Go for whatever size box you can easily lift when it's full of honey. That will not be the deeper ones... Usually something in the range of 50 pounds is manageable.
how to migrate to same size boxes with British national hive
hello
I'm not a frequent poster but I love the wealth of information on this forum!
I'm in my second year of beekeeping in North Wales, UK - my two hives overwintered well and are building up very well now
I started out straight with foundationless frames which worked very well. But now faced with my first proper manipulations to manage swarming, I realise that I really want same size boxes everywhere. It really would make everything so much more easier! (unfortunately had to go through the first year to realise that...)
I don't really want to move away from British National hive parts so I'm in a conundrum about what size boxes to introduce as my 'one-size' for the future.
It seems the most commonly used same size boxes are Langstroth mediums - a bit smaller than standard BN deeps, and bit bigger than BN supers - any advice on which of the two I should go for?
And then, how do I migrate my current 12x14 brood boxes to whatever size I decide to go for? (I don't really want to get involved in cutting down frames full of bees...)
I was considering borrowing from Warre and nadiring the hives with new 'one size' boxes this season, hoping to be able to 'harvest off' the large boxes from the top when filled with honey (if we get a good year). Does this make sense? (I know I can't extract 14x12 frames, but I can live with crush & strain for this one time, I think).
Grateful for any ideas.
Katerina
I'm not a frequent poster but I love the wealth of information on this forum!
I'm in my second year of beekeeping in North Wales, UK - my two hives overwintered well and are building up very well now
I started out straight with foundationless frames which worked very well. But now faced with my first proper manipulations to manage swarming, I realise that I really want same size boxes everywhere. It really would make everything so much more easier! (unfortunately had to go through the first year to realise that...)
I don't really want to move away from British National hive parts so I'm in a conundrum about what size boxes to introduce as my 'one-size' for the future.
It seems the most commonly used same size boxes are Langstroth mediums - a bit smaller than standard BN deeps, and bit bigger than BN supers - any advice on which of the two I should go for?
And then, how do I migrate my current 12x14 brood boxes to whatever size I decide to go for? (I don't really want to get involved in cutting down frames full of bees...)
I was considering borrowing from Warre and nadiring the hives with new 'one size' boxes this season, hoping to be able to 'harvest off' the large boxes from the top when filled with honey (if we get a good year). Does this make sense? (I know I can't extract 14x12 frames, but I can live with crush & strain for this one time, I think).
Grateful for any ideas.
Katerina
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