Completed two of our base model long langs. These hives hold 30 frames and come with two removable divider (follower) boards. As with all our hives, the lid is insulated with one inch of foam insulation and comes with three entrances gates. In this way the beek can run one or more colonies in one box. The lid is covered with aluminum flashing to keep the rain out. The inner lining of the lid is 1/4″ plywood…some would call it wains coating but it is a plywood and not individual boards. We just started doing this recently because it looks far better than construction grade plywood and is lighter.
The cover boards are 1×4 pine and there is a bit of room above the cover boards to use a round top feeder inside the lid. Of course, if that is desired then a hole would need to be drilled in one of the cover boards.
These two hives are identical EXCEPT for the bottom board. In one hive the bottom is construction grade plywood and the other one is 3/4″ solid wood. This just happened to be something we wanted to try that was slightly different. We have never seen any differences between colonies with 1/2″ plywood or very thick 1.5 inch solid wood. It seems to be more of a personal choice for the beekeeper.
As with anything pine, these hives need protection against the outdoor elements whether that is paint or some type of wood sealer.
We are constantly looking for ways to cut costs to keep the price of this basic hive low. In fact we hope to LOWER our prices on these types of hives in the future.
