In beekeeping, a Langstroth hive is any vertically modular beehive that has the key features of vertically hung frames, a bottom board with entrance for the bees, boxes containing frames for brood and honey (the lowest box for the queen to lay eggs, and boxes above where honey may be stored) and an inner cover and top cap to provide weather protection. In a Langstroth hive, the bees build honeycomb into frames, which can be moved with ease. The frames are designed to prevent bees from attaching honeycombs where they would either connect adjacent frames, or connect frames to the walls of the hive. The movable frames allow the beekeeper to manage the bees in a way which was formerly impossible.
The key innovation responsible for the hive's design was the discovery of bee space, a gap size between in which bees would not build burr comb, nor fill the gap with propolis. Modern Langstroth hives have different dimensions from L. L. Langstroth's beehive that was originally patented in 1852 and manufactured until circa 1920, but retain the main features of allowing bee space, as well as easy access, which works well for the bees, but also makes management of the beehive easier for the beekeeper. The standard beehive used in many parts of the world for beekeeping is based on the Langstroth hive.
History
Before the dimensions of bee space were discovered, bees were mostly hived in skeps (conical straw baskets) or gums (hollowed-out logs that approximated the natural dwellings of bees), or in box hives (a thin-walled wooden box with no internal structure). In 1814 the frame method was created by Ukrainian Petro Prokopovych. In 1851, the Reverend Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth (1810–1895), a native of Philadelphia, noticed that when his bees had less than but greater than of space available in which to move around, they would neither build comb into that space nor cement it closed with propolis. This measurement is called bee space.
During the summer of 1851, Langstroth applied the concept to keeping the lid free on a top-bar hive, but in autumn of the same year, he realized that the bee space could be applied to a newly designed frame which would prevent the bees from attaching honeycomb to the inside of the hive box. Attaching comb to the hive wall was a difficulty with frameless designs, such as Dzierżon's frameless movable-comb hive (1835). US Patent 9300 was issued to Langstroth on October 5, 1852, and remained valid despite numerous attempts to challenge it based on its alleged use of prior art.
Langstroth made many other discoveries in beekeeping and contributed greatly to the industrialization of modern beekeeping. Other inventors, notably François Huber in 1789, had designed hives with frames (the so-called or book hive),Huber, François New Observations on the Natural History of Bees, 1806. (English translation as published) Retrieved from transcribed copy at , 21 November 2011; scanned copy also available at as of 21 November 2011. but Langstroth's hive was a practical, movable frame hive, which overcame the tendency of the bees to fill empty spaces with comb and to cement smaller spaces together with propolis. In contrast to August von Berlepsch's frame-movable, side-opened hive (May 1852, Germany), Langstroth's hive was top-opened, as was the Bevan top-bar hive (1848, UK). These combined adaptations led to the Langstroth hive design being preferred by beekeepers over all others, and variations on his hive are used throughout the world.
Langstroth subsequently published a book called A Practical Treatise on the Hive and Honey-Bee,Langstroth, L.L. A Practical Treatise on the Hive and Honey-Bee, 1878 nowadays commonly known as The Hive and the Honey Bee or, under the title with which it was re-issued in 2004, as Langstroth's Hive and the Honey-Bee: The Classic Beekeeper's Manual. In this book, Langstroth described the proper dimensions and use of the modern beehive as we know it today. Langstroth's book went through several editions until about 1900, but in all of them, the hive that is illustrated is the same as the original design.
Bee space A dimension of 7 ± 2 mm ( or roughly ) is the usual size meant when bee space is referred to. This setup has been established for the brood chamber, as for honey storage, the comb distance can be different.
Dr. Jan Dzierżon, a Polish apiarist, had determined the correct spacing for the top bars in beehives in 1835. The distance between combs had been described as from the center of one top bar to the center of the next one. In this case, the distance between combs is ; that is, twice the medium bee space of .Bienen-Zeitung, November 1845 & January 1847, Frauendorfer Blätter (11) 1846 Later, in 1848, Dzierżon introduced grooves into his hives' side walls, to replace the strips of wood from which the top bars had earlier been hung.Bienen-Zeitung, January 1850 The grooves were .
In Europe, both Dzierżon and fellow apiarist Baron August von Berlepsch had been focused on side-opened hives. Land resources for beekeeping were limited, and traditionally, multiple beehives had been kept in a single beehouse. The so-called bee space had been incorporated by Berlepsch into his frame arrangement (Bienen-Zeitung, May 1852) following Dzierżon's discovery that grooves added to inner walls remained free of propolis (1848). Thus, the correct distance between frame side bar and hive wall was already understood by some European beekeepers before 1851.
Langstroth's patent of 5 October 1852 adopted as the upper limit of the bee space, slightly larger than optimal, between the side bars of a frame and hive wall, and also reserved rights to use the distance between top bars and inner cover, the latter of which represents a gap larger than optimal. The term "bee space" was coined later than Langstroth's 1852 patent.
