[StevenG]

I run one brood chamber. I've toyed with the idea of running two but most beekeepers around me just run 1.

interesting... Even 60+ years ago when some were still keeping bees in skeps, it was understood that managed bees needed at least two deeps for brood nest. I wonder what kind of a) swarming problems they have, and b) what kind of honey production they have. I have an old edition of Walter Kelley's book, How to Keep Bees and Sell Honey and if I remember correctly, inside the front cover is a full page picture of an apiary in KY where the beek runs two story brood nests "in an area where most beekeepers use one deep for the brood nest..." and this beek has bumper crops compared to the neighbors. I'll have to dig that up later, and get the exact information.
Regards,
Steven

 

[StevenG]

Ok, found the information I referred to in my post above.

The back cover of the 1971 edition of Walter T. Kelley's How To Keep Bees and Sell Honey has a very nice photograph of a small frame house on a gentle downhill slope, with about 12 bee hives visible in the photograph. The caption reads: "This apiary, which contained 30 colonies, produced over 7,000 pounds of surplus honey during the spring flow of 1948 in southern Kentucky, a territory where ordinarily bees are kept in one-story brood nests and only one shallow super is supplied. This shows the desirability of large brood nests and plenty of super space."

Now admittedly providing only one shallow super would restrict a honey harvest, and 1948 must have been a bumper year, but... even half of a 234 pound average crop is still 117 pounds per colony average. If I was serious about running one deep brood box vs two in your locale, I'd be tempted to test it - run one hive with one deep, another of the same race of bees with 2 deeps, and compare the harvest at season's end.

If you do that, report back at season's end. I imagine more folks than just me would be curious as to your results. The reason i asked, I tried one deep last year on two hives (ran out of equipment) and got next to nothing off those two colonies.
Regards,
Steven