I'll be a forever student of the honey bee - but thanks for the feedback. I seem to always learn new things every day, week, month and year with bees. I suppose that's what keeps me coming back LOL
I'm located in coastal NC. I'm interested to see how others manage the hotter/humid climate of the South. I'm in the process of building Layens hives. I thing the content is very good and informative.
I like how you "harvest" lang side frames to build your extended layens frames. I have wondered if that would work. I have a small 2 frame deep extractor but like the layens frame depth so am using my deep langstroth frames on a 90 deg rotation (standing them up). I can use lang foundation as is. I end up with a "lang/layens hybrid box a little over 20" tall x 11"+ wide and around 29" long. I build my top bars to be 1 3/8 just like the side frames at the top. Thanks for the tip.
I like the concept of letting the bees expand horizontally, but for me I would love to build a hybrid langstroth /horizontal so I could interchange between the models effectively. blessings &
So, why not do Langstroth wide but Layens deep frames? If you are already working with Langstroth top bars and just adding extensions to the sides to make them deeper, just keep their original width. You're making the hives anyway, so you can customize them to any width.
In my bottom boards 5 & 8 frame equipment I use a large plastic caning jar lid its 3/4" in height. Use a hole saw diameter for lid in the bottom. Place in line with entrance. Put 1/8" hardware cloth inside over hole for bees to chase beetles into lids that has mineral oil in. Put a swing pivot under lid to hold in place you excess lid from bottom of hive. Have built a long lang and layens hives and have put 2 traps in each box. Bee chase beetles in trap as the enter hive. Check trap without having to open hives.
Great minds think alike - I was actually going to build that type of design in some of my new equipment for next year. You just confirmed that the bees will chase the beetles as I've seen them do on the top bars. Thanks for the feedback!
Hi Gene, love your bee channel the best. Just wondering how the peat moss turned out? Thx for all the informative Layens content. Always looking forward to the new ones.
So the hives that have the peat moss - my Lazutins are totally rocking! Is it because I used the peat moss? I'm still trying to figure that out, but if that's any type of gauge it's positive so far.
Great video. Thanks for sharing your tips. Which climate are you in? I’m trying to figure out if it’s going to be better for me to use insulated hive boxes in southern Ontario.
GENE: I would like to build a Layens hive out of 3/4" plywood versus the heavy 2 x 10's. Any available plans on that concept? Here in Michigan, hoping for a hive to survive a winter is just about nil. So, the heavier 2 x 10 construction to insulate from the cold is useless. Thank you for the GREAT episodes!
I have a question for you. Do you find that honeybees prefer longer frames to work on? Like those in your Layens hive? I have langstroth hive and I had an idea of glueing one of my deep and shallow boxes together and doing the same for the frames to create a longer frame. What do you think of this idea?
Enjoying your videos. Just a thought... if you make a stop dado (groove) you can hide the spline and it would be just as strong. Mark the front and back of the dado blade and add 1/4” to hide the spline. Shorten the spline to fit the dado. Also wondering if lengthening the front and back boards by 3” and shortening the side boards by three inches would make the front appearance cleaner because you would enjoy see end grain from the front. Also, is 14 frames big enough for one hive or should I go bigger (20)? Thanks!
Wondering if adding three inches to the front and back, then making a 1/2 inch dado on the ends would be stronger and make a stronger joint. End grain doesn’t glue well. What do you think?
The trays are something I'm looking at, as well as cutting holes into the bottom board to catch them in jars or jar lids with oil or DE. I have a hunch this is more effective than my in between frame traps and just need to get out there and do it.
So far I have used it on 3 of my colonies. One is a dead out - just checked the other day, and the other 2 are doing great. In fact they are doing so good I'm going to monitor them and make sure to split before they beat me to it.
Do you ever have trouble with cross combing. I have top bars and langstroth and they can make a mess fast. I assume you have to manage like a top bar to begin with.
Yes occasionally I'll get cross comb. If you level your hive to start with and encourage straight comb building with starter strips or wedges along with a little checker boarding new frames in the spring placed between fully drawn frames, it's not a big issue - much easier than top bar hives.
