Bee Liners;
 
I am in Bulgaria for two weeks on a beekeeping consulting job.  I am woking
with a Bulgarian beekeeper who has asembled a top notch honey packing
operation.  He is exporting honey to several European countries in a really
attracttive package, and the honey is first rate.  His problem in insufficient
supply.  He runs 1600 of his own hives and buys honey from small bulgarian
beekeepers.  He is interested in converting his large Dadant-Blatt hives over
to langstroth type hives in order to increase production.  Do any of you have
any experience with conversion from Dadant-Blatts to langstroth?
 
I can tell you that labor is cheap in Bulgaria and the Dadant-Blatt hives are
worked intensively.  I think we in the U.S. tend to stack on hive bodies and
supers to avoid continuous managment and manipulation so that we can pull honey
in one operation.  I have also heard the Dadant-Blatt hives have poor
ventilation, but until I get out into the field I will reserve judgement.
 
Any advice would be appreciated, and it would be nice to have some replies from
different parts of the world so I can show this beekeeper the power of bee-line
and electronic communication.
 
Thanks for your help,
 
Bill Lord
temporarily in Sofia Bulgaria.