Shikko. But now we're going too far off subject .
Awesome
Back on topic - especially the topic of backs, and other body parts that need to avoid heavy lifting sometimes - I've been using a longhive recently, with frames. It's basically just a double-length National brood box. I love it. Seems very kind on the bees. I particularly like being able to go through the whole broodnest (14 frames of brood by the time I did an artificial swarm this week, plus stores either end) while only disturbing one comb at a time. I simply couldn't afford to lift a full brood box just now.
Off topic - a quick google, & I now have some idea what "shikko" is! Amazing what you learn here :-)
Emma
ps Hi Beth! I think we have a friend in common - Erica, who hosted my first apiary, on a windy field by the Aberdeenshire coast, & witnessed many of my beginner-beekeeper traumas! Do join ADBKA, they're great.
Emma, from your description of stores at each end I imagine that you must have an entrance in the long side of the box. Is that right? If so, did you have a specific reason for doing so or was it just how things happened?
Hi Prakel,
No, I've got the combs "warm way", with the entrance at one end. I've started running all my colonies that way, as I like the options it gives me for managing brood nests, & it makes the nest easier to read. But they usually tend to have one comb by the entrance that's just stores & pollen - unless they're really getting short of laying space.
I went for end entrance in the longhive in the hopes of (a) avoiding isolation starvation and (b) expanding the nest backwards by adding empty frames. Someday I hope (c) to harvest honey from the back, but it's early days with learning how to run it.
Have you any experience of managing longhives? I would really, really like to compare notes with people who've kept them in a northern climate. I'm mostly going on advice from American websites, with a sprinkling of opinions from wherever else I can find.
The lightest option would be Paynes poly nuc + the 2nd brood box that gives 12 frames.
Would need strong strapping in a wind though
I've got a few 13 frame bs boxes which hardly deserve the title of longhive but offer similar options to those which you're searching for. They are supered of course (with dadant shallows) but the 13 frames afford the option of pulling a couple of store combs from the back of the nest at harvest time -adds up nicely but of course in such a small box it does need replacing with sugar or a late summer flow such as the benweed but I'm quite partial to that myself! I have a friend who's taken to running his nationals warm way so that he can (some years) pull that extra honey comb from the back.
I definitely prefer the warm way for similar reasons to those which you outline; quite often see claims that warm/coldway are now irrelevant with mesh floors but we don't use them so I can't really comment on whether that statement holds water or whether it's simply a misunderstanding of the depth of difference between the two configurations.
Hi,
Wow thanks for all the advice. I shall keep it noted ready for hive buying time. I have some interesting visions of you all now My hubby will love the practical side, we were having conversations about twin tub botches in to honey extractors the other day and then he dcided to move the motor from our old broken hoover in case it comes in useful. Besides the joy of the bees I think he's going to get a lot of enjoyment out of the general engineering.
Hi Emma! Yes, it's via Erica and yourself that I found my mentor! Thanks so much!!! I'm learning loads and really enjoying it all. xxxxx
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