National v Deep - help please….

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Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,385
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1,374
Location
Bracklesham Bay, West Sussex
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
It's a fairly fluid thing.... more than 10, less than 15
Someone is offering up a full to the gills 14 x 12 nuc of bees as they have no more kit to house them in. I’m on standard nationals so if I took them, what would I need to bodge a standard brood box to accommodate the 14 x 12 deeper frames until I can move them onto standard deeps. I’ve googled this but can’t find an answer I trust so I thought someone here must have had to do this at some point!
Thanks in advance…..
 
There’s extension kits sold by suppliers for a conversion or as in a previous thread recently cut down the frames.
 
Someone is offering up a full to the gills 14 x 12 nuc of bees as they have no more kit to house them in. I’m on standard nationals so if I took them, what would I need to bodge a standard brood box to accommodate the 14 x 12 deeper frames until I can move them onto standard deeps. I’ve googled this but can’t find an answer I trust so I thought someone here must have had to do this at some point!
Thanks in advance…..
Stick a super on top of your national brood box .. hang the 14 x 12 frames in the super - the depth is near enough 14 x 12 to make little difference ... gets you out of a hole with kit you probably have.
 
someone here must have had to do this at some point
Yes, I gave up using 14x12 and went back to deeps by sawing off the bottom of all the frames after shaking off the bees.

It's dead easy and though you lose a little brood, the bits can be wedged into an empty frame with rubber bands for the bees to repair.

Was on a thread recently, but I can't find it.
 
Someone is offering up a full to the gills 14 x 12 nuc of bees as they have no more kit to house them in. I’m on standard nationals so if I took them, what would I need to bodge a standard brood box to accommodate the 14 x 12 deeper frames until I can move them onto standard deeps. I’ve googled this but can’t find an answer I trust so I thought someone here must have had to do this at some point!
Thanks in advance…..
A deep floor and two supers will do it or add an apiguard eke on top of two supers
 
I made up 90mm deep ekes that I sat the standard brood boxes on when I wanted to run a few 14x12’s to support a customer.
 
I made up 90mm deep ekes that I sat the standard brood boxes on when I wanted to run a few 14x12’s to support a customer.
My first bees were on 14 x 12 frames and came in a wooden nuc box that had been modified with a 90mm extension so I copied the idea and made up a similar extension to the bottom of a national brood box.
 
I made up 90mm deep ekes that I sat the standard brood boxes on when I wanted to run a few 14x12’s to support a customer.
I wondered what the extensions were for I found at work ,I’ve converted them into solid floors as I’m trying to get away from 14x12s .
 
An eke of 3 1/2" should do it. Under as standard BB.

The Thorne catalogue has the dimensions of National frame parts. Standard brood frame side is 8 1/2". 14x12 frame side is 12 ". So 3 1/2" = 89mm.

OR Dave Cushman's site
"assume the box is exactly the same as the national super or brood box, but 165mm deeper than the super (149mm) and 89mm deeper than a standard brood box (225mm), making it 314mm deep."
 
Last edited:
An eke of 3 1/2" should do it. Under as standard BB.

The Thorne catalogue has the dimensions of National frame parts. Standard brood frame side is 8 1/2". 14x12 frame side is 12 ". So 3 1/2" = 89mm.

OR Dave Cushman's site
"assume the box is exactly the same as the national super or brood box, but 165mm deeper than the super (149mm) and 89mm deeper than a standard brood box (225mm), making it 314mm deep."
Cheers, I was searching for the dimensions & forgot it was on Dave Cushmans site.
 
Thanks everyone for the very useful replies. The person in question appears to have changed their mind 🙄 and hasn’t replied to my polite enquiry either so I’m thinking too much aggravation….. at least I’ll know for the future.
 

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