Langstroth Hive Design

One element from the "Basic Components of the Langstroth Bee Hive" design video that I found interesting is that there are certain aspects of the hive that you can change (such as the number of deeps/medium deeps) and the bees are not affected but other aspects (such as the size of the cone foundations) can cause problems. It's interesting that this video says the bees store the honey above the eggs and the larva, however I seem to recall that when we were looking at the cone foundations last week in the west van hives, the honey and larva where relatively interspersed. I found it intriguing that the bees don't seem to mind what material is used in the hives even though some materials are not natural such as the metal top that keeps out rain.

Next time I'm in the apiary I will pay extra attention to the placement of the honey verses the eggs and larva to see if what the video says about the storing of honey in the higher deeps is accurate.

It makes me wonder what other designs (other than the top bar design) would work better or worse as an alternative hive. I'm also curious as to why the man in this video used shorter "medium deeps" instead of the bigger normal deeps.