second brood chamber?

[stenibee]

After my first inspection last weekend, i found my brood chamber nearly full.There were stores and lots of capped brood. Was thinking of adding a second brood chamber to give the queen more space to lay. i got hive last year and split as was new. she is a very prolific layer. any thoughts.

 

[Davelin]

If it's nearly full you definitely need to create more space; if you are near OSR you might want to put a super on as that is in flower in many places.
Otherwise put another brood box on, either way they will need the space.

 

[itma]

A single-brood national is a bit cramped for a prolific Q's brood.

Brood and a half is a horrible solution - though commonly adopted.
I have chosen 14x12 -- brood and a half space but on a single frame.
Double brood is a perfectly reasonable method, if you don't mind inspecting more than one brood box. It provides flexibilities that become more attractive as your experience increases - but initially, it just seems to involve lifting heavy boxes at every inspection ...

 

[stenibee]

second brood box

where i live there is an abundance of OSR. Did apply super, but that is for honey, think she needs more space so i think i am going to remove that for the time being and add a second brood box. what would you recommend below or above brood chamber? should i pyramid?. also i have just applied glass crown boards to my hives. thanks for advice

 

[Swarm]

You really do not need to go through both chambers every inspection, only if you find queen cells. A simple tilt to check along the bottom of the frames in the upper brood is often all that's required or you can just inspect the top frames. You'll mainly find a lot of pollen and grumpy bees in the bottom box.

The main thing to be aware of is the colony size, a very large colony can be a bit intimidating at times so just remember to show them respect.

 

[Swarm]

Added:

Put it on top and bring a couple of brood frames up from below, central frames. Push the frames together and put foundation between the brood and stores and then add foundation around the couple of old frames in the top box.

If you have drawn comb all the better.