Lighter equipment

[Michael Bush]

https://bushfarms.com/beeseightframemedium.htm

See the link above for more on this.  I found that ten frame deeps can weigh 90 pounds when full of honey.  I much prefer my eight frame mediums.  How to convert is detailed above.  Keep in mind you can mix eight frame and ten frame boxes with just a 20" long 1x3.  I really think the best first step is to stop buying boxes that you don't want (too heavy).  I recommend eight frame mediums as they are reasonable (40 pounds when full of honey) and most everything is available for them (plastic frames, plastic foundation, frame feeders etc.)

[BarryFrantz]

i'm trying some 8 frame colonies, but most of mine are still ten frames, using 2 brood boxes.

How many boxes do you try to maintain as brood boxes?

Do you have any challenges to keep the queen from moving up and laying eggs where you want to be making honey?  Or just use an excluder?  I haven't been using excluders, do have some cases of brood showing up in supers i want for honey, but i just deal with that until it's hatched.

[Ben Framed]

Barry,
Welcome to Beemaster!

Phillip

[BeeMaster2]

Barry,
Welcome to Beemaster.
I don?t make that decision, the bees decide how many brood boxes they need. Some will only use 2 medium 10 frames,
Some use more. If they don?t have enough room for the queen to lay they will probably end up swarming.
Jim Altmiller

[NigelP]

General UK system is a bit different to what you guys and gals describe. Our brood boxes (deeps) hold 11 frames and if full of honey weight around 40-50 lbs  if full of honey.....however we collect our honey in what are called supers placed above a queen excluder (these are around half the depth of the brood boxes) and will weight no more than 30lbs when full. Makes for even more of a less back breaking experience. I use polystyrene supers and brood boxes which lightens the weight even further.

[The15thMember]

i'm trying some 8 frame colonies, but most of mine are still ten frames, using 2 brood boxes.

How many boxes do you try to maintain as brood boxes?

Do you have any challenges to keep the queen from moving up and laying eggs where you want to be making honey?  Or just use an excluder?  I haven't been using excluders, do have some cases of brood showing up in supers i want for honey, but i just deal with that until it's hatched.

Welcome to Beemaster, Barry!    I use all 8-frame mediums, and like Jim said, it's up to the bees to decide how much brood they want and need.  I don't use queen excluders, but I never harvest the first full box of honey.  I always leave that for the bees to make sure they have enough food, but it also doubles as a honey barrier that keeps the queen, and therefore any eggs, out of the super above that one, which I harvest.  I've never had any trouble with brood in my honey supers. 

General UK system is a bit different to what you guys and gals describe. Our brood boxes (deeps) hold 11 frames and if full of honey weight around 40-50 lbs  if full of honey.....however we collect our honey in what are called supers placed above a queen excluder (these are around half the depth of the brood boxes) and will weight no more than 30lbs when full. Makes for even more of a less back breaking experience.

Traditional Langstroth beekeeping actually does use deeps for honey and mediums/shallows as supers above a QX.  Many people just find it more convenient to have all their equipment be the same size, and therefore interchangeable, so choosing all one size box as become more popular as time has gone one. 

I use polystyrene supers and brood boxes which lightens the weight even further.

I'm doing my first inspection on my new poly hive today, which is 10 frame, since I couldn't find any 8-frame poly equipment for a decent price.  I'm interested to see how managing it will be different from my other equipment.

[Ben Framed]

General UK system is a bit different to what you guys and gals describe. Our brood boxes (deeps) hold 11 frames and if full of honey weight around 40-50 lbs  if full of honey.....however we collect our honey in what are called supers placed above a queen excluder (these are around half the depth of the brood boxes) and will weight no more than 30lbs when full. Makes for even more of a less back breaking experience. I use polystyrene supers and brood boxes which lightens the weight even further.

I like it Nigel..

Phillip

[BarryFrantz]

thanks all for the input!  makes sense...

[Michael Bush]

>i'm trying some 8 frame colonies, but most of mine are still ten frames, using 2 brood boxes.
>How many boxes do you try to maintain as brood boxes?

I just try to keep them from running out of room.  I generally don't use an excluder unless I'm doing queen rearing.  If I am queen rearing then I use an excluder over one box since I'll be in that box often (at least once every two weeks and sometimes sooner) I can keep the queen from running out of room by juggling frames.

>Do you have any challenges to keep the queen from moving up and laying eggs where you want to be making honey?  Or just use an excluder?  I haven't been using excluders, do have some cases of brood showing up in supers i want for honey, but i just deal with that until it's hatched.

You can use an excluder if you like.