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8 frame med. for all?

3K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  Michael Bush 
#1 ·
Does anyone have comments about using only 8-frame med equipment for brood chambers and supers. Seems like a good idea if nothing else just to simplify equipment?
 
#5 ·
Variations on Hive Configurations

When I first began keeping bees I used 10-frame deep supers for brood and 10-frame shallow supers for honey with queen excluders separating brood and honey vertically with a traditional single bottom entrance. I was ten years old when I began keeping bees in 10-frame deep supers. Initially I was able to place the empty hives atop the back yard shed that was to be their first home, without assistance, but once the packages were installed and the hives populated I soon realized that I wasn't going to be able to move them anywhere else without assistance. Thankfully, before that was necessary, I had grown several years older and stronger, strong enough to move the hives, one super at a time, still with some difficulty. Then thanks to an article in "Gleanings in Bee Culture", I soon switched to using all medium depth 10-frame supers for both brood and honey. This configuration, along with traditional solid bottom boards and telescopic covers with inner covers, had served me fairly well and in many different locations around the U.S.A.

Thanks to Michael Bush I moved on to 8-frame medium supers and elimination of bottom entrances. Now, with input from an article concerning the use of queen excluders, I have tried configuring my hives in a particular fashion for honey production and I like it. It is shown in this image: Configuration for Honey Production
 
#6 ·
Thanks for the comments Joseph. I checked out the setup but was wondering if the queen is totally trapped below the excluder. I have heard you shouldn't us any queen excluder type device at the entrace, even though it may seem like a logical solution to prevent swarms, but I have no idea why.
 
#7 ·
If she so chooses, the queen and any drones can always exit through the 7/16" diameter hole in the back side of the upper brood super. I included this small exit, especially in case the bees decide to replace the queen, without informing me, this way any virgin queen can go get mated without being trapped inside the brood supers, causing her to become a drone layer.
 
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