I’ve been reading about Leyens long (and deep) hives- they seem really interesting. I have never seen one- but apparently there are over 1 million of them in Europe in use.
here’s an excerpt from from Georges de Layens’ book Keeping Bees in Horizontal Hives: A Complete Guide to Apiculture (500 p., 250 ill., Deep Snow Press, 2017).
"Long experience has taught me that one should never stray from the following three principles, which constitute the bedrock of any good beekeeping:
Big hives.
Big frames.
Enough room in the hive to always allow the queen’s egg-laying to proceed uninterrupted.
In this way, you will: 1) minimize natural swarming; 2) produce as much honey as the location will allow; 3) build up a strong population by fall. All three points are very important for an apiary’s future…
Two hive visits per year
All in all, managing an apiary throughout the entire beekeeping season can be reduced to the following two main procedures: 1) the Spring inspection, when the hives are filled out with frames; and 2) the Fall harvest and preparing the colonies for wintering."
you can read more about them here:
http://horizontalhive.com/how-to-build/layens-beehive-design.shtml