considering brood and half

[eatmorebeans]

Entering 3rd year, I'm not at all driven to maximise honey yeild, more like to minimise workload. (I am LAZY)

At present my 2 colonies seemed to have survived the winter, and today were flying well and bringing in pollen. They overwintered with a super on top of the brood box. (nationals). I am now considering the pros and cons of leaving as is, rather than doing as I did last year and fitting QE at end of March between BB and SB.

As I see it...

Pros, no need to split SB and BB to fit QE, less likely to swarm, no need to feed in autumn as they will have one full super.

Cons: inspections become much more complicated.

I'm not prepared to go to the expense of large brood frames, esp as I already have plenty of hive hardware.

Any comments welcome, esp if anyone has experience of techniques for inspection/swarm prevention with brood 1/2.

cheers

Tony

 

[For want of a better word]

Double brood is easier
changing over from brood and half to double brood is not difficult, but another bit of work if you have more than a few hives IMO

 

[Travelator]

Double brood has all the same pros and cons you mentioned for brood+half, but I think there are also some extra pros:

- Don't have to worry about 2 different brood frame sizes.
- Splits and Demaree method become very easy

The extra con might be that the overall brood area is now "too big" rather than "just right", but that doesn't bother me too much.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Depends on your bees and how prolific they are. Are they the type that are happy in a single box or do they require a bigger one?

If my bees needed more space this year then I would go double brood rather than brood and a half but only when required.

 

[luckydunny]

Double brood has all the same pros and cons you mentioned for brood+half, but I think there are also some extra pros:

- Splits and Demaree method become very easy

QUOTE]

Please excuse dumb question but could someone expand a little on how you would achieve a split (and I assume that would be as an A/S)?

What is a Demaree or is it same thing?

 

[itma]

Entering 3rd year, I'm not at all driven to maximise honey yeild, more like to minimise workload. (I am LAZY)
...
I'm not prepared to go to the expense of large brood frames, esp as I already have plenty of hive hardware. ...

It wouldn't cost much to add ekes and (if you fancy) use some frame extenders to give you 14x12 ...

One potential advantage of multi-boxes for the brood (so I have been assured) is that pre-swarm QCs are "invariably" (yes, I know...) found on the bottom of the top box frames. What that means is that you can make a very quick and simple swarming QC inspection by "tipping" - lifting one side of the top BB and looking at the bottom of its frames.

But personally, I'm thinking of going to 14x12 ...

 

[DanBee]

Perhaps I should add this as my sig:

Whatever the question, brood and a half is never the answer.

Go double brood if your bees need the extra brood space, as others have said, and they are correct regarding pros and cons.

A single National brood box is a small box anyway so do not be surprised if this happens. It's not like you're in a bleak part of the country

The big downside of going to 14 x 12 is that you actively avoid having a 2nd broodbox by choosing a single larger box, but if your bees outgrow the 14 x 12 then where do you go next...? Depends on bees and local climate/forage, of course, but the 14 x 12 is not a big box either!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Double brood has all the same pros and cons you mentioned for brood+half, but I think there are also some extra pros:

- Splits and Demaree method become very easy

QUOTE]

Please excuse dumb question but could someone expand a little on how you would achieve a split (and I assume that would be as an A/S)?

What is a Demaree or is it same thing?

An AS will give you a split
A demaree is a sort of vertical AS with the old queen on her one frame in a box of foundation at the bottom/excluder/supers/excluder/old box with old frames,one of foundation and queen cell/s.
It's a way of swarm control without making increase, though you can of course split it.

 

[MandF]

There are more pros for brood & half in my (limited) experience.

- much easier to check through the top 'half' for a quick inspection
- if you need to do a fuller inspection you only need to move off the half (easier), not a full brood if on double brood
- the overall stack size is smaller during peak season so making it easier to reach/move the top super(s), which can be a significant advantage with full supers!
- you can use one of the half brood frames in the deep box for drone sacrifice

Whilst you dont have the same freedom of moving brood frames about as with a double brood, you do gain the advantage of being able to move the end frames up into the supers and/or extract along with the rest, if they are full of honey come extraction time.

In an ideal world 14x12 would be better, as long as they dont outgrow that, but if you have to have 2 brood boxes then I think I would still prefer b&h over two deeps, on my small scale.

 

[hedgerow pete]

must admit i am very anti brood and half or double broods,

single box, 11 frames job done

 

[BBG]

"(I am LAZY)"

Stay as you are, chill, eat the cheese, drink the wine and soak up the rays.

Treat when necessary.

 

[For want of a better word]

- you can use one of the half brood frames in the deep box for drone sacrifice

Fresh as they are or rolled in icing sugar..... my favorite summer treat !

 

[MandF]

With added varroa bits for extra crunch?

 

[oliver90owner]

An AS will give you a split
A demaree is a sort of vertical AS with the old queen on her one frame in a box of foundation at the bottom/excluder/supers/excluder/old box with old frames,one of foundation and queen cell/s.
It's a way of swarm control without making increase, though you can of course split it.


Agree, but I like to think of demaree as swarm prevention, not control. Done at the right time, the swarm mode can be avoided/put off. As a vertical A/S, that's fine; but that option of doing it for splits when it suits you (without having to worry about impending swarms) is a good selling point.

With 14 x 12, demarees are not the easiest with four supers on already!! A bit of a down-side that, but as I often have no Q/E, so separating a shallow (with eggs) will get me queen cells for splits, should I need them.