This will be the first year with bees for my wife and I. We both are on first name basis with all the staff at our back doctors plus I'm a bit long in the tooth. With that in mind, the decision was made to go all 8-frame mediums. Two 8-frame medium hives all painted and awaiting our nucs. Each hive presently has 3 mediums but from what I have now read, we need another medium inorder to have a three medium brood box plus a single super. No problem.
And then it got complicated. We live over the hill and a little bit past younder which complicates finding nucs. I finally found a supplier within driving distance but only 5-frame deeps available. So, back to the drawing board. I wore out my search button trying to figure out how to install the 5-frame nuc in our 8-frame hives. The more I read, the more I became confused. Remember that we both are starting out from zero knowlege. My wife said for me just to get a pair of deeps ( we are starting with two hives) and forget about it but one of the posts that I read discussed (I think) stacking a pair of mediums, placing the deep frames from the nuc in the top medium and allowing them to extend down a bit into the lower medium. Did I understand this right? Lots of empty space down below. I'm guessing that I would then fill the 3 upper and the 3 lower spaces with my medium frames. If I am good so far, what happens next. What gets filled in and where and what has to happen for me to pull the deeps one at a time? Walk me through what happens in the brood box with this arrangement. Dumb question but we are starting from scratch.
And then it got complicated. We live over the hill and a little bit past younder which complicates finding nucs. I finally found a supplier within driving distance but only 5-frame deeps available. So, back to the drawing board. I wore out my search button trying to figure out how to install the 5-frame nuc in our 8-frame hives. The more I read, the more I became confused. Remember that we both are starting out from zero knowlege. My wife said for me just to get a pair of deeps ( we are starting with two hives) and forget about it but one of the posts that I read discussed (I think) stacking a pair of mediums, placing the deep frames from the nuc in the top medium and allowing them to extend down a bit into the lower medium. Did I understand this right? Lots of empty space down below. I'm guessing that I would then fill the 3 upper and the 3 lower spaces with my medium frames. If I am good so far, what happens next. What gets filled in and where and what has to happen for me to pull the deeps one at a time? Walk me through what happens in the brood box with this arrangement. Dumb question but we are starting from scratch.