Dadant hive

The Dadant hive is a frame hive with a deeper brood chamber than the Langstroth hive. It was developed by Charles Dadant, who moved from France to the United States in 1863 and in 1864, on a small farm two miles north of Hamilton, Illinois, started with two colonies of common black bees. ¹

The search for a shape. According to his son C. P. Dadant's book Dadant System of Beekeeping (1920), Charles tried Langstroth and Quinby hives and dozens of his own. He kept 40 hives of 20 frames, or 3,780 square inches (2.44 m²) of comb, but in them brood and honey mixed and honey sometimes had to be extracted from brood combs. Frames 18 by 18 inches (46 by 46 cm) broke down in hot weather, and coffin-shaped frames, meant to bring the nest close to a sphere, made it hard to add supers. ¹

The Quinby frame. In the end Dadant took the Quinby frame, 10½ by 18 inches (27 by 46 cm) inside and a little over two inches deeper than the Langstroth frame, in an 11-frame body reduced to 10 or 9 with division boards for smaller colonies. The 10-frame body that became known as the Dadant hive holds 1,890 square inches (1.22 m²) of comb, 540 square inches (0.35 m²) more than a 10-frame Langstroth. ¹

The 1876 trial. Around 1876 the Dadants ran several hundred of their hives side by side with 110 ten-frame Langstroth hives leased from a Missouri beekeeper. In May a number of queens in the Langstroth hives moved up to lay in the supers, while none in the Dadant hives did, and the authors concluded that a prolific queen needs a larger nest. ¹

Wintering. The winter cluster of bees is on average about 7 inches (18 cm) across. In a frame 8 inches (20 cm) deep it sits about an inch from the top, but in a frame of 10½ inches (27 cm) it is 3½ inches (9 cm) from the top, with 4–5 inches (10–13 cm) of honey above it. In hard winters, the Dadants found, the deeper hives invariably wintered better, because the bees can eat the honey right above the cluster. ¹

Spacing and building. Like Quinby and Dzierzon, the Dadants spaced frames 1½ inches (38 mm) from centre to centre, while US manufacturers used 1⅜ inches (35 mm). A Dadant body needs boards over 12 inches (30 cm) wide, which had become scarce, whereas a Langstroth body can be cut from 10-inch boards, so the Dadants joined boards with a tongue and groove near the top edge. ¹

Dadant-Blatt. The book also recommends a simplified version, called Dadant-Blatt in Europe and Modified Dadant in the United States: the frame has the Langstroth length but is 2½ inches (6.4 cm) deeper, giving 40% more brood comb than a 10-frame Langstroth. It should hold at least 10 frames plus room for a division board, an eleven-frame width, and came with a metal cover and a reversible bottom. ¹

Today. The standard hive for US beekeepers remains the 10-frame Langstroth, whose deep box measures 240 by 470 by 370 mm inside. ² Dadant & Sons has been in business in Hamilton since 1863. ⁴ In Italy, the specification of the protected honey Miele delle Dolomiti Bellunesi notes that the introduction of the Dadant hive made honey production easier in the Belluno mountains. ³

Why it matters to you. Beekeepers choose a Dadant hive for a roomy brood nest in a single box and more honey above the cluster in winter. ¹ But its frames are deeper than Langstroth frames, so boxes and frames of the two systems do not mix, and the frame size is worth checking before you buy. ¹²