Author Topic: Hive Body Make Up (Read 9308 times)

Curtchann · « **on:** January 29, 2015, 10:51:48 am »

So what is everyone's favorite hive make up? All deeps? All mediums? Or do you prefer a combination and why?

Papakeith · « **Reply #1 on:** January 29, 2015, 11:29:27 am »

At the present time I use double deeps for the hive body and mediums for the supers. I set myself up this way because that is how I was taught.
If my back starts giving me too much grief I may switch to all mediums. But, for now I'll stick with the "standard" approach.

Perry · « **Reply #2 on:** January 29, 2015, 12:16:18 pm »

Exactly what PapaKeith said.
I run deeps for brood and mediums for honey. I like the fact there is no interchangeability between the two, it keeps me honest.
The weight thing with the deeps doesn't often affect me as I seldom move them, especially when they are full of honey. The only boxes that get moved around much are the mediums.

Slowmodem · « **Reply #3 on:** January 29, 2015, 03:28:34 pm »

I'm with them. Although I am considering shallows for honey if my back keep going the way it's going.

Jen · « **Reply #4 on:** January 29, 2015, 03:59:56 pm »

It's all about the back isn't it! Mee Too! I have one deep the rest mediums because I can still lift a 60 pound medium on and off of the hive. I do excercises to keep my back strong, but frankly, as time marches on it's getting harder and harder to accomplish that.

kingd · « **Reply #5 on:** January 29, 2015, 04:44:53 pm »

I want to go to mediums some day but right now I keep getting deeps for cheap or free because alot of beekeepers I know are switching
to mediums or 8 frames.

Perry · « **Reply #6 on:** January 29, 2015, 04:51:33 pm »

Quote from: kingd on January 29, 2015, 04:44:53 pm

I want to go to mediums some day but right now I keep getting deeps for cheap or free because alot of beekeepers I know are switching
to mediums or 8 frames.

Cheap and Free, two words that sound so nice!

Jen · « **Reply #7 on:** January 29, 2015, 05:02:08 pm »

King, can you cut them down?

Papakeith · « **Reply #8 on:** January 29, 2015, 05:07:34 pm »

Quote from: Jen on January 29, 2015, 05:02:08 pm

King, can you cut them down?

You can always cut off the bottom and make a deep into a medium. As an added bonus you get a shim out of the deal

riverbee · « **Reply #9 on:** January 29, 2015, 06:22:35 pm »

like others curtchann, i use deeps for brood boxes (2) and mediums for honey supers. like perry said no interchangeability between the two. i like it that way.

now later in my beeking life, thinking if i had to do it over again, i might consider going with the 8 frame boxes or the 3/4 deeps. i have too much equipment and money invested in deeps, mediums and drawn frames to switch now. as long as i have help, i am good to go!

to jen's question, yes what pk said, if you have a deep box with a rotted end, or someone really cranked up on it with a hive tool and left a nice gouge a number of times, you can recycle and cut the box down to a medium super, and have a shim left over.

Ray4852 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 29, 2015, 06:28:58 pm »

I use 10 frame deeps for brood, and medium for honey supers. This season I might use deeps for supers on my stronger two hives to help collect honey for the weaker hives if they come up short. I try to give my bees 100lbs per hive. Any surplus I take.

tedh · « **Reply #11 on:** January 29, 2015, 07:50:26 pm »

I'm using 2 deeps for brood chambers and will (hopefully this year!) be using mediums for honey supers. I started that way as a beginner last spring, against my sons wishes. My thought at the time was, since we were just starting up, we should stay as close to the "norm" as possible. Save the "experimenting" for later. I find myself now wondering if I should stay with the current setup or go all mediums. I do like the thought of the interchangeability of all mediums, and yes, this last fall lifting a deep full of honey really got me thinking! It seems as though my back was a little out of whack at the time. I remember thinking, "if it weren't for Josh I'd be in trouble!". Josh is my son, he's young and fit. Me? Not so much. As with Riverbee I'm in a little too deep to change it now. That and I can see benefits for both setups, deeps for brood, mediums for honey, and all mediums. Also I can see drawbacks to both setups! I wish I could tell ya, "Oh yeah man, do it this way for sure!" But, It's your call. They're both good and they're both bad!

I'm going to venture a suggestion, please remember this is STILL MY FIRST YEAR, and bear in mind this is also my first suggestion as a beek to a beek. All that being said: Don't let being new be the deciding factor. As mentioned earlier, they both have positives and negatives. Good Luck! Ted

rcannon · « **Reply #12 on:** January 29, 2015, 08:01:14 pm »

Mostly deeps for everything. Money-wise, it's the best bang for the buck. I personally like the interchangeability. I can swap frames around however I want to.
I bought a few mediums last year, for some reason. I'm think I just wanted to try them, but I wish I'd just stuck with the deeps. One size box and frames is pretty convienent.

riverbee · « **Reply #13 on:** January 29, 2015, 08:39:51 pm »

interchangeability of frames with all deeps or all mediums.

i asked this question of tefer and scott on another thread as to how they keep track of what are brood frames and honey frames for using all mediums. they both had great methods of keeping track, scott marks frames and tefer paints different colors for brood boxes and honey supers. (they both use all mediums).

in my HO, a beekeeper doesn't want to mix these up. brood frames are brood frames, honey frames are for honey production. i can see if the bees need extra food, to swap a frame out and give it to them, or as ray said, to collect honey for the hives that come up short using 3 deeps. whether it's all deeps or all mediums, again my HO, i don't think it's a good practice to get into to take a brood frame and use it as a honey frame. that's just me, that's my own belief and practice.

