There's a new Queen in town

Two years ago my brother, Dean DuPree, who has been keeping bees for a number of years

got me started with a beautiful Langstroth hive. We installed a package of Italian bees from Tate's Honey Farm across town and were off to the races.

Between Dean and his fellow Beeker friend, Scott Redmond, I learned a LOT about all things apiarian. We even collected almost 8 quarts of honey that fall! The hive made it through the winter pretty well, but I lost my queen and was not successful in re-queening so the bees wandered off to find another hive to join. I, however, was hooked on these amazing little creatures. I spent waaay too much time researching and learning about the history of beekeeping and different techniques, but started gravitating toward natural beekeeping as practiced and described by George de Layens, and Fedor Lazutin. After finding HorizontalHive.com, and the work of Dr. Leo Sharashkin, it felt like the way to go so I decided to build my own Layens, horizontal hive. My goal was to keep honey bees with less work, better conditions for the bees, and overall better results for all of us. I also built two swarm traps to try and capture a local swarm of bees but had no luck that first Spring (2025).

So this Spring, I was able to install a 3lb package of Carnolian bees from Tate's into my new horizontal hive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG8D8UbVvzI

I checked in three days after the install day above. Our Queen was out of her cage and the whole colony was hard at work drawing out comb on those frames of foundation, completing 4 of the five! I added another frame of empty foundation and will check back in a couple days to make sure they have enough room. I'm hoping to see brood and nectar and pollen being stored up. What I really like about the Layens hive is that everything is on the same level and I simply expend the nest horizontally by adding frames; it will hold 20! with 2" insulated walls, I'm also hoping to provide better temperature regulation for them in the summer and winter.

I still have my original Langstroth hive and if I do end up capturing a swarm this year, I may install them in it so I can run the two systems side by side for a season. I'll probably build another horizontal hive too.

Lastly, I've started building my own Honey Hut here at the Funky D Ranch. I'm hoping it can be a space that can be shared by the beekeepers I've learned from as well as others. I hope to have it ready for honey harvest season later this summer.

Cheers!

D.