I like your posts, Joel, but I must take issue.
Of course my view comes from a different vantage point, so I know you
won't take offense...
> until the 1940's/50's,the usual big apiaries consisted of
> solely Langstroth 9 5/8" deep chambers.
>
> Nowadays, it's a different story. Commonly we find that beekeepers
> are using 2 Langstroth deeps for brood and wintering, and for the
> crop, the hives are supered with 6 5/8" (Dadant depth, or "3/4")
> "medium" honey supers.
We have a few thousand mediums that we obtained when we bought
another outfit (maybe they went broke from handling 1-1/2 X too much
stuff?)
We are selling them as fast as we can because:
They are too light, even when full. It means a lot of extra
carrying -- or strained backs when guys try to carry two.
There are too many parts. There is 1-1/2 as much maintenance per
pound of honey.
There is 1-1/2 as much extracting to do when we get them home. That
means 1-1/2 as much money spent on labour and 2/3 as much honey in
the drum at the end of the week.
I really wanted to believe in them, but after two years, I have
concluded that they have no place in a large outfit (mine at least --
I know there are a couple of guys here who will argue).
<snip>
> I have often wished that the Dadant or Jumbo Langstroth (10
> Dadant-depth brood frames) had become the standard here, over the
> years.
<snip>
> One person
> cannot safely lift and carry a double-deep langstroth,the shape is
> all wrong -- but most folks COULD lift an entire colony in a
> Dadant/Jumbo; AND not have to staple everything together to do it.
> About the only big disadvantage to the large brood combs is that the
> bees tend to chew away the bottom portion. There are ways of
> preventing or fixing this, tho.
(entrance reducers?)
I cut a bunch down 20 years ago and have regretted it ever since.
They were the perfect brood box. However I don't regret having only
one size of comb, and one size of box. Besides... Permadent don't
make jumbo foundation. If they did, well... I'd sure be tempted.
> The Manley extracting frame is to me an ideal design for ...
> <snip>
Well, I had them too. I hand built 125 Farrar hives (10
boxes high) and used them for brood and honey. They were very
nice (I'm a good carpenter). However, I'd never go back.
> so here we are,
> running too-prolific bees on too-small/wrong shaped brood combs.
Two standards are too big for a brood chamber -- they give anyone but
experts a royal pain trying to use excluders -- but what the heck.
Everyone on BEE-L is moving to top bar hives next year.
At least I am (for a couple of hives anyhow). And if I were a hobbyist?
Nothing but.
Regards
Allen
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper VE6CFK
RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0
Internet:[log in to unmask] & [log in to unmask]
Honey. Bees, & Art <http://www.internode.net/~allend/>
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