EDIT AND ADD:
i neglected to say, all of my deeps have drawn comb, about 25 or so, all of my mediums have drawn comb, 30 or so. i also have foundation on hand. it's nice these are all drawn and ready to go when i need them. many of us are just starting out and don't have the availability of drawn frames that i do, so i understand. also i can feed my bees back any honey from any frame whether it is a deep frame or a medium frame, by placing it over the inner cover.

tedh · « **Reply #14 on:** January 29, 2015, 09:10:14 pm »

Riverbee, do you just lay the frame flat over the hole in the inner cover?

Also, why isn't it a good idea to use a brood frame as a honey frame and vice versa? I've seen this mentioned before. Maybe I should ask this in a different thread? Ted

LogicalBee · « **Reply #15 on:** January 29, 2015, 10:20:14 pm »

I started out with deeps and then read so many posts (on the other bee forums) about how great all mediums are that I decided to give them a try. Yeah they work, but my bees did better on the larger combs and they are easier for me to inspect. I still do all medium nucs, but I’ve gone back to a more conventional setup for the full sized hive. Large combs for brood, and mediums for honey. Sometimes you shouldn’t always believe what you read on the Internet.

riverbee · « **Reply #16 on:** January 29, 2015, 10:20:25 pm »

"Riverbee, do you just lay the frame flat over the hole in the inner cover?"

yes i do ted, or off a little and always covered with another box. i have also used boxes above to hang multiple frames, both deeps and mediums for the bees to take the honey down. works well. a good method to feed them.

"Also, why isn't it a good idea to use a brood frame as a honey frame and vice versa? I've seen this mentioned before. Maybe I should ask this in a different thread? Ted"

no need to ask this in a new thread, this a good place for your question ted. brood frames, honey frames ~ honey frames are fine to 'steal' when you need them to use as a brood frame, or to feed your bees with a frame of honey. once that frame has been used as a brood frame, whether it be from a deep or a medium, the queen lays brood in that frame. overtime this frame gets darkened, and has cocoons and what not in it, any honey storage in that frame will be darker. also, many of us treat our bees with some mite chemical or antibiotic for something. my HO, you don't want to be using these frames for honey production to harvest honey from. i guess i am a 'purist' this way. i don't use frames for honey production that the queen has laid up in, or i wouldn't use frames for honey production i have had some treatment on with. with that said, there have been times, i didn't place a queen excluder on over the deeps with foundation to be drawn or drawn foundation in the spring. sometimes the queen has laid in the first box in the center frames. as soon as i find it, the excluder goes on. i also produce comb honey, so i don't want queens laying in my honey supers or comb honey i will be selling. the bees will clean up the cells, but they can't clean everything out.

interchangeability of frames for me would only work one way; the ability to add to brood boxes, but not to utilize for honey production after a frame has been utilized for brood, and some type of treatment has been applied. i say that, but irregardless of any treatment i wouldn't do it. i change out my brood frames living in corn country because of all the 'stuff' that is or might be accumulated in them...mite treatments, pesticides, neonics...........whatever, don't want to use these or put them back into honey production, harvesting honey from and selling to customers? i just couldn't do it. some might think differently, this is just my thinking and my practice.

i hope this makes sense? and also i hope this answers your question ted ?

kingd · « **Reply #17 on:** January 30, 2015, 05:25:49 am »

Quote from: Papakeith on January 29, 2015, 05:07:34 pm

Quote from: Jen on January 29, 2015, 05:02:08 pm
King, can you cut them down?

You can always cut off the bottom and make a deep into a medium. As an added bonus you get a shim out of the deal

That is probably what I will do someday,I just hate cutting a perfectly good box especially when I have all those deep frames.

Perry · « **Reply #18 on:** January 30, 2015, 06:10:57 am »

Tedh, further to what riverbee said, if you ever find yourself out and about working or helping other keeps, especially those that run all one size, one of the first things you may notice during harvest time is that as honey supers are being pulled, if any brood is found it is immediately swapped out for frames of honey from the brood chamber. I've seen this so many times it's not funny.
Because I run separate sizes like riverbee, if I find any brood in my honey supers I end up having to locate the queen, place her in the brood chamber and then add a queen excluder. It is inconvenient from the standpoint of now having to wait 3 weeks for brood to hatch out and the second trip to harvest, but it ensures (as best as possible) that no potentially contaminated honey gets inadvertently extracted and sold.
Is it perfect? Maybe not, but it helps me sleep at night.

tefer2 · « **Reply #19 on:** January 30, 2015, 10:03:24 am »

We run excluders between our broods and honey supers. We rarely find brood up there.
When we do find brood in in a super, it is normally a lost virgin from one of the mating nucs that found herself some new digs. Those brood frames along with the queen become a start to a new hive.
Running excluders requires two things, drawn out comb and a top entrance.

We have some old beeks around here that don't believe in using a top entrance.
So, the bees collect nectar and pass it off to the receiver bees. Those bee then walk up through the contaminated brood frames and deposit the nectar into the supers. I don't want any of their product.