Apis MelliferaFourteen Inch Frame
As can be seen in a previous post, I have been working on a hive design that will incorporate suggestions from the Abbe Warre hive. Since that post, I have made several changes to generalize the design for use with frames or as a vertical top bar hive. My interest in this is several fold, including; a design for improved overwintering of colonies as with nucs (a smaller hive volume), a design that can be made from readily available lumber or even scrap lumber, take advantage of increased insulative and thermal mass inherent in the new design at no additional (and even lower) material cost than existing Langstroth hives and a design that can be easily constructed.
I presently have Russians bees, which maintain a smaller winter cluster. This hive design should help them maintain their hive in winter more easily and therefore hopefully more successfully. The volume of the hive body I am proposing and designing is 1/3 smaller than a typical Langstroth deep hive body. It is about the same volume as a medium super while having a smaller hive footprint.
I have settled on a 14 inch frame. It can be made similar to the well known Dadant frame except that the over all length of the frame is 14 inches instead of 19 inches. The comb width is 12 inches instead of 17 inches (see image). The depth of the frame can be made for a 9 5/8 deep body, 6 5/8 medium super body or other depth. I am primarily focusing on 9 5/8 deep frames. The 14 inch frame size (12 inch comb) incorporates the recommendation by Abbe Warre of a 300mm (~11.8 inches) comb size. His recommendation of 300mm was used to help determine this new standard which gives a 12 inch comb width. These frames can be made from modifying existing Dadant type frame parts and can be manufactured by anyone presently manufacturing these type frames.
Abbe Warre's reasoning for the smaller comb width was that the colony moves primarily vertically in the natural hive through the season and the smaller footprint hive makes it easier for the colony to manage their hive. With a larger footprint hive, every vertical inch would require more effort in stabilizing the colony temperature. With the footprint reduced by 1/3 and the increase insulative and thermal mass properties of the hive, there should be a increase in the colonies ability to maintain their colony environment. With this design, the floor area is being reduced from 271 square inches for a standard Langstroth hive to 179 square inches for my hive. This is a reduction of 1/3. The overall volume of one hive body using 14 inch frames is comparable to a medium size Langstroth super with 19 inch frames. There are other design features that I will discuss in future posts.
I am still working out the details, but the image to the left is a hint of what I am working on. The body on the left is the new design with 14 inch frames, the body on the right is a standard Langstroth deep body with 19 inch frames. Notice the thicker wall construction and you can also notice that this new design is a 9 frame hive body.
Posted on Dec. 5, 2009