Layens Hive: Dimensions, Frame Size and Building Plans

Reviewed by Sofia T. · Last Updated October 14, 2026 · How we review

The Layens hive is a single-box horizontal hive that hangs extra-deep frames side by side on one level. The frame is about 36.5 × 39.5 cm (14⅜ × 15½ in) on the outside, and a box holds anywhere from 12 to 30 of them. The French botanist and beekeeper Georges de Layens (1834–1897) designed the system so a colony could be run on two visits a year, and it is still widely used in Spain, where more than a million are reported in use. Below: verified dimensions, free building plans, his management routine, winter care and a comparison with other hives.

Key Takeaways

• One Layens frame is about 36.5 × 39.5 cm (14⅜ × 15½ in) outside. A Spanish catalogue and the free US plans agree, so in the sources we checked “three different Layens standards” is mostly a myth; only small variants such as the 36 cm Castellón frame differ.
• A 12-frame Spanish body holds roughly 69 litres inside; the 20-frame insulated US design holds 120 litres. A 14-frame box with 1½ in walls can be built from one 14-ft 2×10 and an 8-ft 1×8, using the free plans linked below.
• De Layens’s routine is two visits: a spring visit to reorder frames so the queen never runs out of laying room, and an autumn harvest from the far end, leaving at least 38 lb of honey for winter.
• You can add a super on top of a full Layens box, and you should still test for varroa: the “two visits” were designed before the mite reached Europe.
• The weak points are extractors that do not take frames this deep, heavy full boxes, and few mentors outside Spain and France.

The video above, from the US channel Suburban Sodbuster, runs about 25 minutes. As winter approaches, the beekeeper inspects his horizontal Layens hives to judge each colony’s stores, harvests the surplus and shows the extraction: the autumn half of the routine described below.

What a Layens Hive Is and How It Works

A Layens hive is a long rectangular wooden box with a lid. Deep frames hang from rabbets along the two long walls, so the hive works like a chest freezer rather than a stack of boxes. The colony lives at one end next to an entrance, a movable division board closes off the unused space, and the beekeeper adds frames sideways as the colony grows. There are no supers and no queen excluder in the classic version: brood sits in the middle of the deep combs and honey is stored above it and toward the far end.

The features that define the hive, across all its regional versions:

• One box, many frames. Between 12 and 30 per box. Spanish commercial bodies are usually 12-frame (La Tienda del Apicultor describes the Layens as a single body of 12 to 16 frames); the free US plan uses 14, and a 20-frame insulated version is the same author’s choice for strong honey flows.
• Extra-deep frames. The frame is nearly square, so the winter cluster can move up through honey on a single comb without crossing a gap between boxes. You can wire frames over foundation or give them a starter strip; with foundationless comb, tall frames invite the problems in our guide to what causes cross comb in foundationless hives.
• Top bars that touch. The frames sit shoulder to shoulder and the bars form a ceiling over the nest. This keeps warmth in and limits disturbance when you inspect one frame at a time.
• Low entrances. One or two slots near the floor at the occupied end. De Layens’s own hives had an entrance at each end and kept the unused one shut.
• A flat, often hinged roof. La Tienda del Apicultor notes the Spanish roof is commonly hinged to the body.

Who Was Georges de Layens?

Georges de Layens was born in Lille on 6 January 1834 and died in Nice on 23 October 1897. He was a botanist first (the author abbreviation “Layens” is still used in plant names) and a member of the French Académie des sciences. According to Wikipedia, he kept bees in the Dauphiné Alps from 1869 to 1874 and around 1877 founded an apiary at Louye, in the Eure department of Normandy. Our overview of how beekeeping developed from skeps to framed hives puts his work in context.

His ideas reached print in Élevage des abeilles par les procédés modernes (1882) and in the Cours complet d’apiculture et conduite d’un rucher isolé, written with his cousin Gaston Bonnier, professor of botany at the Sorbonne, and published in 1897. The Société des agriculteurs de France crowned the book with a prize. An English edition of his hive-management chapters, Keeping Bees in Horizontal Hives, was published by Deep Snow Press in 2017 and edited by Dr. Leo Sharashkin, which is how most American readers now meet the method. Sharashkin’s article in Bee Culture (the original page has since been removed; this is the archived copy) reprints one full chapter, and it is the best primary text available online.

“Keeping bees requires little effort, and barely any capital to get started.”

— Georges de Layens, Keeping Bees in Horizontal Hives, quoted by Leo Sharashkin in Bee Culture

Layens Hive Dimensions and Frame Size

Most guides repeat that there are several incompatible “Layens sizes.” We compared the sources and found one frame size, with two ways of writing it.

• A Spanish supplier, La Tienda del Apicultor, sells a pine Layens frame measuring 36.5 × 39.5 cm assembled, lugs included. It fits a 30 × 35 cm foundation sheet, which is smaller because it stops short of the side bars.
• HorizontalHive.com’s frame plans list a 14⁵⁄₁₆ in top bar and 15⁹⁄₁₆ in end bars. That is 36.4 × 39.5 cm, the same frame. US sources, including Sharashkin’s Bee Culture article, call it “13 inches long by 16 inches deep,” which appears to be a rounded nominal figure rather than the outside size.

