I have worked on beekeeping development projects all over Eastern Europe
and the Caucasus and beekeepers there almost always use Dadant Blatt
hives.  Some of you older guys recall the old 'jumbos' that were in use
many years ago and they are similar.  The Dadant Blatt hives generally have
a built-in bottom board and use a heavy duty telescoping cover.  I have
seen many many variants as most hives are made by individual beekeepers.
Many of the beekeepers I have worked with made a living off 100 hives and
moved the bees as much as 3 times a year.  Dadant Blatt hives are big and
heavy and most had metal cabinet style hand holds if any.   Need I say they
are very difficult to move.

My last project was in the Republic of Georgia and the beekeepers we (New
Economic Opportunities Project - look it up under the NGO DAI) worked with
asked for help converting to smaller 'Langstroth' hives.  We hired 4
experienced beekeepers as trainers and I recall a half day meeting where we
worked out the dimensions for the new Langstroth hives - taking into
account widely varying dimensional lumber available in Georgia and the need
to cut down Dadant Blatt brood combs to fit in the new Langstroth hives.

We worked in low income mountainous regions of Georgia and cost shared hive
conversion from Dadant to Langstroth hives.  The hive conversion project
was very well received and several of the beekeeper/woodworkers who made
hives for the cost share project kept building Langstroth hives because the
beekeepers liked the new hive style and were busy converting hives on their
on without cost share.

We put on workshops showing beekeepers how to cut the bottoms off Dadant
Blatt frames and convert them to fit in Langstroth hives.  We also
introduced the concept of supering with multiple supers - as most Dadant
Blatt beekeepers used only one super and harvested honey one frame at
time.  You can see photos of this project on my web page at
BeekeepingConsultingfor Development.com.  The photo from Dusheti Georgia
shows us demonstrating a Langstroth hive at a field day.  The photo from
Armenia shows a group looking at a large Dadant Blatt frame.  The photo
from Turkmenistan shows me with a beekeeper looking at his 'coffin' hives,
a horizontal variant of the Dadant Blatt hive fairly common in Eastern
Europe and West and Central Asia.

Bill Lord
Louisburg, NC
BeekeepingConsultingforDevelopment.com

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