Four Ohio beekeepers designed a LAAZY Hive system to solve some of the physical barriers that they began to experience. They hope it will be a solution for other beekeepers or beekeepers-to-be.
“The design of the AZ hives takes away the physical demands of beekeeping- standing, lifting, bending, carrying heavy boxes, and suffering in high heat and humidity,” explained Jeannie Saum. “However, replacing one’s existing hive equipment with AZ-style hives is cost-prohibitive. We set out to find an economical way to modify Langstroth hive components that beekeepers already have into Slovenian AZ-style beehives using common hand power tools that most people have. We wanted this to be doable by the average person with only basic woodworking skills.”
With the existing woodenware from their Langstroth hives, and about $80 of additional lumber and hardware, common power tools, basic skills, and some manual labor, the team came up with a way to convert Langstroth components they already into AZ style hives, which they refer to as LAAZY hives.
The team developed this guide which includes detailed figures and instructions for their LAAZY Hive system.
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This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.