The one genuine variant we found is the Spanish “Castellón” frame, 36 × 39.5 cm: half a centimetre narrower, which La Tienda warns decides whether a frame seats in its rabbet. Always measure an old hive before ordering frames. Also check the top bars: some Spanish frames have a passage rebate, and the same supplier advises against mixing the two types in one hive.

As a cross-check, the outside rectangle of a Layens frame is about 223 sq in against about 173 sq in for a Langstroth deep (19 × 9⅛ in), a ratio of 1.28. A vendor says 14 Layens frames hold as much comb as 18 Langstroth deeps, and 14 × 1.28 is 18, so the claim holds up.

Caution: the Spanish volume is our approximate calculation, and the 120-litre and 45 lb figures come from a company that sells Layens hives, so treat them as design targets.

Building a Layens Hive: Plans and Materials

The most complete free plan is the 14-frame hive on HorizontalHive.com. It is designed around dimensional lumber and a table saw, with a hand saw and circular saw as alternatives.

• Lumber: one untreated 2×10 board, 14 ft long (actual 1½ × 9¼ in), one 1×8 board, 8 ft long, a quarter-inch plywood sheet (one sheet covers seven hives), aluminium flashing for the roof, and 3 in deck screws.
• The body: the 2×10 is cut into four 21⅞ in and four 16¹¹⁄₁₆ in pieces, each ripped to 9⅛ in wide. Two tiers are joined with tongue-and-groove joints, glue and screws. A rabbet on the long walls holds the frames.
• Entrances and vents: two slots 4 in wide and ½ in tall near the floor, a screened slot in the floor and ventilation holes in the roof, drilled sloping upward to keep rain out.
• Frames: four parts each (top bar, two tapered end bars, bottom bar), glued and stapled, then wired for foundation or given a 3 in starter strip. See wiring wax foundation into frames.

For cold climates, HorizontalHive also publishes a 20-frame insulated plywood design filled with about 7 lb of raw sheep wool. Whichever plan you pick, settle on one frame size first and build every frame from it; our guide to beehive frame types and sizes explains why frame choice drives everything else in a hive.

Managing a Layens Hive: The Two-Visit System

De Layens’s method, set out in the chapter that Sharashkin reprinted, rests on three principles: big hives, big frames, and enough room for the queen’s laying to continue uninterrupted. In his words that minimises swarming, yields as much honey as the location allows and builds a strong colony by autumn. The whole year then comes down to a spring inspection and an autumn harvest.

The spring visit. De Layens waits until bees have been flying for a week or so, since a premature inspection after a hard winter can wrongly suggest a queenless colony. His worked example is a colony that wintered on 18 frames. Working from the frame nearest the entrance, he moves the first honey frames to the far end and replaces them with drawn comb, keeps the brood frames together, and fills the gaps with empty comb so the queen can lay through the main flow. The result is the order below: brood nearest the entrance, heavy honey farthest away.

Between the spring visit and harvest, he says, only an occasional walk past the hives is needed.

The autumn harvest. He extracts only almost fully capped comb, harvesting in September. Starting at the frame farthest from the brood nest, he removes eight to ten frames from a heavy 20-frame hive and leaves at least 38 lb of honey for winter, judging by lifting the back of the hive. With no supers, harvest means lifting frames one at a time. Sharashkin notes that the honey frames away from the brood nest are fully capped and almost free of bees by then.

If the bees run out of room. A strong overwintered colony can fill a 12- or 14-frame box by late spring. HorizontalHive’s guide to what to do if bees run out of room lists the options: choose a bigger box, make an artificial swarm, or put a bottomless super on top. It adds that de Layens himself described supering. That last point corrects the common claim that a Layens hive “cannot be expanded.”

“No weekly inspections, no overt swarm control, simply give the bees sufficient room in a well-insulated hive and return to harvest the honey at the end of the season.”

— David Evans, The Apiarist, describing the Layens approach in “If Carlsberg did apiaries…”

The same author adds the caveat that matters most today: Layens developed the hive long before Varroa appeared, and a hive with no open mesh floor and only a couple of inspections a season is hard to monitor for disease. A Layens hive changes how you handle frames, not whether you monitor mites. Build regular varroa testing into the calendar whatever hive you run.

Wintering a Layens Hive

Proponents make three arguments for winter performance. Tall, narrow combs mean honey always sits above the cluster; thick walls retain heat; and the division board shrinks the nest to the colony’s size. These are design arguments from de Layens and from a seller of the hives. We found no controlled study comparing Layens and Langstroth overwintering, so read them as plausible, not proven.

