Brood Boxes For Supers

[Millet]

Anyone tried it ? , i will be able to lift them when full but just thinking as i have more brood boxes than the piddly little supers, a bit like the rose hive method but with standard national brood boxes.

Pro's and Con's please .

 

[JWF]

Pros - less boxes
Cons - you need a bigger extractor

 

[Millet]

Pros - less boxes
Cons - you need a bigger extractor

Got the Extractor but not the hernia yet..

 

[Jafer2]

I have gone this route because it makes sense and why not im still young and need to fit in my weekly weight lifting. I have a 14x12 jumbo brood and jumbo super all boxes and frames all the same.

pro - equipment is all the same.
pro - a lot of honey
pro - lots of bee space

con - cost slightly more and is heavy when its full of honey unless you do frame by frame
con - moving the super to view the brood will be a challenge
con - looking for queen would take slightly longer due to larger bee space

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Weight - a lot of weight. I usually end up with a few brood boxes full of honey on a good yielding year due to using demarree. not good if you have a tall stack of boxes, or far to carry them.
most standard radial extractors won't take deep frames so you have to use a minimum 4 shallow frame tangential.

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

I have a few of my original national box's left over that now get used as supers but only as a last resort, just to heavy to lift worked well when I was short of supers with drawn comb but now no problem I will probably convert them to 14x12 this winter as one hernia is enough.

 

[Lancs Lad]

I run all brood boxes,and find it excellent, I run the brood on 8 frames over 8 with dummy boards each side. The dummy boards are made from Styrofoam RTM-X 30mm you can buy sheets for £11 from the SIG group, one sheet makes 21 dummy boards just cut with a stanley knife and push into a frame, I do the same with supers , eight frames come out slightly heavier than a super of honey. I do a lot of queen breeding so making two and three frame mating nucs is no problem and you a have ample frames for five frame nucs.
I can't post a link but look on the net for a PDF by Ian Craig ,"My beekeeping Year" a great system without brood and a half, also Artificial Swarms with a split board are done in less than ten minutes.

 

[Poly Hive]

https://www.scottishbeekeepers.org.uk/images/education/studynotes/MyBeekeepingYear.pdf

Ian Craig is a past president of the SBA and a highly respected Scottish Beekeeper.

PH

 

[Swarm]

I run all brood boxes,and find it excellent, I run the brood on 8 frames over 8 with dummy boards each side. The dummy boards are made from Styrofoam RTM-X 30mm you can buy sheets for £11 from the SIG group, one sheet makes 21 dummy boards just cut with a stanley knife and push into a frame, I do the same with supers , eight frames come out slightly heavier than a super of honey. I do a lot of queen breeding so making two and three frame mating nucs is no problem and you a have ample frames for five frame nucs.
I can't post a link but look on the net for a PDF by Ian Craig ,"My beekeeping Year" a great system without brood and a half, also Artificial Swarms with a split board are done in less than ten minutes.

Sounds like an efficient system, I like the 8 over 8 set up.

 

[Millet]

I run all brood boxes,and find it excellent, I run the brood on 8 frames over 8 with dummy boards each side. The dummy boards are made from Styrofoam RTM-X 30mm you can buy sheets for £11 from the SIG group, one sheet makes 21 dummy boards just cut with a stanley knife and push into a frame, I do the same with supers , eight frames come out slightly heavier than a super of honey. I do a lot of queen breeding so making two and three frame mating nucs is no problem and you a have ample frames for five frame nucs.
I can't post a link but look on the net for a PDF by Ian Craig ,"My beekeeping Year" a great system without brood and a half, also Artificial Swarms with a split board are done in less than ten minutes.

Thank you for that I do like the sound of that method, out of interest how heavy would a 11 frame national deep brood body weigh if it was full of honey/stores .

 

[wightbees]

I can't remember exactly but isn't a brood frame about 5lbs

 

[chorrylan]

Thank you for that I do like the sound of that method, out of interest how heavy would a 11 frame national deep brood body weigh if it was full of honey/stores .

Perhaps curiously.. I'm moving in the other direction.
I had intended to standardise on 8 frame full depth langstroth boxes for brood and supers as 10 frame isn't getting any lighter and having a single sized frame seemed so convenient.
This year I happen to be running two hives with 10 frame full depth langstroth brood boxes and manley (2/3 height or medium ) supers and it's working out quite well so far.
A 10 frame medium super is OK to carry when full and a 10 frame polystyrene full depth brood box in this locality seems sufficient to use in a single-brood-box setup; so I don't have to lift and lug them much.

Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

 

[Swarm]

Thank you for that I do like the sound of that method, out of interest how heavy would a 11 frame national deep brood body weigh if it was full of honey/stores .

Upwards of 60lbs. Your hives won't get so tall and you can harvest combs not boxes, which is all good. It's lifting them about when full of bees that I see as the problem, trying to be careful not to squash any always makes the box feel heavier than it is. The biggest bonus is all the same size combs.

 

[Millet]

Upwards of 60lbs. Your hives won't get so tall and you can harvest combs not boxes, which is all good. It's lifting them about when full of bees that I see as the problem, trying to be careful not to squash any always makes the box feel heavier than it is. The biggest bonus is all the same size combs.

I have lifted brood boxes several times though changing floors and Artificial swarm methods and i know what you mean about them getting heavier trying not to squash bees, you.. well i seem to hover for longer rather than plonking it down first go which does pull on the old lumber region, i am seriously considering trying this method and just keeping the seven supers i have for one or two hives elsewhere.
Thanks
Steve.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Sounds like an efficient system, I like the 8 over 8 set up.

I have some bees overwintering in a double paynes 14x12 nuc with the feeders knocked out. 7 frames top and bottom. Trouble is it's on a stand that is too high so Stan will make me a lower one and we will move it in the depths of winter.

 

[Millet]

Get a little step Erica to save lowering them into dampness, i have a aluminum set of steps here that are as light as a empty brood box.

 

[wightbees]

Steps...I would of thought you got scaffolding around yours millet

 

[Erichalfbee]

Get a little step Erica to save lowering them into dampness, i have a aluminum set of steps here that are as light as a empty brood box.

Stand will still be well off the ground.
I get vertigo one step onto a ladder

 

[Millet]

Steps...I would of thought you got scaffolding around yours millet

I can make big steps but i don't need them yet, just imagine the dance floor/ platform though with steps leading upto it in the middle of any field a bee keepers dream.

 

[alldigging]

Stand will still be well off the ground.
I get vertigo one step onto a ladder

Knowing someone who's really seriously ruined his elbow falling off a ladder (and he was on his own!) I get vertigo just looking at them now.