double brood

[blackie]

thinking of running langstroth double brood like they do in america next year but what are the pros and cons of doing this?

 

[REDWOOD]

2 boxes to inspect is one pitfall

 

[Finman]

2 boxes to inspect is one pitfall

that is big rubbish
when you hang on this forum, you could inpect 200 hives with unlimited brood area.

 

[REDWOOD]

that is big rubbish

please explain

 

[smithhive]

thinking of running langstroth double brood like they do in america next year but what are the pros and cons of doing this?

Depending on how prolific your bees are, there is a risk that most of "your" honey will end up in "their" top brood box.

 

[Woeski]

Surely the question has to be
If you are thinking of doing it, why are you thinking of doing it?
What do you think the benefits would be?

 

[richardbees]

2 boxes to inspect is one pitfall

I agree - just think about trying to do a thorough inspection on a hot June afternoon!

 

[REDWOOD]

2 boxes to inspect is one pitfall

I agree - just think about trying to do a thorough inspection on a hot June afternoon!

Thank you

 

[Finman]

I use 3 langstrooth brood. I do not use excluder.

What I inspect, I see all necessary in the upper brood box. Nothing new in other boxes.

When you "inspect" your hive, what you inspect there? They are very different thing what I look in Spring, in swarming time, in main flow and in late summer.

And when you inspect, you need not find a queen. It is enough if you see larvae and eggs.

 

[Finman]

2 boxes to inspect is one pitfall

i agree - just think about trying to do a thorough inspection on a hot june afternoon!

oh my lord!

If you want 100 kg honey from you hive, you need to work a little bit. It does not drop from heaven.

 

[richardbees]

Finman

Why on earth would I want 100 kg of honey from one hive?

My June inspections are to look for Q cells and prevent swarming - which can be a nuisance in my urban environment.

 

[Finman]

My June inspections are to look for Q cells and prevent swarming - which can be a nuisance in my urban environment.

If you see queen cells, it is too late to prevent swarming. Now you must STOP swarming fever.

Prevent means what you do that the hive does not make queen cells.

Ok. You look inside the hive and you see queen cells. Yes, it is going to swarm.

If you do not see queen cells in the uppermost brood box, you do not find them from other boxes either.

I do not pick queen cells of because it helps nothing. It makes things even worse.

What you can do is to make false swarm.

It has nothing to do with nuisance and how 2 brood boxes add nuisance?

 

[Finman]

Finman

Why on earth would I want 100 kg of honey from one hive?

.

I extract the honey and sell it

 

[richardbees]

Fin

You missed the point - I physically don't want to lift 100 kg worth of supers from one hive but prefer to take the same total kg from two smaller hives.

 

[snoop]

I have langstroth poly brood boxes. I over winter on double brood boxes , the top box full of stores, at the end of the winter ( March) the bottom box is completely empty , the bees have moved up to the top box with usually about 1/2 the stores up there cleaned out. Usually take away the bottom box and change the frames out at that stage. Put in new foundation etc.
If I have to make up artificial swarms during the year a single brood box for the rest of the year is fine with queen excluder & upper boxes for honey . Some stains need a double brood box during the summer , I find the black bee we have over here does not. You do get the occasional one that does from time to time require a double brood box. I had one colony in the last 2 years that did the queen was laying across 14 frames in the height of the summer. With the poly boxes there are no cold frames so the queen will lay across all 10 frames. At the end of the summer when the honey comes off I give them another brood box so they are now on 2 & feed them well to get ready again for winter.

 

[Finman]

Fin

You missed the point - I physically don't want to lift 100 kg worth of supers from one hive but prefer to take the same total kg from two smaller hives.

I wonder how can you get same "total" kg from small hives??? It is a miracle.

Over 100 kg hives are quite normal here. But the big hive needs a good pasture. Ex nihilo nihil fit


From small hives you get only swarms. Vain to inspect them. It does not help.

.

 

[richardbees]

Nothing comes from nothing (Latin: ex nihilo nihil fit) i

Nice one Finman! (and what would I do without Google?)

I manage well enough with single BB hives.....

 

[blackie]

if young and fit like me not worried about weight but why do they do this in america ?

 

[oliver90owner]

if young and fit like me not worried about weight but why do they do this in america ?

Beekeeping is not about forcing bees to a strict human requirement, it is about 'steering' the bees in the right direction. Giving adequate room for the colony size is an important factor to prevent/reduce swarming. There are other ways to do it but two boxes, if they are required, is one way. All things are a compromise (often with the plans on the bees' agenda).

I am like Finman, I do not impose restrictions on the brood area at all times, just when it suits me and the bees are unlikely to up and leave.

 

[Finman]

What is douple brood or one and half?

It means a site of excluder. Nothing more.
It means that you may exctract honey without brood cells.

Bees take care themselves without excluder.

Many use excluder so that they put it on on late summer that they can extract honey easily after main yield. Then they give sugar instead.

Many use exluder in UK even if they do not take honey off. WHY?

What is the most important in douple brood

- you need a good layer. It means strain of bees. If you do not select queens, propably you do not have a queen which can use 2 brood boxes.

When you have 2 brood, it is not sure, how much the hive need in winter. In my yard normally half of hives winter in one box. Very few year they all winter in 2 boxes. If late summer has bad weathers, almost all hives winter in one boxe, even if they have had 6 boxes in summer.

- Yes, if you give 2 brood to lay, it does not mean that you get any better hive.