What de Layens did in practice is specific:

• Leave enough honey. At least 38 lb after harvest, and his spring check assumes 40 to 44 lb. Our guide on how much honey bees need for winter gives the same targets in frames and weight for any hive.
• Prepare for winter while harvesting. Cover gaps between the remaining frames with folded metal strips or wooden slats, leave a 3/16 in gap between slats so moisture from the cluster can escape, then add a wool blanket or straw on top.
• Keep spare room. He suggests leaving 18 frames in a 20-frame hive and covering the last one, so humidity can leave through the roof.
• Close the second entrance and fit a mouse guard to the open one.
• Use local bees. HorizontalHive’s wintering guide puts locally adapted stock first, ahead of hive design.

What the colony itself does through those months is covered in what bees do in winter inside the hive. In cold climates, HorizontalHive.com builds its own hives with insulated 1½ in walls.

Layens vs Langstroth vs Top-Bar vs Warré

The Layens sits between hives most American beekeepers already know. Like a Kenyan top-bar hive, it is horizontal with no boxes to lift. Like a Langstroth hive, it uses four-sided frames that can be wired, extracted and reused.

The Layens frame weight figure is from Bee Professor; the Langstroth range is explained in our 8-frame vs 10-frame hive comparison. For vertical natural designs, see how the Warré hive works. For the whole family of long hives, including the Dartington and long Langstroth, start with our horizontal beehive guide, and for every hive type side by side see our comparison of beehive types.

Where Layens Hives Are Used Today

Spain. This is the Layens hive’s home ground. The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture’s sector indicators report, based on the REGA register, counted 2,803,668 hives in March 2024, 80% of them migratory, kept by 36,893 operations, about 17% of which have more than 150 hives. The report does not break the stock down by hive model. For the Layens share, The Apiarist reports that more than a million Layens hives are in use in Spain. A closed single box with a strapped lid is easier to load onto a truck at night than a tower of supers, which fits the migratory industry.

United States. Almost unknown until the 2010s, the Layens has had a small revival driven by Sharashkin’s free plans and the 2017 translation. A few small suppliers sell assembled 7-, 14- and 20-frame versions, and the hive has a following among treatment-free and homestead beekeepers.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

• No heavy lifting. The heaviest thing you pick up is one full frame. This is the reason most people switch.
• Less disturbance. Inspecting or harvesting at the far end leaves the brood nest under its own cover.
• Same-size frames. Every frame is interchangeable, with no brood and honey sizes to track.

Weaknesses

• Extractors. Frames 16 in deep do not fit most hobby radial extractors. Bee Professor notes that beekeepers often bracket two frames together; the alternatives are a deep-frame extractor or crush and strain. See our radial vs tangential extractor comparison.
• Fixed capacity. A 12-frame body can fill by late spring, so choose 20 frames in productive areas or plan to swarm-manage or super.
• Thin support network. Outside Spain and France, few clubs, mentors or suppliers know the hive, and a mismatched frame makes secondhand equipment a gamble.

Is a Layens Hive Right for You?

It is a good fit if lifting is a problem, if you want to open the hive rarely and accept a somewhat smaller crop, or if you keep bees where an insulated single box suits the climate. It is a poor fit if you want a local club’s standard equipment, nucs that drop straight in, or the largest crop from supers. Build one from the free plans before committing, and compare it with the alternatives in our guide to beehive types for US beekeepers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Layens hive?

It is a horizontal hive of one long box holding 12 to 30 extra-deep frames, designed by Georges de Layens in 19th-century France so a colony needs only two visits a year. Brood and honey share the box, and the colony expands sideways.

How big is a Layens frame?

About 36.5 × 39.5 cm (14⅜ × 15½ in) outside, according to both a Spanish supplier and the free US plans. US sources round it to 13 × 16 in. A regional Castellón variant is 36 cm wide.

How many frames does a Layens hive hold?

Between 12 and 30. Spanish commercial hives are usually 12-frame, the free US plan uses 14, the insulated design 20, and de Layens’s own example hive held 20.

Where can I buy a Layens hive?

Build one from free plans such as HorizontalHive.com’s, or buy from a specialist maker. In the US a few small suppliers sell assembled boxes, and Spanish suppliers sell frames. Order frames and body together, and match the frame size.

Can you put a super on a Layens hive?

Yes. HorizontalHive describes a bottomless super that sits on top of the box and says de Layens described the same idea. The super is 8³⁄₁₆ in deep for the 20-frame hive, and you raise a few frames without brood into it.

Can I extract honey from Layens frames with a normal extractor?

Usually not from a standard hobby radial extractor: the frames are too deep for the basket. Options are a deep-frame extractor, bracketing two frames together, or cutting the comb and straining it.

Is a Layens hive a good choice for a beginner?

It can be, especially if you cannot lift heavy boxes. Be realistic about support: most mentors and equipment in the US are Langstroth, and nucs arrive on Langstroth frames that must be transferred.

How do you overwinter a Layens hive?

Leave at least 38 lb of honey, cover the gaps between frames with slats, leave a small gap for moisture, add a blanket or straw above, shut the second entrance and fit a mouse guard. In cold climates use the insulated 1½ in-wall version.

Image credits: Photo: Juan Emilio Prades Bel, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.