Beekeeper Beginner - A Few Thoughts - Part 4 - looking towards Hive Dadan

Greetings, friends!

Yesterday, I talked about the start of construction on a plot of land on which I want to equip an apiary.

The start of construction does not mean that I stopped thinking about the bees and how I will approach this responsible business.

In beekeeping, there are a lot of nuances that can lead you to both success and defeat.

Like any other person, I strive for success, and, this means that, I must be theoretically strong.

Reading literature and watching videos about beekeeping, and, analyzing them, helps to eliminate mistakes in the future.

As a rule, in the world, there are as many opinions about successful beekeeping as there are beekeepers.

This also applies to bad experiences.

When you have decided where you will place the apiary, you need to choose a hive system.

I will talk about different systems, then, we will summarize, and, it will be possible to choose the perfect option for myself.

One of the hive systems, called the Hive - Dadan, in honor of its inventor.

This is the multi-hive hive that you see in the first picture.

Let's figure out what components it consists of.

The beehive can be purchased assembled in various configurations, from different materials, such as wood and polyurethane.

We will go from bottom to top, at number 1, we will have the bottom of the hive.

Very often, it is combined with a flying board No. 2, on which bees will sit.

Above, under No. 3, there is a large building with a hole No. 4 for the departure of bees, this building is called a nest.

When you buy bee colonies, they will sit on frames that you install in this enclosure.

The further development of the bee family originates from this hive building.

In this enclosure, the bees will winter. The queen bee, all the time, will be in this hive body.

Above, at number 5, there are buildings, which are called shops.

These enclosures, this is your, personal, storehouse of honey. It is there that the bees will bring nectar in gratitude, for your care.

These enclosures may be the same size as the nest enclosure, but, most often, it is half as much.

The following picture will explain why the height of the bodies is different.

At number 6, I painted the roof of the hive.

Between the roof and the upper body, lay a layer of insulation, a canvas mat, or, a plastic film.

Such a hive system allows, with minimal physical costs, to maintain the hive.

Usually, such hives come in 8, 10 and 12 frames, in each case.

Now, let's talk about the framework system for the Dadan hive..

There are many hive systems and frames that I like about the Dadan system, that its frames are suitable for several more types of hives, which allows us to experiment a bit.

On the left, you see a large frame for the socket housing.
On the right side of the picture, a frame for the store.

You can see their sizes in millimeters.

The store frame is smaller, for one commonplace reason.

When the bees seal honeycombs, this frame will have a weight of about one and a half kilograms.

If, in the case, ten frames, this case, taking into account its weight, will weigh about 16-18 kilograms.

If the frames in the store are large, this weight can be easily doubled.

If, you have problems with your back, this is a very large weight and a large load on the spine.

Beekeepers, always, try to facilitate their task, so they came up with lighter frames for store cases.

This, framework, is a wooden frame on which. a steel wire is stretched, through which an electric current is passed, which heats the wire and, this allows, to wax wax on this frame.

This is the basis.

You must calculate the number of hive hulls and multiply by the number of frames, namely, as many, but twice as many, you will need frames.

You must constantly provide the bees with work. Bees, constantly, need to build up this framework. Otherwise, if they don’t have a work front, the swarming process can begin.

But, about this, in another part of my story.

Typically, frames are set across the line of sight when viewed through the opening for the arrival of bees.

But sometimes it’s necessary to set frames along the line of sight.

The gap between the upper plate of the frame of the lower case and the lower plate of the frame of the upper case is usually 2.5 millimeters.

The frames have protrusions, on the sides that lie in the groove, on the wall of the hive, which is called the quarter.

For myself, I find many advantages in this hive system.

It allows me to collect honey, propolis, pollen, wax, bee bread, royal jelly, drone hemogenate, we can safely say - The whole range of beekeeping products.

This system is easily transformed.

The only drawback is the considerable weight of the cases. If you have a lot of hives, this is good physical education.

But, we will consider other systems of hives, talk about different materials, about the pros and cons.

To be continued.

Author @barski
Ukraine

For my publications, I do not use stock photographs, it is fundamentally important for me to use photographs that I have made with my own hands for publication and I can name them - authorial work.