brood chamber question

[kspapaw]

I was told by local beekeeper to use 1 deep and 1 medium for brood boxes. I am in n.w. Georgia and would like to know if this is enough room for the brood?

Also, would this make taking splits more difficult having different size foundation?, or would it be better using two deeps so that making splits easy early next spring?

This is my first attempt at beekeeping and so far I love it.....

[John Schwartz]

I personally think using same (deeps) makes life easier (as you mention) for making splits/nucs, etc.

[Kathyp]

or use all mediums.  if i were starting over i would go with all medium.  save on the back and makes it easy to swap stuff.   what ever you use, i'd think it would be best to use all the same. 

[kspapaw]

I was thinking that it made more sense to use the same size frames and foundation, that just makes more sense.

Thanks for the help, I'm so glad to have this forum, this makes beekeeping much easier for us beginners :)

[bassman1977]

I use all mediums top to bottom.  The bottom 4 boxes are the brood boxes.  That's pretty close to being 2 deeps.

[Gware]

I prefer two deeps but what ever one prefers but I read somewhere anything less that two deeps and the queen cannot reach full laying potential. Some say it is cheaper to use all mediums but I think 4 mediums would cost more than two deeps, but it is what ever one prefers.

[Barry]

I have always used 2 deep though I am a big guy of about 6'3" but none the less never had alot of problems with weight of the brood chambers--changes with deep supers of honey   they are a bit of a load to have to Carry roundabout worth it when you are extracting all that bounty :)

[JP]

kspapaw, if your goal is to keep hives to a minimum you could do as your pal suggests but all mediums are easily interchangeable.

If you decide to really catch the bug, down the road it will make sense to have all same equipment.

I like a deep/medium set up myself, but sometimes I wish I had all same sized equipment.

The main thing with any set up is to make sure you have "enough" equipment on hand. Plan way in advance, especially if you'll be using all mediums.

Say you get a large swarm call that would fill three mediums, you better have the woodenware ready and staples to keep the boxes together.

FYI, a deep and a medium can house most all swarms I've run across, and I've run across some pretty good sized ones, some in the seven lb range.


...JP

[TwT]

I like a deep/ medium set also but mainly for winter setup. since I am expanding my hive count I put a new deep above the old deep in the early spring for a future split and will extract the medium/mediums after flows stop then split the deeps and put medium back on for winter setup. 

[Barry]

I always used nothing but deep supers/ brood chambers, as stated previously in other  to keep things as uniform as possible understand a full depth super filled with honey may well weigh 60 or more pounds--so as I stated I have no problems with the lifting  infact I get a decent workout in that fashion. and as stated before  brood chambers are not as heavy as honey supers,  brood has about 1/2 to 2/3 the weight of honey supers. Again is a matter of personal preference, and what works in your area--some places have trouble having the bees drawn out foundation completely in deep supers--I have never had that problem--usually I will move 2 or three frames of sealed brood up into a honey super with the foundation on either side, as the sealed brood hatches out creating storage space, and putting young bees the comb builders anyway where they are needed. that has worked for me--ohh in the brood chamber where I removed the frames of brood( sealed brood ) I replace that with foundation  never had the bees reject or chew it apart.  Again just my experience.
Barry