Two new bee hive configurations arrive

January 05, 2010

I'm not a complete new-bee when it comes to beekeeping. Growing up, my father kept bees for many years. When I was a teenager, I kept a hive for a year or two myself. Then, getting serious about school, girls and "life's vision" got in the way. The bees either swarmed or died.

I'm almost certain that my own interests, if not genetically, are somehow how linked to my dads. I find myself drawn to about all the things he was into. Gardening, grape-growing, winemaking, woodworking, blacksmithing and of course beekeeping. After a few rare Facebook comments about beekeeping surfaced, I decided that the beekeeping equipment that has been laying around for year, has sat long enough!

The most common beehive today is called the Langstroth, named after Reverend Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth (1810-1895). Langstroth discovered that if a space of 1 cm (3/8 inch) is left in the hive for the bees to move around in, the bees will neither build comb in the space nor cement it shut. This he called "bee space," and he revolutionized beekeeping by his discovery of it!

It only took one book to get me completely immersed in the thought of beekeeping. One only needs to read a book about honey bees to find the fascination. Hitting forums, I found other local beekeepers who I hope to catch up with at my first bee meeting at the end of January.

So, after such reading, I had two custom Langstroth hives built. An 8 frame hive and a 10 frame hive. Instead of the typical 2 deep boxes where the queen rears the brood, I went with ALL medium boxes in both hives. This offers optimum interchangeability of the frames. In addition, I am trying out the 8 frame hive for the thought of "lighter beekeeping". Keep in mind, a single box with 10 frames of honey can weight up to 90lbs!

Anyway, I plan to put together some more pictures of the hives just to keep you, my visitor, informed. I only have until spring when the bees arrive. In the meantime, here's a video.

 

Tags: beekeeping

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