Tag: langstroth

Why Would Anyone Make a Beehive from Concrete?

May 21, 2025

Shelley Hive Co (@ShelleyHiveCo) contacted me for feedback on their AAC (Autoclaved Aerated Concrete) beehive. Initially, I was skeptical, but I relented and installed a Shelley horizontal hive. In this video, I captured the setup of the hive and the installation of a honeybee colony.

For more information about the Shelley hive, visit their website at https://www.shelleyhiveco.com/. Subscribe to Shelley Hive Co on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ShelleyHiveCo When purchasing a Shelley Hive, promo code SAVETHEBEE100 will give a discount of $100, and 10% of the purchase price will go to Save the Bee (https://savethebee.org/). The promo code is good through 12/31/2025.

Ozarks Homesteading Expo 2024

August 28, 2024

It’s almost time for the Ozarks Homesteading Expo, which will be on September 6-7, 2024 at the Webster County Fairgrounds in Marshfield, MO. This will be a fantastic event for anyone wanting to learn to live a more independent, sustainable life. There are many great speakers scheduled, demonstrations of traditional skills such as animal processing, wood milling, blacksmithing, etc., and over 150 vendors with goods to equip your sustainable life.

Visit ozarkshomesteading.com for more information and to buy tickets to the Expo.

I’ll have a booth at the Expo, where I’ll have books, Layens hives and swarm traps available, along with a new hive stand available for the first time. I’ll also be speaking at 2:00 pm on Saturday on the topic: “Keeping Bees Doesn’t Have to be Hard”. I hope you’ll come by to say hi!

The new hive stand, described in the video below, has been developed by Kris Hopkins of hopkinshomesteadstore.com, where the Hopkins family sells high quality steel raised garden beds. Visit their website and use code “SODBUSTER” for a 5% discount.

Insulating, Not Ventilating, My Bee Hives

August 21, 2024

The conventional wisdom among beekeepers is that hives need top ventilation for summer heat or winter moisture. I don’t agree with that advice and explain why in this video.

Why the Layens Beehive?

January 10, 2024

When the overwhelming majority of beekeepers in the US use Langstroth hives, why would anyone choose, instead, to use a hive design that has less availability and fewer resources to help new keepers? In this video I compare the Langstroth and Layens hives and share why I prefer to use the latter.

Beehive Frame Comparison

April 21, 2022

You might have heard me, or others, talk about “Langstroth”, “Layens” or even “Lazutin” beehive frames (or others, especially outside the US). But maybe you have no idea of the differences of these. In this video I explain and compare these three frame sizes, and explain how and why I decided to use Layens frames over the more popular Langstroth.

Conversion Hive Construction Video Coming!

January 19, 2022

Since posting videos showing the use of my conversion hive to move bees from Langstroth to Layens frames, I’ve received several requests to share plans of that hive. I’m currently working on a video showing how that hive was built, but that project was done before I started making YouTube videos so I’m learning some new video editing skills to retroactively put the presentation together.

That build video should be posted soon but, in the meantime, here’s the video showing the setup of the conversion hive and addition of bees: