"And thanks Riverbee. Very generous offer. I was looking at those wraps but they were out. I would be happy to pay for a couple of them three deep, plus flat rate shipping if your willing to send them.
And how did your three deep experiment work out ? would they have made more honey if I would of stacked medium supers instead of a deep ? it seamed they were filling the first one pretty fast, then stopped when I added a deep, but did build that out and lay it with brood."jeff, i am certain i have two, i will dig them out this weekend. will send you a pm. i won't ever go back to 3 deeps. and no problem, if someone else can use them can send off to you.
the 3 three deep thing really is based on the university of minnesota's practice of overwintering. (dr. marla spivak) publication; 'BEEKEEPING IN NORTHERN CLIMATES.' the three deeps are for brood rearing and the third deep converted to honey storage come fall/winter months for the bees consumption and to move up into. medium supers are added to harvest honey. the original concept of this was based on dr. basil furgala's research and practice........he referred to it as the 2 queen horizontal system, although 2 queens were not in the three deeps, the three deeps were divided into two units in the spring. lol, i am keeping this short and not going into detail!
many beeks keep three deeps here in the midwest to try and follow the u of m's practice, but i really think they don't follow the exact practice as outlined or taught. it is
very management intensive.
i did find with a good queen, good honey/pollen flows, i did well. without this, plus other challenges it did not work for me. what i would say to anyone, keep to two deeps, add mediums for honey supers. we have had some members here who have kept 3 deeps; two deeps for brood and 3rd deep for honey for them to take off. if it works for you in your environment, great!
i like to stick to two deeps, and add mediums for me to harvest the extra honey. our weather and blooms have been so up and down; dearths, rain, floods, etc......also, deeps are too heavy for me to lift off and in some years the bees would be hard pressed to fill a third deep of honey because of aforementioned weather conditions. two deeps give me the best wintering than 3, even if i have to add a feeding shim.
then there is finding a queen in 3 deeps when need be...............
overwintering 3 deeps? you must have a good adult bee population covering 10-15 frames or more and a very productive queen. mite, pest, disease free, and stores packed in that third deep to get them to your spring.
even under the 'right' conditions and our 'right efforts' there is no guarantee. learning curve can sometimes really be crappy as to what works and then we figure out what we think works, and then......? ??!!!
lol, just do what we do and keep rolling with the curves!
