Debbie;

I you want to go to the 'land of jumbos' head to Eastern Europe.  I have
worked from Croatia all the way out to Kazakhstan and most people use
jumbos, also known as Dadant Blatt hives.  The most common configuration is
a single jumbo hive body with a follower board, a piece of canvas or
plastic over the frames, a large pillow, and a heavy telescoping cover.
Usually the bottom board is part of the hive and they have sliding metal
entrance guards.  A lot of beekeepers in this part of the world use only
one super or harvest honey from the hive body one frame at a time.  It is
not unusual for a beekeeper to have 100-150 hives as a full time job as
this beekeeping system takes almost daily management.

I am working in Moldova on a project at the moment and they have an early
acacia (locust) flow, followed by linden (basswood), followed by sweet
clover and sunflower mixed together.  These sequential flows keep the
Dadant Blatt beekeeper busy removing and extracting honey in mostly hand
crank extractors.  I would say beekeeping is more of a traditional
occupation in Eastern Europe and I am told that honey and hive products
could be sold or bartered on the open market during Communist times, so
while there were beekeeping collective farms, many small beekeepers kept
their hives.  Honey bees are native to this part of the world and my
experience is the beekeepers are highly skilled and the bees seem super
well adapted to the Dadant Blatt hive and management the beekeepers
employ.  Beekeepers wear a very simple veil and very seldom do I see or
need gloves.  I was just in Moldova for 2 weeks looking at bee yards and
inspecting hives every day and never wore a veil and was not stung a single
time.

Lest you switch immediately the jumbos are a real pain to move as they are
large and heavy and at best have metal cabinet style hand holds and many
beekeepers move their bees 3 time a year.  The frames are large and heavy
and every beekeeper I have ever seen, including those in France, uses heavy
wax foundation with horizontal wires that have to be installed one frame at
a time.

Bill Lord
Louisburg, NC
BeekeepingConsultingForDevelopment.com

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