[trs246810]

I'm a second year bee keeper with 5 hives. I currently have the 2 deep 10 frame setup (non-4.9 mixture of all kinds of frames/foundation/foundationless)...in 4 hives. My 5'th is a recent cutout only one deep. I would like to know if there is a real advantage to medium hive bodies other than weight? I can see somewhat of an advantage when going foundationless and running mediums (MB)...but wouldn't that make all shallows even more advantageous? I think I'm going to start the regression next year with mannlake black plastic...and a mixture of wooden foundationless in a attempt to keep everything straight. I just wanted to make sure I'm not missing out on something I don't fully understand. ~Justin

 

[kenr]

Welcome to beesource trs246810 look up Michael Bushs sight he is a wealth of knowledge.And seems to really enjoy helping new beeks.

 

[NasalSponge]

The main advantage to using all med is the ability to utilize any frame in any box as needed, example, one could take a frame of honey from a honey super from one hive and drop it into the brood chamber of another. A disadvantage (and maybe the only one) is finding folks that sell med nucs if you choose to purchase bees that way. I run deep broods and med supers.

 

[trs246810]

thanks for the input

 

[Alexander]

I found it was more work to go through 3 mediums than it was to go through two deeps. looking at 30 frames and prying apart so many extra boxes. Been thinking about the eight frame thing though.

 

[BigDru]

hive preference varies from beek to beek. Michael Bush has some great input. I like the 8 frame set up. I'm a hobbist and have no intention of being anything but. The 8 frame works best for me. I also like the deep hive body and med for all my honey. It keeps all my brood and bee living space the same and all my honey surplus the same. Now that my wife is taking intrest and considerin a hive of her own to work I may just add some shallows to keep is as easy and light for her a possible.

 

[Countryboy]

Running all mediums costs more than deeps.

Queens really like to lay in big chunks of comb. Deeps (or jumbos) are better than mediums, but I don't know that it is a big difference.

There have been studies that said that bees overwinter in mediums slightly better than in deeps, due to the cluster being able to move from comb to comb easier.

 

[lisascenic]

I would argue that using deeps and mediums is more expensive, because not all frames can be swapped from box to box. If one is using all mediums, there's no need to keep frames that might of might not fit in all boxes.

And the weight issue is not to be discounted. We're housing the bees in eight frame mediums, and those honey supers are HEAVY. I'm a slim woman, and my partner has paralized legs and feet (serious balance issues, plus a bad back from his spinal cord injury). Keeping the boxes as light as possible is a huge priority for us.

 

[Joseph Clemens]

Alexander,

It may be more work, in that it may take longer, but I find that it is easier to lift, hold, and manipulate the smaller combs/frames, than the larger, heavier ones.