Just watched for the fourth time.! I liked and subscribed. Thank you! Would love to hear more of your bee keeping experiences and to see more about your Layens hives.
Man, I am SO glad I found your channel! I used to "have" bees, but never "kept" them. HA! I have met Dr. Leo a few times and am totally enthralled. I will be hanging my first swarm trap today or tomorrow, and have my first 19-frame Layens all painted up and almost ready to go (we are in Mississippi, USA). I enjoy your videos very much - you are a skilled videographer and story-teller - and I'm learning quite a bit. Bravo, and I look forward to more Layens content from you (hopefully!!).
Thanks for sharing your building, the Most popular hive in Spain is layens, we use layens about 10 or 12 frames no more, but we move the hives, if the hives are more frames it's imposible to move because is too heavy to get with your own body you need to carry with a hand lift or another carrier
Do you have room at top for quilt boards? I live in the southern US and even though we don't have the frigid temps our northern neighbors get but we do have a lot of humidity year round and it can be deadly to bees. I have found quilt boards have saved our hives. No more winter loses if we have used a good pest treatment and plenty of honey stored going into winter. As an emergency back up safety measure we put a sugar board on also.
There is few inches on top of the bars. For moisture dissipation i drilled four 1/2" screened holes on both ends. In the winter I put a wool blanket on the top bars and let it hang over the end frame. Just like Georges de Layens mentions in his book Keeping Bees in Horizontal Hives.
I am thinking of making this. How do you attach the plywood? It looks like you use glue and perhaps staples, but I am thinking the plywood would split and not hold the corners very well. If staples can you tell me the size?
Hello Frank, For the inside 3/8" box when assembling I used glue and 1" narrow crown staples. For the 3/4" outer shell I used 1 1/2" wood screws and glue. For a closer look at the box within a box construction you can check out this link th-cam.com/video/qQqngUqfWLE/w-d-xo.html to my other video.
At 3:56 if you pause it you can see what I mean. now that I take a closer look I actually made the rectangle hallways out of 3/4" pieces of wood. I meant connecting the two holes that I cut out of the two boxes for entrances.
When searching the internet I found more detailed information about the layens hives. Like on Horizontalhives.com for dimentions of the equipment. And I read the book Keeping bees in Horizontal Hives which is about the management stradegy of Layens hives.
I really like what Dr Leo has to say, but I also saw some things on thrive hive, which is based on Lazutin's hives. So I ordered Keeping Bees with a smile. Maybe I'll order the Layen's book after I finish reading it.
I am also choosing layens hive model. I have been researching it for the past year and I made my choice based on the size of the frames. When we see how wild bees make their hives in the wild, for the most part I noticed that the Laymen’s frame size imitates it the best. Of course bees will adapt to pretty much any opening within l’incertain limits. Also I tried to determine why the Layens hive had but two openings. That too influenced my choice. I live near Ottawa. Can you tell me in what region you live in Canada? Thank you for your video.
pariah1234 PureBond plywood contains no fomaldyhde and it is available at home depot in canada if that is a concern for you. I just used normal plywood.
Wood contains formaldehyde. It's the concentration of it and how easily it's released to the air that matters. High quality OSB and HDF (hardboard) can have as little formaldehyde emmisions as natural wood, and I think some plywood also has very little.
On Leo's Layens Hive plans page he says to make the box longer by 1-9/16" per each additional frame. So my internal dimensions of the hive body is 31-1/2". Cheers
I did create a rectangle wooden hallway out of 3/8" ply wood to protect the insulation. I was thinking that on the next hives that I make I would just put a section of 2X4 between the inner and outer shells and then just drill a hole or holes threw it all, for the entrance.
One of the biggest issues with this design is the lack of rigidity. A solid frame between the walls gives you something to screw or better still, bolt legs to. Snow weight alone could demolish it as it stands. Proof is in the pudding as they say!
Hello Paul, All of my hive / frame designs are just me having some fun experimenting, to help my bees survive the winter in my location. When assembled it is actually quite ridged. Just like the Structural Insulated panels used to build houses now a days. Which are just a rigid insulation sandwiched between two sheets of plywood. I have used this hive for the last two winters with no I'll effects.
Hello Paul, when making my hives I was trying to get the highest R value but also keeping it light enough to move it if needed. My first thought to achieve that was to copy a beverage cooler. The design you are referencing has a lot of continuous wood from the inside to the outside. Which wood only has an R value of 1.41 per inch. I would guesstimate that the sides and bottom of my hive have a continuous R value of 8.91.
Matt, as the continuous timbers in the hive only represent about 20% of the total area the R value is much higher than that and if you incorporate a layer of thin foil type insulation behind the inner skin the overall R and U values are exceptional. I too take the care of my bees very seriously. Any design which provides heat retention is lightyears apart from standard hive structures.
Just watched for the fourth time.! I liked and subscribed. Thank you! Would love to hear more of your bee keeping experiences and to see more about your Layens hives.
