Horizontal bee hive with extra deep frames

[@dustinpotter8312]

Because I have a small honey extractor which takes a Langstroth deep ( 2 total opposed) but went vertically with my comb (deep instead of wide) Same comb dimensions (8.5" x 16 .675") bees moved on it great but I was overwhelmed in the fall (3 yrs ago) by robber bees from an apiary of around 20 hives about a mile from me. I never got into the fall with enough honey/feed for my bees, they were gone before the first snow. I have found bees in trees and buildings that had narrow but much narrower than Layen's Hives building comb diagonally in 2 x 4 walls in a diagonal fashion but up to 6'-8' deep. (deep is the way to go) I am thinking that American apiarists need to rethink the Langstroth. I have had bees winter well at -20f well but even a little bit bigger than .375" gap between combs is too much gap for some bees at that temp or lower. I have watched Dr Leo' through a couple of years and I believe he has the right approach but many trees have to be huge to take his size width comb. Few wild bees I have seen actually exceed a ten inch width comb though some do. I saw a German approach that adds a 4" section below the cluster to allow dead bees to drop but not plug the Lang entrance. Wild bees do the same in trees. I like what I see of your design.

[@CrazyIvan865]

I believe it was Michael Bush, he has an interesting website. He doesn't make the frames but has a little section of how to adapt frames. He posits that frames should have a 1/4" gap in between each frame and a total on center width of 32mm per frame. This is a bit of a tighter squeeze for the bees. But it allows for 11 frames per Langstroth box and only one bee per section of comb. So instead of the bees being back to back, there's side by side with one bee on one comb, and the other on the adjacent comb. This means they can more easily and efficiently distribute heat during cluster with less bees. It's kinda complicated, but an interesting read. I haven't personally tried it. But it makes sense.

[@dustinpotter8312]

Using a 1/4 or half or less of the Lang foundation I can start a " modified Layen" comb with swarms or packages or splits and nuc expansions. I can buy plastic or wax from supply companies and save my bees a lot of "moving expenses" when I put them into a new box or trap a swarm. It's a bit of extra work which I am willing to do but via tongue and grove I can make a 7 to 10 frame swarm trap the first stage/half of a full length Layens hive by just giving the swarm box an extra layer of wood for insulation and adding it to the rest of the intended hive. Meaning I can extend a trap the bees can grow and winter in. Play with the ideas. I am not going back to Lang's.

[@Idahodeerslayer]

Congratulations on the plumbing fitting to make it convenient to chemically poison your bees.

[@CrazyIvan865]

I highly doubt he poisons his bees. I'm pretty sure he just included it, because many people DO prefer to Gas their bees like it's a German rain room. Of the forums I've seen, one of the biggest complaints about Layens, Lazutin, and Ukranian hives, is that they don't accommodate chemical treatments. I don't know for sure... but I'm guessing he probably doesn't poison his bees.