I have a booming 3rd year hive. I overwintered it with 2 deeps and 2 medium supers. Lots of honey left over and they are bringing in lots of pollen.
She's laying in the upper deep and the first super. About 3-4 frames of brood in each right now.
Modus operandi is no chemicals, no queen excluder, powdered sugar and freezing the drone frame for mite control.
I've been wanting to get away from the 2 deeps for a while. My other hive is running only (two) mediums and I want to be able to swap frames.
After reading some of Walt's articles, I realized that maybe I could run one deep and the rest mediums. And maybe do that on the other hive too.
So what to do for swarm prevention and possibly removing the lower deep. I don't think I have enough drawn comb to implement checkerboarding. And there's a lot of pollen in that lower deep - what do I do with it if I pull the lower deep? Is running a deep and the rest mediums a good idea?
Thanks!!
She's laying in the upper deep and the first super. About 3-4 frames of brood in each right now.
Modus operandi is no chemicals, no queen excluder, powdered sugar and freezing the drone frame for mite control.
I've been wanting to get away from the 2 deeps for a while. My other hive is running only (two) mediums and I want to be able to swap frames.
After reading some of Walt's articles, I realized that maybe I could run one deep and the rest mediums. And maybe do that on the other hive too.
So what to do for swarm prevention and possibly removing the lower deep. I don't think I have enough drawn comb to implement checkerboarding. And there's a lot of pollen in that lower deep - what do I do with it if I pull the lower deep? Is running a deep and the rest mediums a good idea?
Thanks!!