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Bert, the Back Bee Broken Beekeeper!
Types of Hives Available
Types of Hives Available
There are four basic types of beehives: Langstroth, Long Langstroth, and Horizontal Top Bar.
The Langstroth hive is the most common style in use today and a favorite for new beekeepers. It features removable frames that the bees build comb in. Langstroth hives are a "Vertical" type hive which consist of boxes that stack on top of each other
The Long Langstroth hive is a modified, horizontal version of the traditional Langstroth hive.
The horizontal top bar hive is the oldest hive design in the world. It features wooden bars that run across the top of the hive and allow bees to build comb naturally.
The Back Breaking Traditional Hive
The Back Breaking Traditional Hive
The Langstroth hive is the current industry standard and typically consists of 2 deep hive bodies for the brood chamber and a few medium honey supers all stacked on top of each other in a vertical fashion. A typical hive with 2 deeps full of brood and honey can weigh upwards of 160 pounds! No wonder our backs hurt! This hard-to-handle configuration is what we are here to rethink!
So how do we change it up to make it more manageable?!?
So how do we change it up to make it more manageable?!?
We have two options on how to modify the physical characteristics of the hive:
Go lighter
Go horizontal
Pair that with Working Smarter Not Harder, and Maximizing the Tools Available, we can come up with a game plan to allow anyone to enjoy the hobby of Beekeeping!
Going Lighter!
Going Lighter!
So how can we take the traditional hive and make it lighter?
Reduce the height of the boxes we use
So instead of deep hive bodies for the brood chamber, use medium supers or even shallow supers
Reduce the number of frames in each box
So instead of 10 frames we can go down to 8 frame equipment or even 5 frame equipment!
Reducing the height of the boxes we use
Reducing the height of the boxes we use
Below is a comparison of 10 frame equipment. For consistency's sake, this is their weight when full of honey.
10 Frame Deep Hive Body = 80 pounds
10 Frame Medium Hive Body = 50 pounds
10 Frame Shallow Hive Body = 40 pounds
The average beekeeper keeps a brood chamber consisting of 2 Deep Hive Bodies or approximately 19.25" of brood area. The closest equivalent to this in medium boxes would be 3 mediums equallying 19.88"
Reducing the number of frames in each box
Reducing the number of frames in each box
Below is a comparison of 8 amd 5 frame equipment. For consistency's sake, this is their weight when full of honey.
8 Frame Deep Hive Body = 64 pounds
8 Frame Medium Hive Body = 40 pounds
8 Frame Shallow Hive Body = 32 pounds
5 Frame Deep Hive Body = 40 pounds
5 Frame Medium Hive Body = 25 pounds
Go Horizontal
Go Horizontal
This can be accomplished with either a Long Langstroth Hive or a Top Bar Hive. I will start right off by stating, we do not recommend this approach for any beginner beekeepers. While this is definitely the easiest on the back with the least amount of lifting, "most" tutorials, equipment, medications, and strategies are designed around the industry standard Langstroth hive. Therefore we will focus our advise around the industry standard.
I will leave it to you to research these topics more if you choose to go this route. It is my opinion this type of hive is not for the beginner for the above-stated reasons, but can definitely be a relief to those with disabilities or restrictions.
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