You may consider keeping the brood area at one end near an opening and let the other end be the honey frames (horizontal super). This will facilitate adding/removing honey frames with minimal disturbance of the brood area. Or make a second follower board for right and left side to add honey frames on either side of the brood area. Brood area should centered on the opening. The brood area will migrate to this area over time. I think many hobby beekeepers with stationary hives will find this hive much easier to manage than commercial type, vertical Langstroth hives. Looking forward to your analysis of this hive. Especially managing Varroa mites and small hive beetles with honey inside hive. I did not see a bottom screen or trays in this hive, but could be incorporated in a new build hive. Thanks for all you do to encourage us hobby beekeepers. Keep up the good content.
I found a drone on the ground with deformed wings. But did not see any other bees with it when I pulled honey frames this week. I'm going to do mite washes this weekend to check mite loads. It's my understanding that the only option is to treat the mites and make sure bees have good nutrition etc. and hopefully that will help to curb the issue going forward. What do you suggest.
As others have suggested....I've been keeping these hives for years now. I'd use an entrance only on one side... the eastern side that gets first sun.. Otherwise you'll get brood scattered throughout the hive instead of being on the end near the entrance. You want the honey on the other end. I've learned this through my own mistakes and never use a middle entrance anymore on these hives.
Hey David, or anyone here for that matter that has swarm traps out. Do the bees steal your wax from old comb frames in your traps too? Or could that be a sign of a dearth because someone down the street from me has the same problem bees are stealing wax from the frames of his traps and the scout bees can't come to check the traps out.
Very pretty hive. I've been hesitant about trying horizontal hives, not sure how well they're going to do overwintering in the northern Wisconsin winters. I have been tempted by the insulated Layens Hive which is a horizontal hive, I've watched videos of a new beekeeper using a couple in a really cold part of Wyoming with long winters and she seems to be having success with it. Would be interested in your opinion on this type of hive.
I've been working 50 frame Horizontal hives for a while and they aren't for beginners because you have to treat them a different way or they will explode and swarm. There's certain techniques that I find help control including pulling back the frames and checkerboarding. If you don't do it right it just encourages the hive to explode in numbers in the same way you can encourage bees to expand in a colony using demaree and you will have a battle on your hands. You can't just relieve congestion by adding supers like you can a traditional hive. You'll find life easier if you add gas struts at each end of the roof to stop the roof from falling on you. Kamon Reynolds and Laurence of Black Mountain Honey have some good videos on it.
@@beek It gets way below freezing here and we can have 4 seasons in one day. I would recommend putting celotex or equivalent or expanding foam in the roof as insulation. This is how jam packed full of Buckfast bees even in early Spring in the UK with temperatures of well below freezing ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Wxz4TDQUMJk.html
Hey David my other ph broke on me I want get you on my new ph . I need learn horizontal hive work I'm getting old if this be better on my back in future.
Added our new colony ot our first TopBar hive yesterday the nuc came as little langstroth frames that we had to attach to a top bar... not sure if this will work or not, but worth a try :) (getting older with achy back here too ;) )
Hey david! New beekeeper here from maryland. I havent heard of the EAS conference till now. It looks amazing but im not seeing any prices online. Surly it cant be free? Can you give me some info, id love to make it!
I look forward to your thoughts on the Anel Hive David. I bought one at HiveLife and added another since. Both are up and running and seem to be doing well. It’s not perfect but for the price point compared to other brands I’ve been overall happy with it too this point but I haven’t had it a year or every season with it yet. I’m interested in a horizontal hive too. Maybe next year!
I'm so glad to see you with a horizontal hive. In my study of beekeeping (which includes your channel, where I have learned ao much! Thank you!) I have decided to go with the Layens horizontal hive. Now to see you with a horizontal hive is so awesome!
I am so excited to see that you think I am a horizontal keeper. But there are drawbacks and benefits. My bees horizontally seem to make much more brood. But I have to work differently with space planning and treatment as the whole time is the Honey super. So more mechanical, more prevention, and only honey-safe treatments.
