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brood box sizing

3K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  Rusty Hills Farm 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello all. I've searched the forums and didn't find the answer, so if it's there - please redirect these questions there, and I'll review them.

I'm new to beekeeping, have decided at this time to use the 'std' 10-frame hives and have been reading alot. Basically, what I've noticed is that whatever works for you, is almost the 'norm' that will work. This seems to be the concensus for all sections, whether it's in the treatment/prevention of, number of boxes, location placements, etc. My question is centered around getting a better understanding of the brood box sizing from the more experienced and seasoned bee keepers. Here's my questions, based off of what plan I've decided to do. I want to use mediums for most everything, and have a few questions about the needs/requirements for Deeps. I currently have a single hive with a Deep, followed by mediums. In trying to NOT have deeps, mediums, small hardware and not having what I need - whenever I need it - how should I proceed with boxes.

1. Should I stay with 1 deep boxes for the brood, and continue following up the 'chain' with mediums? If I do this, the I'll need to only have/make 1 Deep for the bottom box, and everything else will be mediums. I'll also need to make my nuc as a deep, to allow splits down the road - but will only have to maintain medium hardware (frames, foundation, etc) for everything else.

Or,

Should I just start all my other hives with mediums? That way I'll only need 1 type of hardware for 'all' my boxes, whether they are 'brood' or 'supers'. I'd then make my nuc's for mediums and splits won't be any problem in transferring 'down the road'.

I don't plan on using any excluders and hopefully my queens will coorporate with this solution (lol). The concerns that I've heard from some people is that there isn't enough room in 2 medium supers (1 or 2 being used as brood boxes) to 'contain' the hive within here and there are problems down the road with the queen 'always' going up into the honey supers and laying.

thoughts, or suggestions?

mark
 
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#2 ·
You'll get almost as many different answers to this question as you will people answering you. I use two deeps for brood and all medium supers. There are a lot of people that like to have everything be interchangeable, and I don't disagree with their reasoning, but I don't need to be able to put my brood frames in my supers, and I haven't yet had to put a super frame in a brood box to feed honey. With multiple hives, the likelihood that you will be able to pull a frame of brood/honey from your another brood chamber if you need it increases.

The short of my answer is, I use two deeps for brood, and even though that means I have two different sized boxes and two different sizes of frames, it hasn't hindered me at all.
 
#3 ·
Ask 10 beeks and you will get 11 answers. I've tried a number of combinations and have finally settled on one deep and 2 mediums for brood nest usually stacked M-D-M and if I feel the need to reverse in the spring I just switch the 2 mediums. As I get more "mature" though those hundred pound deeps get more difficult to manuever. I keep both D and M nucs for various purposes. You will need to evaluate your situation and see what works for you. I don't think the bees really care all that much.
 
#4 ·
Only 11 answers from 10 users, well that certainly reduces my answers. Ha ha. I'm probably over analyzing this more than should be but heard alot of people say that it takes 3 mediums to equate to 2 deeps - and if that's so, then why not just start with 2 deeps 'down bottom' and then go up from there. after all, the girls are gonna do what they want anyway .... :)
 
#5 ·
I, too, really like uniformity. I want to be able to grab an empty box and run with it without worrying about which size of stuff I need to do whatever I want to do at the moment. I use all deeps, but you could just as easily run all mediums. Many folks do. The only downside that I can see is that you need many more individual pieces of medium equipment to generate the amount of space in deeps. Three mediums equal 2 deeps, space-wise. As long as you don't mind handling all the extra boxes, go for it! (Your back may even thank you for it later!) Just make sure you give them the extra space they need to store their winter supplies.

GMO

Rusty
 
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