Equipment Tweaks
When we started beekeeping we choose to use standard Langstroth equipment that was readily available and in wide use. We used standard Hoffman frames and 10 frame deep Langstroth boxes for the brood area and 10 frame Langstroth medium boxes for honey supers.
Over time it became apparent that there would be huge advantages to using only one depth of box and frames throughout. This would enable us to move frames around to wherever they were needed without restriction and mean we only need to have inventory of one depth of frame or box.
It also became obvious that the weight of a deep Langstroth box filled with honey (approaching 100 pounds) was heavier than was ideal for a hobbyist operation like ours. Although standard deep 10 frame Langstroth boxes can work well for commercial operations, they are less than ideal for an operation like ours. As we already had a substantial inventory of 10 frame equipment we were hesitant to make the switch to 8 frame equipment and instead decided to transition to all 10 frame medium depth equipment. It is a relatively simple operation to cut a deep box down to medium depth and all the other standard accessories (queen excluders, hive stand, shims, inner covers, outer covers etc.) still work.
If I could start over from scratch today, all of my equipment would be 8 frame with medium depth Langstroth boxes.
These are some of the additional equipment tweaks we have experimented with over the years:
This photo actually shows three of the equipment tweaks we have made:
The first is that we have made bottom boards that are sloped to shed water.
The second is our adjustable entrance reducer. The entrance reducer has a sliding panel that can be used to adjust the size of the entrance.
The third is that the entrance reducer fits into a slot on the bottom board sides. We were experiencing problems with entrance reducers being removed by birds or animals and this solved that problem.
This is our latest hive stand design. It is made to fit a 10 frame Langstroth box and is stable, easy to level and easy to move. One 8 foot piece of 4 x 4 and one 8 foot piece of 5/4 - 1 x 6 decking will make two of these.
We have had problems with mice entering our hives. This is a shim we initially made to use as a mouse guard and lower entrance for the winter. The design is such that the entrances are sufficiently above the bottom board that if there are dead bees on the bottom or snow and ice on the landing board the entrances will be above that. The holes were 3/4 inch with 1/2 inch mesh screen stapled to the interior to keep the mice out. Standard wine corks could be inserted to plug the holes when desired. For 2020 we modified these shims to make them into wasp guards by inserting 1/2 CPVC pipe into the entry holes creating the snorkels you see in the lower picture. This was done in hope that the wasps will not enter these snorkels and the hive will thereby be protected from wasp attacks.
The shim is made from 2x lumber because our newest hive bodies are made from 2x lumber and to the width of a standard 10 frame Langstroth box (16 1/4 inches). The boxes only fit 9 frames because of the extra thickness of the side walls. By staying with the exterior width of a standard 10 frame Langstroth box, all the readily available accessories can be used.
This is a plexiglass inner cover design we have been using recently. We really like these because we are able to see into the hive to assess things without needing to actually open the hive when it is cold or raining.