I'll be watching, newbie that has not gotten started, currently reading Dr Leo horizontal hive book. Got a question. I didn't see any ventilation holes in lid?
Like your ingenuity!! bees look good!! Question when you made the side bar extensions, did you just glue them? Wondering how you attached them and made them stable. Thanks!!
The only treatment I do for varroa is to make regular splits and if that's not enough I take the queen out with some bees - NO BROOD - put them into a small 2-3 frame nuc. This makes the parent colony take a brood break for roughly 30 days and cuts the mite cycle. If they make a new queen, you're all set. If not, just give them back the old queen. This is VERY effective and easy to do, plus you sometimes get a new nuc in the process.
@@enjoybeekeeping5612 Ha ha, I am in mid Tennessee . So I am north of you but not what would be called a cold climate. Guess I will not use peat this winter and see how it works out.
Hey Gene, are you able to get a Guardian Beetle Entrance Guard on the entrance of the Layens Hive? I understand their entrances are different yet I bet you could come up with any idea o how to get that on there. And say goodbye to the beetles.
As a matter of fact YES and they fit almost perfect. I just got the Guardian entrance trap in the mail last week to test it out. Of course I'm past prime hive beetle time, but have high expectations for next year.
They seem to be doing quite well, but it's still hard to determine if it's because of the peat moss or if they are just strong colonies. It might take some time to be more conclusive.
Regarding the top bars with the 3/8" gap - they work just fine as long as you use an additional cover board between the top of the bars as a sealed roof. The additional space at the bottom of the hive bodybelow the frames is excellent, but I'm not sure just how crucial it is to use peat moss or just leave it empty yet. I'm doing both, and I think the peat moss is of greater benefit for folks in colder climates.
@@enjoybeekeeping5612 thanks for the reply. I’ve built a few Layens hives the regular way, and will see if I will need it the deeper bottom. I live in NorCal, so pretty easy temps, but the one Langstroth hive does accumulate alot of moisture at the bottom in Spring. Hope this doesn’t happen with the Layens as they are well insulated. But good idea to keep in mind.
It's actually a good idea to rotate the really black combs out eventually, but if you're NOT treating this can be a 3-5 year process. I've heard stories of black comb that's been in hives for longer than that - like 10+ years. If you DO treat you need stay on top of comb rotation. I personally rotate mine whenever I do splits, and when I add supers I checkerboard the older combs up and out of my Langstroth hives. If you make regular splits it almost takes care of itself. It appears that the bees enjoy making new comb in the honey flow so I'll add empty frames into the brood area checkerboard style. I hope this tip helps :)
You have proven yourself as a near expert, and qualified experimenter. Thanks for informative postings.
I'll be a forever student of the honey bee - but thanks for the feedback. I seem to always learn new things every day, week, month and year with bees. I suppose that's what keeps me coming back LOL
Thank you for sharing your experience and taking your time explaining everything you are doing.
Glad it was helpful!
Excellent,, very informative,, thanks for sharing,🐝 safe
I enjoyed this video. In future I am mostly interested in layans hives. Thank you
You'll do great with the Layens hives
I'm located in coastal NC. I'm interested to see how others manage the hotter/humid climate of the South. I'm in the process of building Layens hives. I thing the content is very good and informative.
I like how you "harvest" lang side frames to build your extended layens frames. I have wondered if that would work. I have a small 2 frame deep extractor but like the layens frame depth so am using my deep langstroth frames on a 90 deg rotation (standing them up). I can use lang foundation as is. I end up with a "lang/layens hybrid box a little over 20" tall x 11"+ wide and around 29" long. I build my top bars to be 1 3/8 just like the side frames at the top. Thanks for the tip.
I like the concept of letting the bees expand horizontally, but for me I would love to build a hybrid langstroth /horizontal so I could interchange between the models effectively. blessings &
Chek out for the lazutin hive ;)
So, why not do Langstroth wide but Layens deep frames? If you are already working with Langstroth top bars and just adding extensions to the sides to make them deeper, just keep their original width. You're making the hives anyway, so you can customize them to any width.
