# Best size super



## My-smokepole (Apr 14, 2008)

I use both. I Inhearaed the shallows when I bought out a keeper. The only other down side is more frames to handle for the same amount of honey.


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Mediums... I run all mediums for everything.


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## mathesonequip (Jul 9, 2012)

deep brood boxes and shallow supers have been popular for a lot of years, I kind of like this set-up. shallow supers, frames, and foundation are not as easy to find, as mediums have become more popular. all deeps will get howls of horror on beesource but they are the most cost efficient. shallow supers are easier to manage with smaller honey flows, but cost more per area of comb. sort of a local personal choice.


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## rwlaw (May 4, 2009)

Ya, well let em howl! LOL I run for bees, not honey, besides it's a lot nicer to spin out ten frames and get 80 or 90 lbs of honey than twenty.


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## mathesonequip (Jul 9, 2012)

garner-beek; I would suggest a few extra deeps to draw out some comb, so you are ready to go for good stuff like swarms or more hives.


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## garner-beek (Dec 21, 2014)

mathesonequip said:


> garner-beek; I would suggest a few extra deeps to draw out some comb, so you are ready to go for good stuff like swarms or more hives.


Hmmmm.. good point. I wasn't expecting honey my first year, just wanted a few supers on stand by just in case. I do need the extra drawn comb more importantly. I'll more than likely just make up some more deeps for this year. Thanks


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## 78-79fordman (Mar 23, 2014)

Run all deeps here !!!


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

All the same size is nice. A size you can lift is nice. Most things are available in mediums (plastic one piece frames, plastic foundation, frame feeders etc.) Many of these things are not available in shallows. It takes less uncapping and less batches in the extractor to extract the mediums over the shallows. The shallows weight less than the mediums. A full ten frame medium weighs about 60 pounds or so. A full ten frame shallow only weighs about 50 pounds. I run all eight frame mediums, which weigh about 50 pounds stock full of honey.


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## dleemc1 (Dec 31, 2012)

I run a lot of deeps and some med`s


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## dobeedobeedo (Oct 21, 2014)

Funny. . . I was just looking through my catalogs and making lists of wooden ware. I am starting this Spring - planning on two hives, and I was just contemplating the same question. I am leaning towards the mediums, but only because I think the size seems more popular and parts seem to be very easy to find.

Of course, once I get to talk to the local bee club, I may change my mind.


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## mathesonequip (Jul 9, 2012)

mediums are popular with some hobby folks, but the reality is that there are many more deeps than anything else out in the bee yards. assorted supers for honey, are often what you accumulate over the years. the larger operators run mostly deeps.


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

Mr.Beeman said:


> Mediums... I run all mediums for everything.


+1

To ease lifting and for cross compatibility.


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## beeware10 (Jul 25, 2010)

the older I get there is no best of anything. If there was we would not have a choice. we started out with deeps and now use med supers for everything. works for us.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

Forty years ago a friend suggested we use only section comb depth supers for our extracting supers because in 40 years mediums and shallows would be too heavy. I did not listen and now can't easily lift a full medium. Luckily I have stong help.


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

Shallows over deeps is what I was told. I wish they told me that before I built mediums.


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## psfred (Jul 16, 2011)

Two shallows will fit in each side of the basket in a tangential extractor. Mediums won't.

Not an issue if you have a radial extractor, but something to think about if you use a tangential.

Peter


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## NCbeek (Mar 23, 2011)

Shallows sound like a lot of work and extra expense so I've never used them. Been using deeps for brood and meds for honey. Like the set up. Going to try some deeps this year just to get some extra drawn comb but will have help lifting them if I need to. 10 frame meds aren't to heavy for my father yet and he's in his sixties. Advantage - medium. Also You'll see people like us that run just a few hives transfer full comb from the super to an empty box on a wagon, dolly or back of a truck while brushing the bees off. Saves lifting the whole unit. I do that and like it very much.


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## johng (Nov 24, 2009)

I like medium supers, although I do run some Deep supers on the Gallberry flow just to get some extra drawn comb. Shallows just seem like a lot of extra work for the same amount of honey. Full deeps are really a little too heavy especially once they get over waist high. Medium supers are just about right.


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## BeeAttitudes (Dec 6, 2014)

For honey, would you need more than one deep super? (nearly 90lb is a lot of honey) Might be too much weight if you need to stack 2 deep supers over 2 deep brood boxes. 

Adding a super only once is appealing if a single deep super would suffice. Worst case is weight is an issue is pull the frames individually into another box when harvesting (as suggested above) and then all your equipment could be deep boxes/frames.


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## mgolden (Oct 26, 2011)

BeeAttitudes said:


> For honey, would you need more than one deep super? (nearly 90lb is a lot of honey) Might be too much weight if you need to stack 2 deep supers over 2 deep brood boxes.
> 
> Adding a super only once is appealing if a single deep super would suffice. Worst case is weight is an issue is pull the frames individually into another box when harvesting (as suggested above) and then all your equipment could be deep boxes/frames.


Its more like 50lbs of honey in a 10 frame deep super. Bees spread the nectar out to get it dried down. so you need comb area beyond what the capped honey takes.

