Overwintering All 8 Frame Medium Colonies

[Denon Carpenter]

I was wondering if there was anyone out there using all 8 frame medium boxes for there colonies and if so how many boxes they use as a brood chamber for the winter. Its hard to find good information for equipment like this.

I was going to run 3 boxes as a winter brood chamber with one full super of honey on top with whatever other honey they stored in the 3 bottom brood chambers as winter reserves.. I live in Southwestern PA zone 6

[jbw]

I run all medium eight frames with a top entrance. Generally three will be sufficient however if there are stores or brood in the forth I leave it also. Depends on how well they have packed the brood nest with stores. My back appreciates the 8 frame mediums.

[Lil Grain of Rice]

Michael Bush is an advocate of 8-frame meds, and has a good website which might discuss his approach to wintering:

bushfarms.com/bees.htm

He's on these forums although I hear he's busy this time of year :)

[Uncle Fester]

I have an eight frame hive, the guy I got the bees from uses a lot of eight frame equipment, and he advocates using three deeps for overwintering (with 8 frame stuff).

[Michael Bush]

> I was wondering if there was anyone out there using all 8 frame medium boxes for there colonies

That would be me.

> and if so how many boxes they use as a brood chamber for the winter.

I would adjust to the volume you would have used. Two eight frame mediums = 1 ten frame deep. So four eight frame mediums = 2 ten frame deeps. What I actually use depends on the size of the cluster, but it varies from one (which I would consider a nuc) to five boxes (which would be a real boomer of a colony). The important thing is more the proportion of capped stores to bees. Two frames of capped stores for each frame of clustered bees is nice around here, but will, of course, vary by climate.

>I was going to run 3 boxes as a winter brood chamber with one full super of honey on top with whatever other honey they stored in the 3 bottom brood chambers as winter reserves.

I don't understand. if they are all eight frame mediums what is a super? What is a brood box? if you have one super on top and three brood chambers below that's four boxes isn't it? Four is fine, but it's all just "hive". No need to distinguish a "super" from a "brood box".