Pros and Cons of using a Deep Brood Box

[Willie Bee]

What are the pros and cons in buying a hive with a deep, 14 x 12 brood box, rather than the normal,sized box.

Surely it would be easier, in a lot of respects than the 'brood and a half' option.

Thank you for any advice given.

 

[enrico]

I only wish I had used the deep box from the start, one day I will change, the only con I can see is the weight of the whole box, apart from that it is all pluses

 

[DanBee]

Surely it would be easier, in a lot of respects than the 'brood and a half' option.

Yes

 

[nickhodge]

Wish I had started with 14x12. I will swap for sure as need brood and a half for sure and inspecting 22 frames instead of 11...well.

Not sure weight is too much of an issue. Not too many times you lift the brood box. Wonder if there are any winter concerns with the larger volume. You would certainly need a bigger lot of bees to warm it???

 

[Finman]

.
World is full of all kind of variations and bees live in what ever dark champer.

It depends do you want to get good honey yields or are you happy with "catch and release with the best tools".

If you really love bees, then you pick the most miserable style of keeping bees and the most ancient system, where getting yield is the most minimum.

.Think about your reputation first!

 

[Finman]

Wish I had started with 14x12. I will swap for sure as need brood and a half for sure and inspecting 22 frames instead of 11...well.
it???

That is surely not the base of beekeeping.

How do you for example extract the special frames?

I love to inspect 33 frames, if they are all brood frames.

I will cry if I only find 5 brood frame to inspect.

.

 

[psafloyd]

I only wish I had used the deep box from the start, one day I will change, the only con I can see is the weight of the whole box, apart from that it is all pluses

Yes, it is very heavy when full of brood and stores.

 

[Finman]

.
You in Britain have not so difficult winter, that it needs special frame size.

Best to nurse is douple.
Brood and half is unflexible to do nursing operations in brood hive.

2 langstroths are the most popular in the world.

 

[Illo]

Weight is a down side. Full brood box can be a two man job to lift without bringing on 'beekeepers back'. Try doing a demaree and you almost need block and tackle. Perhaps I'm just a weak and feeble girl?

If your bees gather a lot of propolis, you could have fun in the summer as they gum up the entire length of the hoffman spaced frames with goo.

But on the up side, I've never had to leave a super on over the winter - brood box holds more than enough stores to see the colony through to the spring. Dummy down if you want a smaller space to keep warm. I insulate with kingspan in the winter.

If I was starting from scratch now, I would choose/make top bee space though, not bottom bee space. But that's another thread...

LJ

 

[Newtobees]

I have changed over to 14x12 this year much better than messing with brood and a half but brought p*****s poly nice and light and frames are nearly square which seems easier to inspect or maybe thats just me.

 

[Skyhook]

Finman uses a different style to most of UK beekeepers, more of a one-size-box system where he doesn't really differentiate between brood boxes and supers. Probably a very good system, but hard for a beginner to relate to most of the advice on offer. I would therefore suggest doing it more by the book for the first few years, and for that 14 x 12 is definitely better. Also advantages to using double standard brood but read up on it first. Single standard brood not good, brood and a half worse.

.

 

[oliver90owner]

Illo is about right. The extra deep frames (yes, the 'deep' are the standard size!) are heavy and the bees do go through the winter without bother on the single box.

There are other downsides, like inability to swap frames from double brood boxes (or swap boxes around).

Overall it is always a compromise. And yes, more crop might be left in the brood frames (Finman always wants as much as he can possibly get) and you would need a decent sized extractor to be able to extract the extra deep frames, if needed (my nine frame radial with tangential screens does the job).

There are a huge number of threads already on the forum discussing the pros and cons and they would keep you reading for some time. At the end of it , it is your choice.