Thread: Beehive - Horizontal Long Langstroth

The terrible thought has crossed my mind.
With the legs removed it will fit in the irradiation chamber, just.

Pete.

For the ignorant ones, who I am a major contender off.
What is AFB (I’m trying to ween my self of Auntie Google).

Cheers Matt.

Hi Matt.

American Foul Brood.
A disease that destroys a hive by infecting new brood and necessitating the burning or irradiation with gamma rays to kill it and stop its further spread.
Devastating for the beekeeper to have to destroy a hive.

Regards to you & Sal.

Pete.

Pete, in the first post you said that this is a horizontal design and saves the keeper from heavy work but no matter how many times I look at the construction I can't work out how it is practically different from any other type of hive. This probably because I've never seen a hive up close other than on TV. For those of us that are not in the know can you please show the differences in design of the 2 types and explain how they are used?

How are the bees?

Originally Posted by woodPixel

How are the bees?

Have you seen the Hive he build,they probably come from living in some old tree,to literally the top end of town 6 star plus accommodation [emoji6].

Cheers Matt.

Sorry to say that is not a good photo of AFB and the circled cell in particular is not typical. I would suggest anyone keeping bees needs to become familiar with the signs and more importantly how to take and send samples for testing. Pre-pupae that die from AFB are typically brown.
and while on my high horse, get a lab test:
- last time I checked it was free in NSW (for registered beekeepers)
- you will get a reliable result
- I would not trust the home test kits
Bruce

Thanks for your comments and good advice Bruce.
I’m just newbie to beekeeping and in fact don’t even have my bees yet. I have been waiting on availability from a particular breeder that breeds for calmness. Any day now I hope.

As for the AFB photo, it was just something swiped from the web to answer a basic question. I will absolutely be careful with testing if and when the time comes. I will be getting a lot of help from my local beekeeping group as I have everything still to learn.

Best regards for Xmas.

Pete.

Originally Posted by woodPixel

How are the bees?

I hope they are fine but they are in the breeders hive because there is a backlog of orders[emoji20]
I’m patient though.

Regards

Pete.

Originally Posted by labr@

Pete, in the first post you said that this is a horizontal design and saves the keeper from heavy work but no matter how many times I look at the construction I can't work out how it is practically different from any other type of hive. This probably because I've never seen a hive up close other than on TV. For those of us that are not in the know can you please show the differences in design of the 2 types and explain how they are used?

In answer to your question Bob; In short, a conventional hive has boxes (containing the hive frames) stacked vertically that need to be lifted off and on to get access for hive inspections and the harvesting of honey. As the colony grows more hive boxes (supers) are placed on top of the existing hive to create more space for honey production. This make the hive quite tall (like a 4 storey home) and heavy and can be a reason why some individuals stop beekeeping.
The horizontal hive negates the need to lift boxes full of frames loaded with honey. This is achieved by building the hive much longer than the traditional hive (like a large single storey home). In my case it is 1300mm long and contains 20 frames. When the hive is young and small, the beekeeper would block off a large portion of the hive with a ‘follower board’ to keep the bees in an area that they can comfortably maintain. When the hive grows, the follower board is moved along to give the bees more frames to use for new brood and honey production. When a hive inspection is required (every two weeks or so), no lifting is required. Just open the lid and remove individual small frame covers to give easy access to whatever part of the hive needs attention.
Commercial bee operations use the conventional hives for many reasons including cost, modularity and transportability.
Horizontal hives are generally for hobbyist.
For me, the two horizontal hives I’ve made was just an exercise to keep me sane in last years Xmas lockdown and to learn more about beekeeping. I started making one and realised I had enough material to build two, so I did.
Just a side note; Beekeeping is a very broad and complicated hobby. When you learn a bit you soon realise you have much more to learn. As I said earlier, I don’t even have my bees yet so am a complete newbie. I am having fun with it so far though.

Hope this explains it a little bit for you.

Best regards.

Pete.

Thanks Pete. I expected that diagrams would be needed to explain it but your explanation is so well written it makes perfect sense without visual aids .

Originally Posted by Pittwater Pete

As for the AFB photo, it was just something swiped from the web to answer a basic question. I will absolutely be careful with testing if and when the time comes. I will be getting a lot of help from my local beekeeping group as I have everything still to learn.

Pete.

Not an easy thing to photograph! I speak from personal experience. Back in the early 1980s I was lead author on the first factsheets (for NSW) on AFB, EFB and other diseases of bees and getting good photos was the hardest part. I moved away from beekeeping not long after but recently dabbling again. I was fooled by a case in a friends hive. It looked classic AFB but on the lab test proved to be a rare form of EFB. Hence my comments.
I am a big supporter of the ABA and clubs in general so listen to the Club biosecurity person. Be alert and prepared. I would not be overly worried about rumors of AFB. While hives do come don with AFB by robbing nearly hives, it is more often introduced by the beekeeper bringing in infected bees or material.
Enjoy your beekeeping. Having moved interstate to a small block in town I will not be taking my current hive, so I am missing it. I intend to join a local bee club to keep my interest active, but I would much rather be in your position with a hive or two of m6 own to play with.
Bruce

A couple of pics to highlight the basic difference between a horizontal and conventional/ commercial hive structure.



Regards
Pete.

Thanks Bruce.
If your new residence is too small for your existing hive, have you considered native bees? They don’t take up any space, are fun to watch and not much work. Stingless to boot.

Pete.