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How to change from deep to medium brood supers

5K views 8 replies 7 participants last post by  Michael Bush 
#1 ·
What is the best way to change over from our deep hive boxes to all medium.:scratch:
Mike
 
#2 ·
Assuming a five frame nuc: Put five frames in medium box and place it on a bottom board. Put five frames in another medium box and set it on top of the first. slide all frames up and down to one side and put your five frame nuc in the empty space. If an undrawn or broodless frame comes with the nuc, do not put it in colony. slide a frame containing brood to the outside. The bees will abandon brood rearing on that out side frame and when the brood has all emerged remove it and slide the next deep frame with brood against the outer wall. Repeat process refilling empty space up and down until the last deep frame is removed and you are done. If you had been laying the deep frame on its side on the top bars, the bees will have robbed it out. When the frames are robbed out, remove them from service or cut them down on a table saw to medium size. That is the simplest way Ihave thought of.
 
#3 ·
Vance, that sounds workable for working with nucs but I think he's talking about full size 8 or 10 frame hive boxes.

I won't say this is the best way, but this is what I'm thinking of doing. I've got one colony that I need to work a 10-frame deep out of...I've got 8-frame mediums on top of it. I'm planning on making sure she isn't in the deep and in one of the mediums above it. Once I insure she is in a medium I'm going to place a queen excluder between the deep and the mediums on top of it...effectively keeping her out of the deep while the brood in it finishes emerging...once 21 days is up then remove the deep. Doing it like this there is no need to go in and out of the hive numerous times...just wait the 21 days. At least that's my plan until something better is presented to me.

I'm all ears for other folk's ideas and suggestions.

Ed
 
#4 ·
Think of the deeps as something to be removed. The best time to remove anything from the hive is when it's empty (most likely in the early spring) or when it's full of honey and there is a flow (anytime during the flow). Just keep removing them. If you need to consolidate frames from more than one hive to get a box of empties, do that. If you need to put an occasional medium in a deep box, do that. If you need to put an occasional deep frame down into two mediums, do that. You can cut the excess comb off and tie it into frames later.

People often want bees out of what they are in/on and in a different kind of home. Here are more general directions in that regard:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesferal.htm#moving
 
#5 ·
Spring time instead of rotating hive bodies, remove the bottom box, & add a medium on top. Keep adding medium boxes as necessary. Might want to feed 1:1 to speed things up.
Assuming you have 2 deeps the second one can be removed the following spring if not sooner.
 
#8 ·
Thank you for all your help.
Michael when I was on your sight, which is excellent by the way, I didn't see a "search" anywhere. I moved to another section and couldn't get back to this link. Did I just over look it or is there a menu somewhere?
Intheswamp I will try to move from both deep nucs and deep hives so all recommendations will help. :thumbsup:
Mike
 
#9 ·
>I didn't see a "search" anywhere.

If you were looking, for example, "feral", go to google.com and try:
feral site:bushfarms.com

> I moved to another section and couldn't get back to this link. Did I just over look it or is there a menu somewhere?

The menu is on the left. From the main beekeeping page, pick "Feral Bees" under "Queens" and you'll find that section near the bottom of that page.
 
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