In my bottom boards 5 & 8 frame equipment I use a large plastic caning jar lid its 3/4" in height. Use a hole saw diameter for lid in the bottom. Place in line with entrance. Put 1/8" hardware cloth inside over hole for bees to chase beetles into lids that has mineral oil in. Put a swing pivot under lid to hold in place you excess lid from bottom of hive. Have built a long lang and layens hives and have put 2 traps in each box. Bee chase beetles in trap as the enter hive. Check trap without having to open hives.
Great minds think alike - I was actually going to build that type of design in some of my new equipment for next year. You just confirmed that the bees will chase the beetles as I've seen them do on the top bars. Thanks for the feedback!
Hi Gene, love your bee channel the best. Just wondering how the peat moss turned out? Thx for all the informative Layens content. Always looking forward to the new ones.
So the hives that have the peat moss - my Lazutins are totally rocking! Is it because I used the peat moss? I'm still trying to figure that out, but if that's any type of gauge it's positive so far.
Great video. Thanks for sharing your tips. Which climate are you in? I’m trying to figure out if it’s going to be better for me to use insulated hive boxes in southern Ontario.
GENE: I would like to build a Layens hive out of 3/4" plywood versus the heavy 2 x 10's. Any available plans on that concept? Here in Michigan, hoping for a hive to survive a winter is just about nil. So, the heavier 2 x 10 construction to insulate from the cold is useless. Thank you for the GREAT episodes!
awesome
I have a question for you. Do you find that honeybees prefer longer frames to work on? Like those in your Layens hive? I have langstroth hive and I had an idea of glueing one of my deep and shallow boxes together and doing the same for the frames to create a longer frame. What do you think of this idea?
Since you've posted this, have you realized any other benefits or downsides to the gaps between frames as compared to having the top bars touch?
How often do you clean out the beetle traps?
Have you done a followup on these modifications?
Do you always use an upper vent?
Enjoying your videos.
Just a thought... if you make a stop dado (groove) you can hide the spline and it would be just as strong. Mark the front and back of the dado blade and add 1/4” to hide the spline. Shorten the spline to fit the dado. Also wondering if lengthening the front and back boards by 3” and shortening the side boards by three inches would make the front appearance cleaner because you would enjoy see end grain from the front.
Also, is 14 frames big enough for one hive or should I go bigger (20)?
Thanks!
Good tips - and 20 frames seems to be the sweet spot for my climate zone 8. I would start there and see how they do
Wondering if adding three inches to the front and back, then making a 1/2 inch dado on the ends would be stronger and make a stronger joint. End grain doesn’t glue well. What do you think?
(QUESTION) thanks for showing a way to attack hive beetles for Layens boxes. I've seen the trays at the bottom of the box as well. Which is better?
The trays are something I'm looking at, as well as cutting holes into the bottom board to catch them in jars or jar lids with oil or DE. I have a hunch this is more effective than my in between frame traps and just need to get out there and do it.
Is it too early to ask your feedback on the extra depth at the bottom of the layens hive with pittmoss?
So far I have used it on 3 of my colonies. One is a dead out - just checked the other day, and the other 2 are doing great. In fact they are doing so good I'm going to monitor them and make sure to split before they beat me to it.
Do you ever have trouble with cross combing. I have top bars and langstroth and they can make a mess fast. I assume you have to manage like a top bar to begin with.
Yes occasionally I'll get cross comb. If you level your hive to start with and encourage straight comb building with starter strips or wedges along with a little checker boarding new frames in the spring placed between fully drawn frames, it's not a big issue - much easier than top bar hives.
I'll be watching, newbie that has not gotten started, currently reading Dr Leo horizontal hive book. Got a question. I didn't see any ventilation holes in lid?
Some of my hives do not have any top ventilation holes. I just keep the two bottom entrances open for cross ventilation and air exchange.
@@enjoybeekeeping5612
Ok, thanks
Yes, I've got holes in the sides near the top of the gabled roof. I might have a better view in another video.
