Why I Switched From Langstroth to Layens and Lazutin Hives

My first hives were Langstroths. Two deep boxes, medium supers stacked on top, the standard beginner kit. They worked. The bees made honey, I got stung the usual amount, and each September I hoisted 80-pound supers off the stack wondering if my back would last another ten years.

Fifteen years later, most of my bees live in horizontal Layens and Lazutin hives. The switch wasn't dramatic — it happened one hive at a time — and it was the best beekeeping decision I've made.

What changed for me

Three things pushed me off the Langstroth system:

1. Winter losses. My Langstroth hives consistently lost 20–30% each winter, even with mouse guards, moisture boards, and sugar on top. My horizontal hives — same apiary, same weather, same bees — lost closer to 5%.
2. Physical load. Two deep boxes fully packed with bees and honey is 80–100 pounds. Layens hives never require lifting a full box — you work frame by frame out of a single long box.
3. Bee behavior. In a horizontal hive, bees can build the nest shape they prefer — a broad, slightly flattened ellipse — rather than the vertical stack our boxes force them into. They overwinter tighter, use less food, and build up faster in spring.

The hive styles

The horizontal hive world has two main camps:

Layens

The Layens hive uses a deep, single-size frame (roughly 13×16 inches). All brood, all honey, one frame size. A typical 20-frame Layens box holds the equivalent of about two Langstroth deeps plus a medium — enough for winter in most Idaho locations without adding boxes. Dr. Leo Sharashkin at horizontalhive.com has free Layens plans and excellent books on the method.

Lazutin

Named for Fedor Lazutin, a Russian beekeeper who adapted horizontal principles for cold climates. Lazutin hives are typically deeper than Layens and include a significant air gap / insulation space. Similar philosophy, slightly heftier construction. His book Keeping Bees With a Smile is worth your bookshelf.

Both run the same way in practice. I have some of each. If I were starting today I'd build Layens because Leo's plans are publicly available and the 13×16 frame is the most forgiving.

What about all the Langstroth equipment I already owned?

I converted it. Old Langstroth deeps, cleaned and reworked, can be used as Layens holding boxes by spacing them for Layens-size frames. Wooden ware doesn't go to waste. It took me an afternoon with a table saw to reconfigure three old deeps — they're still in service.

Honey yields

A common question: do horizontal hives produce less honey? In my experience, no — but the distribution is different.

• Langstroth tends to concentrate surplus into the stacked supers on top. You pull a clean super off at harvest and leave the brood nest alone.
• Layens/Lazutin spreads the harvest across the length of the hive. You inspect and pull frames that are capped honey — usually the frames furthest from the brood cluster.

Total yield per colony has been roughly the same for me. The difference is workflow, not amount.

Where horizontal hives struggle

Nothing is perfect. A few things to know:

• Migratory beekeeping is harder. If you need to load 50 hives on a truck for pollination, Langstroth is still the workhorse. Horizontal hives want to stay in one place.
• Pre-made kits are rarer. You'll probably build your own, or find a local craftsman who makes them. That's a feature if you like woodworking and a bug if you don't.
• Commercial swarm replacement — buying a packaged swarm and dumping them into a horizontal hive works fine, but most suppliers ship with Langstroth-framed bees. You may need to let them draw Layens comb from scratch.

Getting started

If you're curious:

1. Download Leo's free Layens hive plans.
2. Build one hive over a winter. It's a weekend project if you have basic tools.
3. Populate it in spring with a package or (better) a local overwintered nuc.
4. Compare it to your existing setup over one season. You'll know.

I won't tell anyone to get rid of their Langstroths — keep what's working. But if you're losing bees every winter in Idaho, or if the lifting is getting harder, horizontal hives are worth a serious look.

— Maggie