>
 
Has anyone tried joining two Langstroth hives by removing one side
(i.e., one really long Langstroth hive)?
 
I'm wondering if the queens prefer climbing comb-to-comb rather than up
to the next hive body & back down.  Watching my observation hive, I've
noticed it's not very often that the queen will cross wood.  She'd
rather cross to the other side of the same brood comb (through waxed
cross-holes) than venture up onto another broodless comb.  I'm sure
every queen is different to some degree, but perhaps we're cramping
their laying habits by the 9-10 frame dimensions of the standard
Langstroth hive?
 
If the experiment concerned four full-depth hive bodies placed side by
side, two deep with the sides removed & replaced by additional frames
(i.e. approx. 21-22 frames of side-by-side frames), I'm guessing most
queens would prefer to lay on the two lower full-depth supers first
before venturing up to the second level.  Some of the feral hives I've
removed indicated the queen preferred a side-to-side area where she
could easily moniter brood activity.
 
Since this is only my 'guess' does anyone have any professional insight
to preferred laying patterns?
 
 
Matthew in Castle Rock, CO
 
> I saw a phenomenon that I have not seen in any of my other hives.
> Every top
> bar comb from the front of the hive to the back (about 15-20 combs)
> had 3-5
> inches of capped honey at the top and pollen and brood on the bottom.
> There
> was not a single comb that was entirely honey or entirely brood, even
> at the
> very back away from the entrance.  The brood pattern was nice, the
> bees seemed
> healthy, but the brood was spread out horizontally over the entire
> length of
> this long top bar hive.
 
 
 
> Layne Westover -College Station, Texas, U.S.A. (look at a map for
> latitude and longitude)