When to add more room for brood

[J-SiN]

First Off IM new to the forum and glad to have a "resource" of information available.

My question is pretty simple. Ive read through a couple books ( no classes) and have my first 2 hives setup and seem to be doing quite well so far.

I want to know when you would want to add more room for brood
and id its going to be another DEEP super hive body
will it be placed IN between my current deep and medium?

or is there a different way this is to be done?

PS - Do you prefer plastic or metal excluders and why

:-)

thanks! from Charlotte ,NC

[dcross]

Do you have all drawn comb in your current hives? Is the queen free to use both boxes? If so, I would put the box of foundation on top of the hive now.

If they're drawing foundation and no queen excluder, then wait until they have seven or eight frames in each box drawn and put it on top.

As for excluders, I've never used plastic, and if they're drawing foundation I wouldn't use one at all.

[J-SiN]

yes the queen is free to roam, Ill inspect operations today and get back to ya

thanks!

[Brent Bean]

For hives on new foundation, I have done the seven of ten rule. When seven frames are drawn out add another box. If you are using new foundation only add one box at a time or they will make a mess out of things. If you have drawn foundation you can add another box anytime. The hive will grow faster because the queen can lay at maximum rate.
I prefer plastic queen excluders because the sizing of the slots seems to be more accurate. They are lighter and easier to store. If they get gummed up with propolis you can freeze them give them a little twist and they clean up. Here in Michigan I just wait for winter, to clean them up. And oh yes they are cheaper.

[J-SiN]

Ive heard of the 7 out of 10 rule to add a super to collect honey for YOUR use
just wondered if you'd ever wanna add an additional DEEP SUPER for extra brood room or not

I guess one will always be enough?

[charmd2]

Ok, not sure If I've got this straight or not. You have one Deep for brood and one medium (honey??) super on right now?

If so I'm surprised they haven't turned the medium into a brood box yet. I'm using all mediums, with no excluder, so they just put the brood where they want it. But if what you're asking is if it's ok to add a deep between a deep and a medium, I guess I'd say ok. But give it a minute and someone else will pop in here and give their two cents.

[dcross]

I guess one will always be enough?

I know lots of people do it that way, but it didn't work for me.

[Brent Bean]

I have mixed medium and deep supers for brood chambers and it doesn’t seem to matter to the bees.

[beewhisper]

Hi J-Sin !
I have two hives with one large and one medimum brood chamber. They work fine..for the bees. If I had it to do over I would use all medimums. In N.C you don't need more than two large or two medimum boxs for brood chambers. All though you may still need to feed them at times.
Beewhisper

[Michael Bush]

>I want to know when you would want to add more room for brood

7/10 rule is good.

>and id its going to be another DEEP super hive body

If you run deeps for brood, that's what I'd do. I prefer to run all mediums. Some people prefer a deep on the bottom and the rest shallower supers so they don't have to lift a deep.

>will it be placed IN between my current deep and medium?

Thats what I'd do if you want to run two deeps for brood.

>PS - Do you prefer plastic or metal excluders and why

In order of preference I like:

No excluder.
Wood bound metal excluder.
Unbound metal.
Plastic (with the round plastic not the punched).
Punched zinc.
Punched plastic.