Hi Lloyd & all

> In England, Langstroth size is the exception. English hive manufacturers
> treasure their 'unique' sizes as they are largely protected from import
> competition 

While I can't speak for the whole of the UK appliance trade, I find that 
statement a little unusual, as up until the end of the 1990's quite a 
proportion of UK hives were in fact manufactured under contract in USA 
by AI Root and others.

It is not that Langstroth equipment will not work in UK, as a number of 
larger outfits do use it, but most of the hives in UK and Ireland are of 
what we call National size, simply because they were designed around the 
bee that inhabits them. Many of the hives in Europe are also of similar 
size to the British one, but are not interchangeable.

If however you wish to keep Italianised bees then the British box is too 
small, but most beekeepers wish to get a honey crop, which is less 
likely with Italian strains in some parts of UK.

Although I no longer manufacture beekeeping equipment, the idea of 
protectionism did not even enter my head when I did. However in fairness 
we did manufacture Langstroth and Dadant sized equipment for those 2 or 
3 percent of UK beekeepers that used such sizes.

While you claim that Langstroth is 'standard' in USA there is very 
little true 'interchangeability' between manufacturers.

http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman/lang.html
gives some of the variations found in various places, all of which claim 
to be 'Langstroth Standard'


Regards & Best 73s, Dave Cushman, G8MZY
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman or http://www.dave-cushman.net
Short FallBack M/c, Build 6.02/3.1 (stable)

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