Beehive Dadant Blatt Hybrid® 10F

01 · COMPATIBILITY

French measurement: takes 47 cm frames

This is Dadant Blatt, the standard across France and Italy: it takes frames with a 47 cm top bar. Dadant US frames, at 48 cm, will not fit. If you are adding to an existing apiary, check your top bars before ordering. It is not compatible with National, Commercial, Langstroth or Layens either — those are different frame sizes altogether.

02 · HEALTH MANAGEMENT

The open mesh floor is what really changes

The floor takes the worst of it: condensation, wax debris and dead bees. The ventilated mesh lets that moisture out instead of trapping it against the entrance, and an inspection tray slides underneath: in place, it closes the ventilation for overwintering; removed, it leaves the floor open through summer. Under the mesh it also lets you monitor natural varroa drop without opening the hive, since a mite that falls cannot climb back to the nest. Read that count with care: natural drop is indicative only — interpret it alongside the season, colony strength and the treatment you applied — and it serves to track pressure, never to replace treatment.

03 · CONSTRUCTION

25 mm pine, not 22

The brood box holds the 32-35 °C the brood needs and carries the weight of everything you stack above it. Those three millimetres over the 22 mm standard buy you stiffness against warping and thermal mass against temperature swings. All four corners are finger-jointed: the joint carries the load and the nails only close it. The handholds are cut into the timber itself, not screwed on — no fixing to work loose five seasons in. The wood is dried to 12 % moisture, with no chemical treatment, heat-treated to phytosanitary standard and finished with a coat of linseed oil.

04 · SPACING

Check your side bars before you assemble

The 10 frames supplied have straight side bars, and what holds the spacing between combs is the castellated spacer, included: it sits over the frames and each slot holds a lug in position. If you are coming from Hoffman frames — the ones with the side bar widened at the top — those self-space: take the spacer out before fitting them, because the two systems together throw the bee space off. And do not mix straight and Hoffman frames in the same box: the spacing goes uneven and the bees fill the gap with brace comb.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Dadant Blatt brood box for 10 frames, 10 horizontally wired frames at 47 × 30 cm with their castellated spacer, ventilated Nicot floor with tray and entrance block, timber crown board with a central hole, and a galvanised sheet metal roof with a 105 mm skirt. That deep skirt sits over the outside of the box and leaves room for top feeders and crown boards. The whole assembly weighs 19.75 kg, so line up a hand if you are shifting several.