Langstroth had been aware of Dzierżon's discoveries before he submitted his patent application. In the summer of 1851, he was introduced to Dzierżon's work by Samuel Wagner, who had visited Dzierżon in his apiaries in Silesia and subscribed to , the journal in which Dzierżon published his apiarian works, and who had translated from the German language original (though the translation was never published). Langstroth expressed great respect for Jan Dzierżon, saying, "No words can express the absorbing interest with which I devoured this work. I recognized at once its author as the Great Master of modern apiculture"."Reminiscences" Gleanings in Bee Culture XXI, 116-118
Design
A modern Langstroth hive looks very different from Rev L.L. Langstroth's bee hive that was originally patented in 1852 and manufactured until approximately 1920. The original Langstroth hive had a portico entrance, integrated floor, and nonremovable brood box, a single removable honey box (using the same frame size as the brood box) that sat inside an outer box that extended from the brood box, and a hinged roof.Langstroth Hive Dimensions, 26 April 2023
In a Langstroth hive, the frames, in which the bees were to make their combs, can easily be separated from all adjacent parts of the hive—the walls of the hive, the floor of the hive, the cover of the hive, and other frames within the hive. To extract a frame from such a hive does not require any comb to be cut. Usually, the most trouble a beekeeper encounters in removing a frame from such a hive results from the bees using propolis to bond frames to the brackets upon which they rest. Being able to remove and replace combs so easily makes it possible, and practical, for beekeepers to inspect all of their hives on a regular basis. Such inspections, to check for signs of disease and/or parasites, imminent swarming, an aging queen, and other conditions requiring intervention, are essential to successful bee husbandry.
The modern Langstroth bee hive is made up from top to bottom of:
outer cover (telescoping or migratory) inner cover one or more smaller hive bodies (honey supers) one or more larger hive bodies (brood boxes) bottom board
Optional extensions that may form part of a Langstroth bee hive include:
queen excluder between brood box and honey supers entrance reducer on the bottom board varroa inspection tray above, underneath or integrated into the bottom board spacers to allow for placement of supplied food
Each hive body contains eight to ten frames, made of wood or plastic, optionally with foundation made of wax and wires or plastic. Food delivery mechanisms such as pollen trays or syrup dispensers, as well as pest control dispensers, may also be placed inside the hive. The entire hive may be fastened together using a strap or by placing a heavy object on top of the hive.
Outer cover The outer cover is a metal, wooden or polystyrene cover that fits on the top of the hive. In higher latitudes, a cover that telescopes down around the inner cover and an inch or so down over the top super, called a telescoping cover, is usually used. Many commercial beekeepers use what is known as a migratory cover, a solid cover that does not extend beyond the sides of a hive body.gobeekeeping, Basic Beekeeping — The Modern Hive , The Modern Hive, Stahlman Apiaries. Accessed 19 July 2010.
Inner cover The inner cover provides a barrier between the telescoping cover and the bees. In more temperate climates, a plastic foil may be used as an inner cover. Plastic foil should not be used to winter bees under, as trapped condensation could cause the hive to become wet, and bees can be lost due to freezing when temperatures fall during the night. In areas with a hot summer, a solid inner cover with a communication hole provides dead-air space for insulation against both heat and cold. This prevents the bees from gluing the top cover to the top bars of the super under it. When an inner cover is used, the top cover is more easily removed from the hive. Notches in the frame of the solid inner cover and telescoping cover can serve as an upper entrance for the bees. A communication hole in the middle allows bees to reach emergency food placed above by the beekeeper if it becomes required.
Hive body and hive super Hive bodies and hive supers are rectangular boxes with standardized inside dimensions to take standardized frames, but regional and brand differences exist.The Langstroth Bee Hive: http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/lang.html Outside box dimensions vary depending on the type of material used; for example, polystyrene foam boxes have much larger outside dimensions than boxes made out of wood.
Three heights of boxes are standard—deep, medium, and shallow. Deep and medium hive bodies are used for the brood chamber. Medium and shallow supers are used for honey stores. The frames holding combs have top bars that hang on rabbeted slots or rails along the upper sides of a box.
The deep hive body is normally used only for brood. If it becomes filled with honey, it becomes too heavy to handle manually. Shallow supers are not ideal for the brood chamber of the hive because the bees need to form a single compact sphere during the cold winter months—a sphere that can expand and contract without being divided by a horizontal plane in the middle caused by the gaps between combs in multiple hive bodies. Commercial operations usually use one or two deep hive bodies for brood, and additional shallow boxes for honey supers. Some hobbyists prefer to standardise on two "medium" boxes. Also, a continental deep hive body called "jumbo" allows for Dadant-sized big brood frames.
NameTypeDepthFrame lengthFrame depthFrame width Jumbo, Dadant(Continental) body Deep body Medium(Illinois, Western) body orsuper Shallow super Comb super
The hive body or hive super holds 8 to 10 frames that are standardized in length. The frames hold the foundation and the honeycomb that is built on it.