Like your ingenuity!! bees look good!!
Question when you made the side bar extensions, did you just glue them? Wondering how you attached them and made them stable.
Thanks!!
Yes, I just glued them. I'm going to be putting out a video on the construction shortly so stay tuned.
Yes, I did glue them and it actually worked very well. I've got a video now that shows the complete construction when you get a chance check it out.
Love it. Do you do any treatments for Varroa mites? If so, what /how do you treat for them?
The only treatment I do for varroa is to make regular splits and if that's not enough I take the queen out with some bees - NO BROOD - put them into a small 2-3 frame nuc. This makes the parent colony take a brood break for roughly 30 days and cuts the mite cycle. If they make a new queen, you're all set. If not, just give them back the old queen. This is VERY effective and easy to do, plus you sometimes get a new nuc in the process.
@@enjoybeekeeping5612
😊
Did the peat moss at the bottom work? I also have Layens hives and was wondering if I should try it.
If you live in a colder climate I would use the peat moss. For me in my climate zone I did not see any advantage. I'm in zone 8 North Georgia USA
@@enjoybeekeeping5612 Ha ha, I am in mid Tennessee . So I am north of you but not what would be called a cold climate. Guess I will not use peat this winter and see how it works out.
Looks like the blue hives are stacked nuc boxes formed into skinny langstroths?
I just keep my extra nuc boxes stacked up instead of moving them back and forth from my barn - I'm getting to be a lazy beekeeper LOL
Hey Gene, are you able to get a Guardian Beetle Entrance Guard on the entrance of the Layens Hive? I understand their entrances are different yet I bet you could come up with any idea o how to get that on there. And say goodbye to the beetles.
As a matter of fact YES and they fit almost perfect. I just got the Guardian entrance trap in the mail last week to test it out. Of course I'm past prime hive beetle time, but have high expectations for next year.
Thank you save the honeybees 👍🏽☝️🤗
How has the peat moss technique worked?
They seem to be doing quite well, but it's still hard to determine if it's because of the peat moss or if they are just strong colonies. It might take some time to be more conclusive.
Where did you get the beetle traps?
Most bee supply places carry them - "Better Beetle Blasters".
I'm curious about the peat moss is it alive?
Just dry peat moss - I guess it was alive at one time, but it mostly just wicks moisture
@@enjoybeekeeping5612 thanks, I was really wondering if you were growing it in there 🤣
What’s the verdict on this modification?
Regarding the top bars with the 3/8" gap - they work just fine as long as you use an additional cover board between the top of the bars as a sealed roof. The additional space at the bottom of the hive bodybelow the frames is excellent, but I'm not sure just how crucial it is to use peat moss or just leave it empty yet. I'm doing both, and I think the peat moss is of greater benefit for folks in colder climates.
@@enjoybeekeeping5612 thanks for the reply. I’ve built a few Layens hives the regular way, and will see if I will need it the deeper bottom. I live in NorCal, so pretty easy temps, but the one Langstroth hive does accumulate alot of moisture at the bottom in Spring. Hope this doesn’t happen with the Layens as they are well insulated. But good idea to keep in mind.
Now I see why all the beeks at the club made that "face of horror" when I showed them a strong hive in used equipment with ancient blackened combs.
It's actually a good idea to rotate the really black combs out eventually, but if you're NOT treating this can be a 3-5 year process. I've heard stories of black comb that's been in hives for longer than that - like 10+ years. If you DO treat you need stay on top of comb rotation. I personally rotate mine whenever I do splits, and when I add supers I checkerboard the older combs up and out of my Langstroth hives. If you make regular splits it almost takes care of itself. It appears that the bees enjoy making new comb in the honey flow so I'll add empty frames into the brood area checkerboard style. I hope this tip helps :)
What about honey harvesting
I am interested in using natural ways of eliminating the hive beetles and mites, rather than using insecticides.
Send me an email - I'm going to be running a special on the book "Keeping Bees with a Smile"
enjoybeekeeping@gmail.com
What???????