# Honey super size, could I use a deep brood frame ?



## FJA (Oct 29, 2008)

Hi
I am a new beekeeper, living in Sydney, Australia.
I have started two hives very recently, one a swarm capture and the other a feral hive cutout.
They both seem to be thriving, and have almost filled two brood boxes (it is midsummer here now).
I made my hive boxes (from scrounged construction site scraps), to standard metric langstroth dimensions.
The brood frames are 230mm deep (9.1 inches).
Just wondering, could I use this same size, for the honey supers ?
(to keep things simple and uniform)
And just harvest one or two frames, at a time ?
Or would this cause problems ?
I only intend to have 2 or 3 hives, in my city backyard, and eat the honey myself.

Jeff


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## bigbore (Feb 25, 2008)

*super size*

the problem with your idea, _as i see it_, is that you won't want to keep handeling a 70+ lb. super of honey to check your bees. And if you keep taking out a frame or 2 of honey to extract you will always have open cells preventing you from taking off the whole thing. I don't think it will hurt you to use a deep super to make honey, but I think you will get tired of handeling it all the time. I thought abput the same idea, but gave it up when I realized how much heavier a deep half full of honey was compared to a deep full of bees..


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## JOHN HINCHMAN (Feb 28, 2008)

That Is All I Use Because To Me When Harvest Time I Do Not Have To Deal With Little Frames And I Sure Get Alot More Honey Out Of Deeps And If I Need To Start Another Hive I Have Foundation Draw Out And It Jumps Start My Bees, Yes They Are Heavey But I Lift Them Juust Fine?


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

A ten frame deep full of honey weighs 90 pounds. That's the only downside.


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## FJA (Oct 29, 2008)

Thanks everyone for the advice, about the weight importance.
I am not really that strong.
I could live with two different frame sizes.
And maybe convert to all mediums, as advocated on the Bushfarms.com website.
(One of my very favorite sources of information - thanks Michael)


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## bejay (Jan 14, 2005)

while they are heavy if you did pull the whole box, but I usually just pull each frame out and place in a nuc box so I only have to carry 4-5 at a time and seeing how I pull each frame anyway to brush off bees its not much difference to me whether its a meduim or a deep but kinda preffer deeps as you have less frames to extract.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

You get the best drawn combs for future hives by drawing them out as a honey frame.


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## FJA (Oct 29, 2008)

bejay said:


> while they are heavy if you did pull the whole box, but I usually just pull each frame out and place in a nuc box so I only have to carry 4-5 at a time


That is an excellent idea.
Since I have a spare brood box and frames, but not a shallow super box, I will try a deep super, and see how I go.



JOHN HINCHMAN said:


> And If I Need To Start Another Hive I Have Foundation Drawn Out And It Jumps Start My Bees


Another good idea.



odfrank said:


> You get the best drawn combs for future hives by drawing them out as a honey frame.


Just wondering, do you mean that shallow honey frames are better than deep honey frames ? Are they better because the comb is more robust (in the extractor for example), and so can be recycled more times in future hives ?


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## Ruben (Feb 11, 2006)

Good Back + 90 lb Supers = Bad Back


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## jesuslives31548 (May 10, 2008)

I use 6 5/8 box in 8 frame configuration for Honey supers and brood box. I like the idea of one size box, frames, wax..etc I actually run 7 frames in the honey super. Most are 3 deep brood that I split each year in the late summer. Just my 2cents worth.......


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

>Just wondering, do you mean that shallow honey frames are better than deep honey frames ? Are they better because the comb is more robust (in the extractor for example), and so can be recycled more times in future hives ?

I meant that the best deep comb were drawn out in honey supers rather than by a swarm or above a brood nest. Deep combs drawn out in the bottom box always are chewed away above the bottom bar.


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## justgojumpit (Apr 9, 2004)

odfrank, perhaps this is because the bees prefer to have the added ventilation or communication holes provided by those gaps the chew away. I'm sure there is a reason for what they do, and I try not to force my hand on them too much...

justgojumpit


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## BoBn (Jul 7, 2008)

odfrank said:


> > Deep combs drawn out in the bottom box always are chewed away above the bottom bar.


This doesn't happen if you use a slatted rack.
I make slatted racks like this except only 3/4" deep:
http://www.beesource.com/plans/bottomrack.htm

I am now building it into my screened bottom boards so that the bottom boards are all one unit.


-Bob


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## FJA (Oct 29, 2008)

odfrank said:


> >
> 
> I meant that the best deep comb were drawn out in honey supers rather than by a swarm or above a brood nest. Deep combs drawn out in the bottom box always are chewed away above the bottom bar.


odfrank, just wondering if you use, mostly deep frames, for honey supers ?


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

I use medium depth boxes for my honey crop but every year also draw out 9 1/8" and 11 1/4" deep frames on the honey flow. You should hear my two buddies complain when we have to hoist down those couple of 11 5/8" deep boxes down from the top of a big stack of honey on a hive. 
I have used slatted racks for 30 years, they do not completely solve the chewing out problem.


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