# How many brood boxes?



## PeterC (Nov 6, 2010)

Hi i was just wondering how many Brood boxes you all have per hive?
I have always had one but now I have 8 frame I am thinking about having to to get high bee numbers.
What do you do?


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Two.

A queen can only lay enough eggs to totally fill one deep, so in theory one would do. But in my area anyway, it's just impossible to control swarming if they only have one brood box. I run two deeps, which enables comb manipulation from bottom to top ( and vica versa ), to spread brood & control swarming. Also, to allow enough honey for winter feed two boxes are needed so it's easiest just to run two permanently. 

Different locations and different methods may run one, just depends on several factors what's best.


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## honeybeekeeper (Mar 3, 2010)

I have 2 Deep hive bodies per hive and use medium boxes for honey supers!


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## PeterC (Nov 6, 2010)

Thanks for the replys.
i guess the best would be to see how they grow and decide from there. we have a few trees that flower over winter but not many.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

When I had deeps it was between one and three deeps depending on the size of the cluster. When I ran mediums it was between two and five mediums. When I went to eight frame mediums it went to between two and six depending on the size of the cluster, but four is my typical hive going into winter. If the queen wants, they are all brood boxes...


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## scdw43 (Aug 14, 2008)

I run deeps for everything. I let the bees decide on the number. If they get crowded I put another box on.


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## ccar2000 (Aug 9, 2009)

I am with Oldtimer. Two deeps for the brood nest and overwintering. Medium supers for honey. All 10-frame equipment. 
Three medium boxes equal two deep ones.


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## Countryboy (Feb 15, 2009)

On hives for honey production, I am running single deeps in the summer, and wintering in doubles.

_A queen can only lay enough eggs to totally fill one deep, so in theory one would do. But in my area anyway, it's just impossible to control swarming if they only have one brood box. _

If you trim your frames to 1 1/4, you can get 11 frames in the box. If you use small cell combs, you get more cells per comb. (Not to mention 10% faster brood development and emergence compared to 5.4mm cells.) If you crunch the numbers, you suddenly gave the queen a lot more room to lay than a conventional deep box with 9 or 10 large cell frames. You may find that the 'impossible' of swarm control suddenly became possible.


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