Man, I am SO glad I found your channel! I used to "have" bees, but never "kept" them. HA! I have met Dr. Leo a few times and am totally enthralled. I will be hanging my first swarm trap today or tomorrow, and have my first 19-frame Layens all painted up and almost ready to go (we are in Mississippi, USA). I enjoy your videos very much - you are a skilled videographer and story-teller - and I'm learning quite a bit. Bravo, and I look forward to more Layens content from you (hopefully!!).
Thanks for sharing your building, the Most popular hive in Spain is layens, we use layens about 10 or 12 frames no more, but we move the hives, if the hives are more frames it's imposible to move because is too heavy to get with your own body you need to carry with a hand lift or another carrier
Cute little contemplation intro lol... Enjoying your videos, thanks!
yes, nice detail, thanks again
Do you have room at top for quilt boards? I live in the southern US and even though we don't have the frigid temps our northern neighbors get but we do have a lot of humidity year round and it can be deadly to bees. I have found quilt boards have saved our hives. No more winter loses if we have used a good pest treatment and plenty of honey stored going into winter. As an emergency back up safety measure we put a sugar board on also.
There is few inches on top of the bars. For moisture dissipation i drilled four 1/2" screened holes on both ends. In the winter I put a wool blanket on the top bars and let it hang over the end frame. Just like Georges de Layens mentions in his book Keeping Bees in Horizontal Hives.
I am thinking of making this. How do you attach the plywood? It looks like you use glue and perhaps staples, but I am thinking the plywood would split and not hold the corners very well. If staples can you tell me the size?
Hello Frank, For the inside 3/8" box when assembling I used glue and 1" narrow crown staples. For the 3/4" outer shell I used 1 1/2" wood screws and glue. For a closer look at the box within a box construction you can check out this link th-cam.com/video/qQqngUqfWLE/w-d-xo.html to my other video.
I don’t understand connecting the entrances between the inner and outer boxes through the insulation. Is insulation sealed in any way? thanks-rjs
At 3:56 if you pause it you can see what I mean. now that I take a closer look I actually made the rectangle hallways out of 3/4" pieces of wood. I meant connecting the two holes that I cut out of the two boxes for entrances.
What were the reasons you chose to go with a Layens versus a Lazutin hive?
When searching the internet I found more detailed information about the layens hives. Like on Horizontalhives.com for dimentions of the equipment. And I read the book Keeping bees in Horizontal Hives which is about the management stradegy of Layens hives.
I really like what Dr Leo has to say, but I also saw some things on thrive hive, which is based on Lazutin's hives. So I ordered Keeping Bees with a smile. Maybe I'll order the Layen's book after I finish reading it.
I am also choosing layens hive model. I have been researching it for the past year and I made my choice based on the size of the frames. When we see how wild bees make their hives in the wild, for the most part I noticed that the Laymen’s frame size imitates it the best. Of course bees will adapt to pretty much any opening within l’incertain limits. Also I tried to determine why the Layens hive had but two openings. That too influenced my choice. I live near Ottawa. Can you tell me in what region you live in Canada? Thank you for your video.
Plywood, pressed wood, particle board, and medium density fiberboard (MDF). These products use glues that contain formaldehyde,
pariah1234 PureBond plywood contains no fomaldyhde and it is available at home depot in canada if that is a concern for you. I just used normal plywood.
Wood contains formaldehyde. It's the concentration of it and how easily it's released to the air that matters. High quality OSB and HDF (hardboard) can have as little formaldehyde emmisions as natural wood, and I think some plywood also has very little.
your hive plan is different from Dr. Leo plan, his holds 14 frames. what is your building demension for the 24 frame layen hive?
On Leo's Layens Hive plans page he says to make the box longer by 1-9/16" per each additional frame. So my internal dimensions of the hive body is 31-1/2". Cheers
I see now you notched the insulation- thanks
I did create a rectangle wooden hallway out of 3/8" ply wood to protect the insulation. I was thinking that on the next hives that I make I would just put a section of 2X4 between the inner and outer shells and then just drill a hole or holes threw it all, for the entrance.
One of the biggest issues with this design is the lack of rigidity. A solid frame between the walls gives you something to screw or better still, bolt legs to. Snow weight alone could demolish it as it stands. Proof is in the pudding as they say!
Hello Paul, All of my hive / frame designs are just me having some fun experimenting, to help my bees survive the winter in my location. When assembled it is actually quite ridged. Just like the Structural Insulated panels used to build houses now a days. Which are just a rigid insulation sandwiched between two sheets of plywood. I have used this hive for the last two winters with no I'll effects.
Check out borrowedvesselsbees for hive design.
Hello Paul, when making my hives I was trying to get the highest R value but also keeping it light enough to move it if needed. My first thought to achieve that was to copy a beverage cooler. The design you are referencing has a lot of continuous wood from the inside to the outside. Which wood only has an R value of 1.41 per inch. I would guesstimate that the sides and bottom of my hive have a continuous R value of 8.91.
Matt, as the continuous timbers in the hive only represent about 20% of the total area the R value is much higher than that and if you incorporate a layer of thin foil type insulation behind the inner skin the overall R and U values are exceptional. I too take the care of my bees very seriously. Any design which provides heat retention is lightyears apart from standard hive structures.
B