Is anyone using a Layens Hive? Thoughts?
https://www.beeculture.com/the-layens-hive/
Was just talking with a friend in upper state NY who's moving to them.
Layens / Horizontal Hives
Re: Layens / Horizontal Hives
I waited awhile to see if anyone would respond. We teach our beginners on Langstroth equipment because it has proven itself over the years, provides for more or less interchangeable equipment, and makes transferring resources from one hive to another an easy proposition. About a dozen years ago on this forum, I was involved in a rather heated series of posts with a top bar enthusiast who was trying to market that type of hive to beginners as something better for the bees. I didn't disagree with people using equipment other than Langstroth; I did disagree with what I felt was misleading to beginners about Langstroth setups being inferior to top bar hives. viewtopic.php?t=1190
Once a beekeeper has experience with bees, there is nothing wrong with trying alternative housing options. As I read through old American Bee Journal issues and re-read Langstroth's A Practical Treatise on the Hive and the Honey Bee, I regularly see products or methods that were put forward as "game changing" but fade away over time. In my time, thymol fogging for varroa seems to have come and gone in a similar way.
Thomas Seeley's research points to bees preferring a cavity of a certain size, but no strong preference for whether it is tall and narrow (grandfather clock cabinet) or short and wide/long (top bar design). What we house bees in is more a matter of how successful we can be at keeping bees alive and also accomplishing what the individual wants as a beekeeper (honey production, wax production, bee production, pollination, etc.)
The bottom line is that if you have become comfortable with the basics of beekeeping and bee management, feel free to try the alternatives and see how they work for you and how they work in this location.
Once a beekeeper has experience with bees, there is nothing wrong with trying alternative housing options. As I read through old American Bee Journal issues and re-read Langstroth's A Practical Treatise on the Hive and the Honey Bee, I regularly see products or methods that were put forward as "game changing" but fade away over time. In my time, thymol fogging for varroa seems to have come and gone in a similar way.
Thomas Seeley's research points to bees preferring a cavity of a certain size, but no strong preference for whether it is tall and narrow (grandfather clock cabinet) or short and wide/long (top bar design). What we house bees in is more a matter of how successful we can be at keeping bees alive and also accomplishing what the individual wants as a beekeeper (honey production, wax production, bee production, pollination, etc.)
The bottom line is that if you have become comfortable with the basics of beekeeping and bee management, feel free to try the alternatives and see how they work for you and how they work in this location.