8 frame or 10 frame

[Michael Bush]

I have mine all against each other over winter. So honey on the sides just keeps them from getting as much heat from next door and honey that gets left behind, but if the hive is standing alone, it might add some insulation. The extra honey also acts as a heat sink, not all a bad thing, but it keeps things from warming up as fast on a warm day and might keep them from getting in a cleansing flight.

[Javin007]

I have mine all against each other over winter. So honey on the sides just keeps them from getting as much heat from next door and honey that gets left behind, but if the hive is standing alone, it might add some insulation. The extra honey also acts as a heat sink, not all a bad thing, but it keeps things from warming up as fast on a warm day and might keep them from getting in a cleansing flight.

That's actually a great idea! I also understand that you have a particularly good overwintering rate.

[Michael Bush]

> I also understand that you have a particularly good overwintering rate.

I would say I have a "good overwintering rate". I'm not sure I'd say I have "a particularly good overwintering rate"... In the golden age of beekeeping I hardly ever lost a hive... that was "a particularly good overwintering rate". Typically 100%. Those were the "good old days".

[Solomon Parker]

Like somebody earlier, I am also slowly switching to 10-frame mediums. Also experimenting with 12-frame (square) mediums for fun. I'm doing a combination of cutting down deeps and making new mediums.

I keep large hives, year round, typically 5 deeps. Smaller than 10-frame and they get to be excessively tall. A square medium is about the same volume as a 10-frame deep and about the same weight.

Why mediums? Weight, I guess. I've become an engineer, and so am not able to maintain as much muscle as when I was doing manual labor.