Can I make entire hive from 5-frame medium nuc bodies?

[Jim Prewett]

Situation:  Relatively new to beekeeping.   Recently took over a couple of hives on my property from retiring beekeeper.  Have read forum posts from past year or more on topics of interest. 

(As an aside, I am amazed at the patience and kindness of forum members answering the same questions repeatedly over time.  And some of you seem to have mastered coaxing better results from the search engine than I have.  A posting on search tips and syntax--if there is any--would certainly be helpful.)

Objective:  To transition my two tradition hives (each with 1 deep and 1 shallow) to something much lighter and easier to work with.   Also to transition to small cell in the process.

When I replaced the rotting bottom boards with screened units I realized exactly what Michael Bush and others were talking about when suggesting moving to medium 8-frame units.  Picking up the deep was difficult....getting it loose from the bottom board was near impossible.

In re-reading these posts, I ran across the mention of an elderly beek who used only medium 5-frame nuc hive bodies.

This is very appealing from a weight and size viewpoint, but I wondered if there were any potential problems to this approach.  I am in the south so winter temps are not that extreme.  But are there stability issues above a certain height and other pitfalls?

I am not concerned if there are negative impacts on honey production as a few ounces a year are more than sufficient for my needs.  One of the bee books I read stated that many people get into the hobby for the bees and get out because of the honey.  I agree with this assessment and would gladly let them keep all the honey if doing so is possible.  (I thought Bee-O-Pac would be the ideal solution but paying $50 for 50 cents worth of flimsy plastic--that is too deep for a medium box--is a total rip off in my opinion.)

Any thoughts on transitioning from current situation to small cell medium nucs would be appreciated.

Also, has anyone actually cut down Honey Super Cell to medium size on a table saw?  Did it tear, melt or deform?  Did you use a plywood blade or put the blade in backwards?  Is doing this really viable?

[Moonshae]

I believe somewhere here people described sawing the 10-frame bodies in half then using a thin sheet of wood as a wall on the cut side to make two 5-frame bodies. Using two nucs would cause some overhang because of the thicker center walls, and would be too wide for a single cover to fit over both. Using full-width shallows on top would help provide stability.

You can also keep an empty hive body nearby and use it to hold some frames, which would take some of the weight out and enable you to move the 10-frame boxes easier.

Regression using HSC or starter strips is pretty straightforward, with HSC being much quicker and more expensive.

[KONASDAD]

You can stack nucs just like regular sized hive bodies if they dont have a fixed bottom board. Probably a little unstable in the wind perhaps. Have no idea if or how it would impact the bees. You can also consider buying Brushy Mountains 8 frame  hives, and remove the outside frames of each deep to get 8 frames for new hive. You can save these frames by freezing them if honey filled for future feeding or expansion needs.
Small cell I'll leave to those who do it, of which there a few and growing group.

[Robo]

It would be feasible,  but I'm not sure how practical.  If weight is an issue,  I think I would rather move full deeps a frame at a time than deal with 5 frame nucs standing on a ladder. 

Cutting HSC should not be a problem,  use a high tooth count blade.  I haven't cut HSC personally, but have cut a lot of similar material.   I know Cindi has cut Pierco frames, maybe she can share how her husband did it.

[Michael Bush]

The biggest problem is that a booming hive will get very tall and blow over in a light wind.  Other than that it works fine.  I have medium five frame boxes and often get them three or four tall, but at that point I put them into eight frame boxes so they don't get too tall.

[Brian D. Bray]

I'm, once again, with MB on this.  I believe I was the person who posted that my 90 something neighbor used medium 5 frame nucs do to weight and handling issues.  I currently have 2 splits in 2 story 5 frame nuc.  At the most I would add a third so that as I move the bees into 8 frame boxes it would fill 2 boxes.

I plan on wintering the 2 nucs as they currently are, then adding a third in the spring and moving them into 2 8 frames just before the big honey flow. 

One thing to remember is that the narrower the box the easier it is to tip over.  I have been able to stablize the 5 frame nuc boxes more by using medium depth and building wider SBBs.  I build my nuc bottoms by laying 2X4's on their sides so that there is nearly a 2 inch platform around the entire base of the hive.  Also in a pinch I can use the bottoms on 8 frame equipment by moving the bee space outward.
Still I would not want to stack nuc boxes more than 4 high with mediums or 3 high with deeps.

[wtiger]

If stability were an issue couldn't you just secure the bottom boards down in some way?  Maybe screw them to a 2x2 or 3x3 sheet of ox board.  I mean aside from the bottom boards to the ground/stand it darn near takes a crowbar for me to separate hive bodies, inner covers, frames.  It's unbelievable how strong of an adhesive proprolis is.

[Michael Bush]

>It's unbelievable how strong of an adhesive proprolis is.

Yes.  I've seen ALL my hives blow over in a strong wind.  They stayed in one piece until they hit the ground and some of the boxes were still stuck after.  However, it did NOT prevent them from blowing over.

[Cindi]

Robo mentioned that I might have some input as to how my husband cut out the foundation on the plastic frame/foundation, called Pierco.  It was a tedious job, no doubt.  What his biggest suggestion would be, is just like Robo said, a high tooth count blade. That is a must.  Whether it be a skill saw or a jig saw.  His preference would be to use the jig saw he said the skill saw is quite clumbsy and a jig saw is smaller, easier to use.  He cut out quite a few of the Pierco plastic frames and they are in the hives.  How well they worked, I am still not sure.

It was mentioned in a post on our forum, when cutting out the plastic foundation to leave a little bit of the plastic around the entire periphery of the frame.  My husband did not do this because the post was made after he cut the frames out, he only left about 1 inch of foundation on the top for the starter strip.  I cannot recall who mentioned this aspect, but I think it was a good idea.  I did see one of the cut out plastic frames a couple of weeks ago, and the comb was not drawn right to the bottom, hence being attached.  It may be attached by now, I don't know.  When I find out I will post results.

I have had many combs of that crazy comb being built on the Pierco plastic foundation.  Where the bees build comb that is only attached a little bit on the face of the foundation, the entire comb built above the face, the bees climbing underneath and around.  It is rather odd and I am sure many have seen this type of comb.  From now on I will only be using wooden frames with wax foundation.  Have a wonderful day, greatest of life.  Cindi