Brood boxes

[dgc1961]

Hi everyone,

I am wondering what other people use for the brood boxes...ie: 2 deeps, 1 deep/1 medium.  I even hear of some people only using 1 hive.  

Right now I have 1 hive and it consist of 1 deep and 1 medium.  I am wanting to go to 4 hives this year but I am trying to figure out the best combination.  I did have 2 hives but I combined them before winter...(one went queenless)

My first hive had 2 deeps, but when inspecting, lifting off the top deep it was HEAVY.  And I am getting older  :(

[John Schwartz]

Lots of differing opinion on this question. I personally use two deeps.

[Finski]

.
I use even 3 deeps in summer.

Deep + medium is not practical at all.

Essential system is to change boxes "turn"  so that

* frames will be used evenly --> all cells brown before renew
* when you change boxes, last winter food goes to consumption
* swarming preventing systems
* all brood frames are changeable. And between nucs too...

I use 3 brood boxes because I do not use excluder. The bottom box is normally used as  pollen store and for high ventilation there is not much brood.

Towards autum I start to use again 2 brood boxes.  I try to over winter with 2 brood boxes but normally 50%  of hives must be in one box.

.

[John Schwartz]

Great points, Finski!

I've been pondering the third box as well after some reading lately.

[Michael Bush]

All my boxes are eight frame mediums.  I stack them up as high as they need, often seven boxes...

[contactme_11]

I use all mediums. Some of my brood areas are 2, some are 3.

[wd]

my goal is three deeps, so far, my best was 2 with the third not filling out completely - though it takes 2 years or so, at least for me it did

[Finski]

I keep 20% extra hives over the winter. It in spring there exists a bad layer, I discard it and join to some another hive. Nosema spoils some queens during winter.

For main yeild I join  smaller hives for example
3 hives x  4 boxes -->  2 hives 6 boxes.

2 hives X 3 boxes --> 1 hive

swarm + full box of brood nuc. -->  1  hive

2 swarms + brood box hive  -- 1 hive.


.

[wd]

I keep 20% extra hives over the winter. It in spring there exists a bad layer, I discard it and join to some another hive. Nosema spoils some queens during winter.

For main yeild I join  smaller hives for example
3 hives x  4 boxes -->  2 hives 6 boxes.

2 hives X 3 boxes --> 1 hive

swarm + full box of brood nuc. -->  1  hive

2 swarms + brood box hive  -- 1 hive.

sounds busy ...

[bassman1977]

I use 10 frame mediums.  The supers have spacers built in to allow for 9 frames.  Typically they get stacked about 7 high but I've had as many as 10 on.  My brood chambers are 4 mediums, everything else is super.

[D Coates]

I use 2 10 frame deeps for brood.  The idea of using a third one is interesting as invariably a few of my queens end up laying in the supers.  As soon as I find this I get her below and put a queen excluder on there.*  I use 10 frame supers for honey.  Once they are drawn out I put 9 frames in there for easier extraction.


*Note, be sure there's not an upper entrance when you do this unless you want another queen.  If the queen is exluded from supers but there are eggs and an upper entrance up there they will raise a new queen.  It confused me initially (where are these eggs coming from!) now I use this technique to raise grafted larva in queen cups until they are capped.  It works surpisingly well.

[Finski]

[.


sounds busy ...

How? I join hives when I migrate them to outer pastures. I am not doing it all the time  :-P