Been experimenting with using three deeps(two broods and one honey) and then mediums above that for honey storage. Can move some deep frames up to the first deep honey super this way and vise versa if you are in need of honey in the hive(two deep broods) for winter.

Results in a little less heavy lifting. Only down side is when harvesting by full frames, you need to have both deep frames and medium frames with you.


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## garner-beek (Dec 21, 2014)

I think i'm going to go with 10 med for honey. Being it's my first year I'm putting 10 deeps on for the super to get some extra drawn comb.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

You will never get enough drawn comb. I ran deeps for supers to get drawn comb and they all got used for second boxes on nucs I am wintering. Since we are talking supers, mann lake has a good sale on med pf series plastic frames. How do you get UPS to deliver stuff when your wife isn't home?


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## Allen Martens (Jan 13, 2007)

Wow, 90 lbs of honey for a deep sounds like a hive that has been under supered to me. More than 35 lbs of honey for a 9 frame honey becomes difficult to deal with because of the bur comb and probably overly dry honey.


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

I won't be lugging those 90-pound deeps around. I'm phasing out my deeps, going to 6 5/8" medium 10-frame boxes w/6-1/8" frames for most colonies, and 4-1/2" shallow honey-in-the-comb boxes w/4" frames for colonies assigned HITC duty. I have a very strong health-food market here, and can't keep local, organic, wildflower HITC on the shelf at $16.00/pound. Its gone in the first 2 hours. I'll be charging $20.00 per pound in 2015, maybe higher. Doing both HITC and queen rearing is running me ragged in the Spring time. I'll have to drop honey-in-the-comb production as the biz grows larger, so eventually all mediums.


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## mathesonequip (Jul 9, 2012)

Vance G said:


> How do you get UPS to deliver stuff when your wife isn't home?


ask the driver if you can get and sign a signature waiver form. this works for most deliveries up to some $ amount.


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## norton (Mar 19, 2005)

"Ya, well let em howl! LOL I run for bees, not honey, besides it's a lot nicer to spin out ten frames and get 80 or 90 lbs of honey than twenty."
Not if you have 8 frames in a 10 frame medium depth super. Nice fat combs are very easy to uncap.


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

garner-beek said:


> Hmmmm.. good point. I wasn't expecting honey my first year, just wanted a few supers on stand by just in case. I do need the extra drawn comb more importantly. I'll more than likely just make up some more deeps for this year. Thanks


That is probably your best move. It is certainly what I would recommend - stick with one size until you have all of that drawn out that you could possibly need before adding a new size.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

David LaFerney said:


> That is probably your best move. It is certainly what I would recommend - stick with one size until you have all of that drawn out that you could possibly need before adding a new size.


That means I would have had to lift deep supers of honey for 45 years. I am still needing deep combs after all those years. I have always used medium honey supers but I do try and draw out some deeps as honey supers every year. They draw the comb out all the way to the bottom bar as a honey comb but chew out the bottom if drawn as a brood comb.


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

Ok, you are correct. I was making some assumptions which could certainly be incorrect. I was assuming that since he said he has 2 deeps that he is a beginner, and that he probably (like most beginners) has an idea that he would like to get to a hive count between 2-8 within a few years. And that all of his hives could concievably need up to 3 deeps for brood. 

So what I meant was that if he wants to keep four double deep hives and a couple of nucs he should stay in deeps until he has 9 drawn out. By which time he will probably have a better idea of how he wants to proceed. And a nice start on a hobby apiary that can produce honey and make increase - and have the means to recover from mishaps. Much quicker than if he starts right away developing dedicated honey combs.


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## garner-beek (Dec 21, 2014)

David LaFerney said:


> Ok, you are correct. I was making some assumptions 7which could certainly be incorrect. I was assuming that since he said he has 2 deeps that he is a beginner, and that he probably (like most beginners) has an idea that he would like to get to a hive count between 2-8 within a few years. And that all of his hives could concievably need up to 3 deeps for brood.
> 
> So what I meant was that if he wants to keep four double deep hives and a couple of nucs he should stay in deeps until he has 9 drawn out. By which time he will probably have a better idea of how he wants to proceed. And a nice start on a hobby apiary that can produce honey and make increase - and have the means to recover from mishaps. Much quicker than if he starts right away developing dedicated honey combs.


You are correct on your assumption. Im assuming he is saying that i'll always need the comb so i'll always be using deeps as supers, thus the 45 years comment 

I'm going with mediums as soon as i draw out the 2 super deeps. I'm hoping i can draw future extra comb with nucs.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Vance G said:


> How do you get UPS to deliver stuff when your wife isn't home?


I get UPS packages delivered without a signature (no one there) on a normal basis. If you want to customize your UPS delivery preferences, sign up for _MyChoice _with UPS:

http://www.ups.com/mychoice/welcome.html

Note that there are two levels with that program. Some features are available at the "free" level, and there are other features that you have to pay for. I personally just have the _free _option.

A handy free feature is that UPS will send you emails (at your choice) alerting you to a package delivery.


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