hive bodies??????????

[visitor]

What is the need for two deep hive bodies as brood chambers. How many suggest that as opposed to one deep hive body and one medium super?

[Kurt Bower]

This area of the country does not seem to require 2 deeps for the successful keeping of bees.
Most use a deep and a shallow with some using a deep and medium for the brood chamber.
I personally run 3 mediums which may be too much but it allows for total interchangeability of the equipment and I never have to deal with the lifting of a deep which one day will be too heavy for me.

Kurt

[Wally]

As Kurt says, some use 1 1/2 stories, some use two. Also, I notice most that use 1 1/2 say they feed them in the fall. I use two deep for a brood chamber, and if the total weight in August is less then 70 pound , then I leave a super on top of that. I seldom, if ever, feed in the fall. Unless, of course, I'm using the food to medicate. It also makes it easy to split in the spring, if you want more hives.
Just an opinion, from a non-professional.
Wally

[Kurt Bower]

Hi Wally!
How do you check the weight of your hives in the fall?
From an economic standpoint, I would rather harvest the Spring honey and feed sugar syrup going into the Winter.
In order to leave a super on if a hive is too light, how long do you wait to extract?

Kurt

[wally]

Hello, Kurt
I haven't tried to sell any honey from my hives yet, so a large crop isn't important. I extract when the third box up, whatever size it happens to be, is 100% capped. Since I add a new box when the top one is 3/4 full, sometimes they don't fill one completely before working the new one.
Sometimes resulting in 4 or more boxes high during the honeyflow.
One hive this year gave me two hive body, or deep supers, of honey, while leaving three deeps on for winter,while another gave me nothing And both hive bodies on it are less then full. Where two men cannot lift the one hive, I can lift the other. 50 to 60 pound, I think.I guess the weight by lifting the hive, with one or two men..
Also, as the 2 deep hive empties out over the winter, it gives the queen more laying space for a quick build-up in the spring. I have seen queens fill three deeps with brood in the spring, so I don't like to limit her when the build-up is most critical.
Again, All this is from a non-pro, just an amatuer who likes to play with bees and snakes.

[No=-Bee's]

Does anyone in this area use screened bottom boards, and the slatted rack for better ventilation and brood rearing in the hive. And do you replace the screened board with a solid one during the winter?