Has anyone used the D.E. Hive or have an opinion on the concept?

[joker1656]

I went to the Beeworks.com website after reading another post on here.  While there, I took a look at their "D.E. Hive".  It looked interesting, but I am a rookie.  I wondered if anyone here has ever had experience with it, knew someone else that did, or just had an opinion on the concept as explained on the website.

[Finski]

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Like it is said: the only one in America.  Why only?

Quite an awfull system.

[Bigeddie]

I have one and I think its great. I have 14 langs with the mod. kits also. I like the D.E. better but already have the lang. equip. so I will use them but in the last 3 years the D.E. seems to do the best. The vent system works great, keeps swarming down to almost zero.
I think most who don't like them have never tried one so how would they know?

[Michael Bush]

Here's what I like about the DE hive:

o It has good ventilation (but you can use the Langstroth kit to provide this for your Langstroth hive)

o It has the frames running so you can stand behind it to work it. (but you can get this in a Langstroth by using the kit)

o It has a system that almost eliminates having to break frames loose. This keeps the bees calmer, especially when working the brood chamber. (this you cannot get by using the Langstroth kit)

o It is nice dimensions from the bee's perspective. It's a square box and has 11 frames that the queens fills out nicely. (this you cannot get from a standard Langstroth hive)

o The frame design is very light, very strong and very good at keeping the foundation straight in the frame. I wish I could get such well designed frames for a Langstroth.

o The DE frames are really light to handle.

o The DE frames are dimensions such that you almost never have to use a capping scratcher.

o The long end bars are really nice for handling the frames, especially when you're extracting but also when you're working a hive.


What I don't like about the DE hive:

o My biggest irritation is that it is not a standard size. This is no end of frustration when you see something really useful, but it won't work with them. Like a nice triangular bee escape or a top feeder or a bound queen excluder. I get around it a lot by building things that are universal. e.g. a bottom board with 1 1/2" edges instead of 3/4" that is sized long enough for a Lang. I can put either a Langstroth or a DE on it. I built several adapters and often mix the DE supers and Langstroths. Also since it's not standard I can't buy stuff already assembled when I'm short of supers or hives and don't have time to build them.

o There's this space around the ends of the top bars, that the bees can't get to when the hive is closed. The purpose is to keep the bees from propolizing the ends of the bars. My problem with them is the bees run into them when I have the hive open and I can't get them out. Shades of the Arizona, they get trapped in there when I put the covers back on or a super on.

o I did have to modify my extractor to fit them. Maybe some wouldn't but the top part of the rack was spaced too far, so I had to get three threaded rods and replace the ones that came with the extractor. Now it works for either DE's or Langstroths.

o The long end bars (which are so nice to handle) stick down more so you can't have as much honey in the tank before they hit the honey and bog down the motor.

o It takes practice to not knock off the little plastic spacers on the ends of the bars when you're uncapping. It's kind of frustrating to be looking through a bunch of cappings for missing ones.

o Did I mention it's not standard size?

As you can see there's more I like than don't, but the big problem is the non-standard size.

And they are not in America... they are in Canada...

[joker1656]

Thanks for the input.  Like I said, I am a rookie.  It looked interesting, though. 

I might try the conversion kits.  Maybe, I'll buy one of the actual hives and see about replicating some of them.  Shipping from Canada is probably brutal.

"the D.E. seems to do the best."

Just curious, how much better does it do?

"but the big problem is the non-standard size."

This may be a goofy question, but could the same hive be made a standard size and employ the same concepts everywhere else?  I have never seen one in person, so not sure if this is a valid question.  If what I read about the hive was true, it seemed to be a pretty laudible idea. 

Anyway, thanks!

[Bigeddie]

I agree with every thing Mr. Bush said. Last year I got about 125# of honey from the over wintered D.E. hive, could have been the queen. My other hives were from packages and they averaged around 60#. You might want to try one and see what you think. If you go with all D.E. hives than they will be standard for you. D.E.s and langs just don't mix well but if you have mostly D.E.s than langs wont be standard for you. I plan on having more of them.

[joker1656]

"It has the frames running"

I am sorry, but I do not know what you mean.  "running"? 

That seems like quite a difference, Eddie.  I will have to give it a try and see how it goes.  Thanks again for commenting. 

[Bigeddie]

The hive is turned so the frames go from left to right instead of front to back.

[joker1656]

Aaaaah.... lol.... I was a bit slow on that one.  thx