I agree with you about the position to the sun the hive is in especially in the Spring when I find the brood nest has moved to the warmer side of the hive. I put that down to the radiated heat coming thru the timber helps in warming the brood.
The fires got a heap of media news coverage about the Adelaide Hills, hope you weren’t effected.
Cheers
My hives are left side dominant, the left side faces the rising sun, whereas the right is shaded by trees. So similar observations to you in relation to the sun.
Hi Jack, I watched that video, however I couldn’t see any advantage of what he was doing over normal tower hives. I got a surprise to see brood on his outside frame, but no more brood except a small patch of drones on the other frames he inspected. I was kind of expecting the brood box to be full of brood.
I think he was surprised too. That was an oddity- maybe all the brood was on the other side- or his hive had recently developed some kind of queen issue. It looked pretty strong though. He has other videos where things are more back on track. Managing that hive is almost certainly a bigger task than managing two standard ones-and you are right- probably no real advantage. To me it looks like fun though. Having said that- I don’t need any more challenges in beekeeping at the moment- I need to get on top of what I have before I think too much about messing around.
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I agree Jack, I can’t see myself with a Long Lang. I don’t think you can beat a single brood/single honey configuration from how I see it.
I was thinking the same thing, that maybe all the brood was in the frames he didn’t remove.
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for beeks like you or me with multiple hives at different locations- such hives don’t make a great deal of sense. However if I was limited to having just one hive- I might consider it. For me my long hive is only really intended to be a permanent back yard- at home hive. For that I think it does have some advantages. My own long hive really is an absolute pleasure to work- and there is no heavy lifting assuming you never have to move it. If you can handle a single full frame you can manage a long hive easily.
there are ways of getting around heavy lifting with tall hives- but lets face it- they are not ideal. You have to have extra boxes and transfer frames, etc. In a long hive you can inspect 100% of the frame without having to remove a single other frame. That really is very nice in practice.
i really think there is a place for long hives in backyard beekeeping- only I still need more time and experience with my own long hive to determine how well they can work.
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Hi Jack, I’m sure they really work well. I know a bloke who built one & did a beautiful job of it, however he reckoned it didn’t work for him. I think he must have put a colony with a dud queen into it.
All I know is I saw the results of a wild colony that moved into the cavity between 2 floor joists. I saw what was left after a bloke poisoned the bees. After the bees died, the whole nest melted onto the ceiling, which turned it all mildewy over a large area. After removing the ceiling, the imprint of the comb was still on the underside of the floor. All the combs ran at right angles to the floor joists, TBH style. They started at the end, where the entrance was & continued right back for 4 meters. That’s like having a long hive 4 meters long & chock-a-block, with the entrance on one end. After seeing that, no one can tell me that long hives don’t work.
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hi adam, would be great if you could show us a few pictures of how you did it and review, are you in australia, do you put a solid board or screened board
@Charlie_Challita have a look through this thread, it will show what I did.
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That is a truly impressive long hive you have there Adam. You rekindled my interest in long hives. I have a problem back and I have to eventually house my bees in long langs.
I might put my HoneyFlow hive order on hold, and rethink. Maybe I just get the frames and build one.
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