is wheel already in?vented. It coud be nice to handle by those who has diffuculties to lift heavy boxes - but it does not work

 

[BKF Admin]

I would be very interested if any members run DLD hives.

I have often read that DLD and TBH are not natural for bees as they like to build vertical rather than horizontal.

 

[James Fischer]

Been there, done that, still have the emotional scars.

The comments about bees not wanting to expand much in a horizontal
direction are accurate. The Long Hives were just as bad, if not worse
than the ^%$#* TBHs, as both were swarm factories.

Regular langstroth hives can be stacked with supers and make
100 lbs of honey without much trouble. Long and TBHs are lucky
to make more than 4 frames of honey that might be called surplus.

I hate having my bees head for the trees.

 

[ian]

Hi all

We run a number of long hives and TBH's for teaching purposes, I also built my first TBH hive in a log at the age of 12.

Great to try and for fun, but I would echo all that is said above.

As to cost, the company that supplies Dartington types also supplies standard kit at half the price of a Dartington


Regards Ian

 

[Poly Hive]

Bees like vertical. End of story.

Even in the Glen hive, and yes there is such a beast, a Scottish version of the WBC which has 15 national brood frames, it is a struggle with native bees to get them to use that number.

Why on earth folk think that bees want to expand horizontally is beyond me when ALL the evidence says other wise.

PH

 

[Finman]

Why on earth folk think that bees want to expand horizontally

I think that they try to invent an angular wheel.

Long hives has been invented many times, again and again. Who will ne next?

I bet that it will be an Irish.