Dadant
Lexikon
The Dadant hive goes back to the American beekeeper Charles Dadant, who developed it in the second half of the nineteenth century.
The Dadant hive goes back to the American beekeeper Charles Dadant, who developed it in the second half of the nineteenth century. Its most important feature is a single, undivided brood chamber made of large-format frames, while the honey super, consisting of one or more noticeably shallower boxes with frames half as tall, is placed on top of it.
Two versions must be distinguished, which are often confused. In modified Dadant, also called Dadant US, the brood chamber frames measure 448 by 285 millimeters and the honey super frames 448 by 141 millimeters. In Dadant Blatt, the version most widespread in Europe, it is 435 by 300 millimeters in the brood chamber and 435 by 159 millimeters in the honey super. Dadant Blatt is thus narrower but taller, and the frames of the two versions do not fit each other. The large, single-box brood chamber gives the beekeeper a good overall view of the brood nest when opening the hive, without having to search through several boxes as with smaller frame sizes.
In practical work, this system means that the brood chamber is worked comb by comb, i.e. individual frames are pulled, while the honey super is harvested box by box. For beginners switching over from another system, it is important to know that Dadant frames fit neither German Normal nor Zander, and therefore require their own, self-contained set of boxes, frames, and foundation.