# 1 Brood box vs 2 Brood Box



## BenSane (Aug 8, 2012)

Hello!

Does anyone work with just 1 brood box? That's my current setup as my local experienced bee keeper says he's been doing that for years with no issue.
I set the queen excluder over the brood box and I currently have 2 honey supers on top (1 full of capped honey).
I'm a little worried because I don't have much experience as this is my first year but I think I could just leave the excluder and a honey super on top for winter if needed right?

What are the advantages of having 2 brood boxes? More room / more bees?
Any disadvantages?

Thanks.


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## brooksbeefarm (Apr 13, 2008)

I run two brood boxes to have a large strong colony that will produce more honey and can defend it's self against other strong colony's. I would not leave the queen excluder on in the winter, bees move up to where it is warmer and where there stores are, and the queen will be left behind because she can't pass through the excluder. JMO


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## Robbin (May 26, 2013)

One brood box certainly works, it just limits the size your hive can grow to as it limits the space the queen can lay in. I suspect it allows your queen to last longer, as she won't lay nearly as many eggs every year, but that also limits the number of bees in the hive and that limits the amount of honey they can produce.


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## barberberryfarm (Feb 16, 2013)

Why not take the queen excluder off and let the bees decide how they want to design their new home and see how it goes. That's what I'm doing and the brood so far has pretty much stayed in the lower two deep and medium boxes with an occasional patch of drone brood in a frame or two in the 3rd box.


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## BenSane (Aug 8, 2012)

I guess I could give that a try... I just don't know if I want to experiment this late in the season.


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

I can winter a single deep hive here in Pennsylvania, Providing I feed candy, and pollen patties when necessary. As a rule my double deeps rarely need any help before spring build up in march.


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## Rusty Hills Farm (Mar 24, 2010)

Personally I think much depends on what kind of bees you have. A single is probably fine for Carnies who tend to keep smaller brood nests over winter. But I stick to doubles for my Italians because they keep larger brood nests and use lots of stores over winter. Plus they build up early IF they have the stores on hand to do it with. In any case, I'd lose the excluder for winter.

JMO

Rusty


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## BenSane (Aug 8, 2012)

I have Russian bees. They're pretty slow at starting off but once they get going, there's no stopping them.

They have another solid month of summer / building time here.
If I put another brood box, I guess I can just put it over my current brood box and put the queen exlcuder on top of my new brood box?

What about the 2 honey supers I currently have on there, just put them back on after I installed the new brood box? (1 fully honey capped, the other 1-2 frames capped).


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