Shallow boxes.

[OPAVP]

Hi Friends,
I have a couple of questions. Perhaps I asked this a couple of years ago already. But here goes:

Do any of you in the Northern tier states and Canada use shallow boxes,both for brood and honey?? Do you know of professional beekeepers that do?
How many shallow boxes should a person expect to need for brood,with real good queens and good flows?
How many shallows would you need to overwinter?
I'm thinking about food stores.

I am making some 2" styrofoam,shallow boxes,for 8 frames.

I turned 81 years yesterday and the deeps are getting too heavy.
Look forward to hear from you.
Thanks for the info.
Cor Van Pelt.

[jayj200]

while I can't answer your question I will give you kudos for building with insulation.
you will need to ventilate some kind of way to get the water vapor out though.
my hat is off to ya thinking of the girls.
jay

[BlueBee]

Wow, I can barely pick up deeps and I'm about half your age.  Congrats, you're in great shape! 

I would guess you would need 4 or 5 of your shallow boxes for winter if you were in Michigan.  Maybe 5 or 6 in Alberta.  It really depends upon how populous your bees are by fall.  A lot of bees, and you're going to need more winter space/food for them.  Fewer bees (like nucs) do better with less space.

Heat loss (even in foam boxes) is a function of surface area.  The bigger the winter box (more surface area), the more heat is lost.  Hence it is my opinion, you don't want to overdo the size of your winter box because bigger boxes loose more heat.

I use 1.5" thick foam boxes for wintering but I have gone back to using wood boxes for the supers in the summer.  They are more mechanically robust and in the summer the insulation isn't as important in Michigan.  However foam supers will work if you want to have all your equipment the same.

[minz]

I know Bush does it with all mediums and talks it a lot.  I don't know as I have heard much about shallows. My experience is my queen moved up into my shallows on a hive with three shallows and a deep and she will not move back down.  It is the only hive I have with shallows on it. The deep is empty of brood and she does not care. Walt Wright seems to think that the queen does not like the shallows and will not lay there but it is not my experience. Leave a deep at the bottom, you should not have to pick it up unless you want to clean the bottom board and you can pull frames first.

[Joe D]

The old beek that I got my bees from, used 1 deep for brood and all shallows for supers.  He had his hives close to the ground, within a few inches.  You could get a hand truck under them.  He did run 10 frame equipment.  I don't know how old he was but I am in my 60's and his kids were older than me.  Now this is way down south.  Good luck to you and your bees, Mr. Van Pelt. 




Joe

[sc-bee]

I have not heard of anyone mentioning running all shallows for brood and honey but one. It was in reference to a female and lifting issues. I am sure there are some more but probably the least common configuration. I am not sure how an 8 frame medium would compare to a 10 frame shallow in weight. I have seen it quoted so I know someone can hand it over. It may be on MB's pages. I think the 8 frame mediums would be a lot more desirable configuration in particular in colder climates.