I host USDA Russian honey bees (aka RHBA pure russians) in double-walled insulated horizontal Layens hives – either with peaked roofs or with telescopic roofs.

The video shows how 16” deep Layens frames allow honey bees to lay perfectly round brood pattern while conventional shallower Langstroth frames would only allow elliptical shape for brood pattern. The difference in brood pattern shapes leads to a corresponding difference in the shape of a winter cluster – a perfect spherical winter cluster shape for Layens frames vs ellipsoid shape for conventional Langstroth frames.

The spherical shape provides the maximum volume for the same surface area, so the spherical winter cluster would house the most honey bees with the least exposure to elements because the spherical shape would retain the most heat.  In other words, spherical winter cluster shape is mathematically the best way for the bees to overwinter.

And that gives Layens frames a tremendous advantage for wintering bees.

The video also shows that the 16” height of a single Layens frame corresponds to the height of the 2 stacked up conventional Langstroth frames – one deep and one medium.

While the honeybees can, in fact, winter in spherical cluster with stacked up frames e.g. in 2 conventional double-deep stacked boxes, there’s a 3/8” gap between conventional stacked up frames.

In Northern climates, during prolonged very cold winter spells even such small gap between frames may become impassable for the bees resulting in a dead-out.

 Wintering in a spherical cluster with non-stacked-up 16” contiguous no-gap Layens frames offers considerable advantages compared to wintering in conventional vertical hives with stacked Langstroth frames.