Hive Dadan: size, drawings and device

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Probably every experienced beekeeper has heard about Dadan's hive more than once. It is not surprising, because it is this design that is considered to be one of the most successful. And at some time it was also among the most common. So talking about the size of the Dadan hive, its history and benefits will be very useful.

History

Beekeeping has never stood still. Watching millions of their wards, the specialists painstakingly modified the existing hives, changed the shape of the frames and made other changes.

The Frenchman Charles Dadant, who lived in the nineteenth century, was no exception. He carefully studied not only practice, but also theory, relying on the advanced achievements of beekeeping of his time.

And as a result, I found that the hives used at that time for 8 frames did not meet the requirements - a young, strong queen, laying 3 thousand eggs a day, in total with a strong family, actively collecting honey, very quickly fill the entire available volume.

As a result, the beekeeper has to pump honey too often, spending too much time on it. Yes, and beessuch an intervention causes a lot of discomfort. That is why he decided to increase the number of frames (he used standard frames, Quimby) to 11. Thus, a spare volume was formed, allowing the bees and the queen to work without interruptions.

However, this design did not suit another beekeeper - from Switzerland. Blatt, believing that the number 11 did not fit well into the scheme of the hive, added another one. This is how the size of the 12-frame Dadan hive was formed. Moreover, in the early years it was called the Dadan-Blatt hive, but later the name was shortened.

The design turned out to be very successful - it was adopted by beekeepers around the world. As a result, in some decades of the nineteenth century, it was these hives that became one of the most popular in the world.

The main difference between the design of the hive

To begin with, Dadan's 12-frame hive is quite large - larger than the popular Langstroth-Ruth. Therefore, they are not instructed a lot in a row. Most often, one body is used or, at most, two - in this case they are pointed at each other. But experienced beekeepers try to do this only in extreme cases, when they have to save space in the apiary. Usually, single-hull hives are used.

Key features

It is worth noting that the size of Dadan's hive was not chosen by chance. It is these dimensions that allow you to get a number of important advantages.

One of the main ones is the ease of access to all frames. For example, when working with the Langstroth-Root hive, to get honey from the thirdcase from above, you will have to remove the cover and the two upper hives. This takes extra time and, of course, causes serious discomfort to their inhabitants, bringing confusion, reducing productivity. There are no such problems with the Dadan hive - just remove the cover to gain access to the frames.

The large dimensions of the hive allow even a very strong family not to look for a place to store honey or eggs - all this can easily fit in specially designed frames.

Besides, the serious dimensions allow a large family not to swarm for a long time - experts know how much this weakens the hive. If you are focused not on the fastest increase in the number of families, but on getting honey, this will become an important advantage.

In the winter season, you can simply divide the building into two parts with a partition, leave a frame with honey in each of them and calmly settle two families here at once.

It is very good that on hot summer days, which are observed in many regions of our country where beekeeping is practiced, it is easier for bees to maintain the temperature at the optimum height. Large dimensions and the presence of empty space in the lower part of the hive provide a certain ventilation - the bees are not threatened with overheating, which has a detrimental effect on their well-being and he alth.

Finally, for beginners who have never had experience with bees before, it will be much easier to master this difficult task if they start with Dadan hives.

Current shortcomings

Alas, every medal has a reverse side. That's whyOpponents of Dadan hives often mention the disadvantages of this design.

The main disadvantage is the complexity of manufacturing. In most cases, you just have to buy new equipment - it’s quite difficult to create a hive or a frame for it with your own hands. An error of a few millimeters will inevitably lead to the fact that all the work will have to start from scratch.

In addition, the total area of all combs in the hive is relatively small - about 465 square decimeters. For an amateur beekeeper who is not going to extract honey by industrial methods, going to various tricks for this, this is quite enough. But for professionals, this is a serious disadvantage.

Ten-frame hive dimensions

Although the 12-frame Dadan-Blatt hive is considered a classic, sometimes there are also ten-frame hives. They are used in areas where there are not too many honey plants and therefore it is important to quickly fill all available frames in order to start pumping honey as soon as possible.

In this case, the internal dimensions of the hive itself are 435x300 mm with a height of 860 millimeters. Of course, the external dimensions are a few millimeters larger, since the thickness of the boards or plywood that are used in the work should be taken into account here.

However, the most important thing is that standard frames fit snugly into the hive body, and all parts fit as tightly as possible, without gaps that bees do not like. The rest is not so important.

Hive for 12 frames

But if you are interested in the dimensions of the drawing of the hiveDadan 12-frame, then there will be certain changes in the design. However, the basic principle remains the same - it is very important that the standard frames fit the hive without gaps.

Internal dimensions of the case in this case are 450x435 millimeters. The optimal height is 310 millimeters. If you plan to use a store as well, so as not to slow down the pace of honey harvesting in a good year, then its area will be exactly the same, however, the height is already less - only 145 millimeters.

As you can see from the drawings, the dimensions of the 12-frame Dadan hive do not differ too much from the 10-frame hive. And the most important thing here is not to observe the dimensions (except for the hive body and magazine), but to fit all the details to each other extremely tightly.

Who would suit such a hive

As mentioned above, the Dadan hive will be the best choice for amateur beekeepers. For example, if you live in your house, in an area where a large number of honey plants grow, and you decide to start your own honey production, so as not to buy it in a store. But at the same time, you are not at all going to do big business on this, traveling on a beekeeper to places where honey plants bloom most actively. Also, you do not strive to get the first batch of honey as soon as possible in order to sell it and earn money.

Bees will slowly collect honey, filling a rather spacious enclosure, knowing exactly where their house is located, how to find it. Yes, the amount of collected sweetness in this case is reduced. However, this approach makes it possible to obtaincertain benefits. For example, you don't have to spend too much time collecting honey. And at the same time, you don’t need to carefully monitor the hive, since a swarm that needs to be caught can come out of it at any time. No, swarms, of course, will come out - after all, the number of bees in a he althy hive is constantly growing. But still, the large dimensions of the hive make it possible to swarm much less frequently.

Yes, and bees such stability will only benefit. If they know for sure that their hive is standing still all the time, this does not cause them unnecessary stress, they get sick less often, they work better. That is, they do everything to make their owner completely satisfied with hundreds of thousands of his employees.

What to make a beehive from

If you have a drawing and dimensions of the Dadan hive for 12 frames on hand, you can try to design it yourself.

From the tools you will need: saw, planer, ruler. Of the consumables - primarily PVA glue. Many professionals prefer to use it, as it securely holds wood together, does not have an unpleasant odor, unlike most adhesives, and when using it (unlike screws and nails), there is no possibility of damaging thin bars or plywood.

The choice of the right material also needs to be approached very seriously. Soft wood of deciduous trees - aspen and alder - is best suited. But getting it is not always possible. Then you can take a pine or spruce. Although they are representatives of conifers, even with strong heating, resin is not released, whichcan cause serious discomfort to the bees and even cause the death of some of them.

Having everything you need, a person who is used to working with his hands can easily design a hive and frames that are perfect for breeding bees. This will save a lot of money, and if necessary, make certain changes to the design so that the hives fully meet your needs in all respects.

Conclusion

This concludes our article. Now you know everything about the Dadan hive: drawing, dimensions, history of occurrence, as well as the main advantages and disadvantages. So, you can decide whether it suits you or whether it makes sense to find the best option.