# Single Brood Chamber vs Double Brood Chamber



## rforrester7771 (May 7, 2013)

Hi all,

New to the site and to beekeeping. I installed my nucs (3) on April 27 into their boxes and have thoroughly enjoyed the bees so far. I have 3 hives and have to fight myself from going in them everyday as this is new and exciting to me. Every colony has already started drawing comb out on the 2nd and 9th frames, but only on the sides towards the middle of the boxes. From everything I've heard and read i am approaching the time to add another box on top of the existing brood chamber. My dilemma is whether to run double brood chambers or single brood chambers. I am wondering what the pros/cons are of each setup - my current thinking is to have double broods on two hives and a single brood chamber on the other. Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated.

RMF


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr (Feb 27, 2010)

I like two deeps (10 frame), for the brood chamber. Gives the queen lots of room for laying eggs, lots of room for storage of Winter stores. Also helps to keep the queen from going up into your honey supers without using a queen excluder.

But, the final decision is, it is up to the individual beekeeper, his/her choice.

cchoganjr


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## rforrester7771 (May 7, 2013)

Thanks cleo, i think ill just go with double broods on them all. My initial concern was that i would have a smaller honey yield by having two brood chambers but i guess thats not the case.

RMF


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

You CAN have a larger honey yield with a one deep brood chamber, because you can harvest more of the honey. We run one deep brood chambers, and move the capped brood frames up to keep plenty of open cells in front of the queen.

Crazy Roland


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## VolunteerK9 (Aug 19, 2011)

Try them both:double deeps on one and a single on the other. I've got combinations of everything right now. All mediums, deep/shallows deep/double medium. The goal is to move to double deeps in at least half for easier split management in the spring.


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## beehonest (Nov 3, 2011)

Cleo Hogan is right, I run two deeps also. They have plenty of laying room and build up quick in the spring. More frames to pull from for splits or to help a weak hive. A lot of commercial guys run singles, it is better for their needs.


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## millerdrr (Dec 5, 2012)

It's a choice, where I'm not sure there is a right or wrong answer, but I found this article on here a few days ago; it's got some interesting info in it. http://www.beesource.com/point-of-view/walt-wright/evils-of-the-double-deep/


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## hilreal (Aug 16, 2005)

I like a deep and 2 mediums stacked M-D-M. If reversal is needed I just switch the 2 mediums. Seems to give them plenty of room.


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

Just leave out the queen excluder and run unlimited brood chamber. A lot of us run all mediums that way, or you can run a mix of mediums and deeps. The queen gets plenty of room to lay and when the flow starts the bees will back fill with nectar and push her down.


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## Goat Man (Nov 23, 2011)

I know it is just the beginning of spring in some areas but I am already thinking about overwintering my hives.
I am curious how you feel about it. If you had to pick just one configuration, what would it be? 10 frame, 8 frame
5 frames, deeps, mediums, single, double or triple stacks?? What works best for you??


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## TWall (May 19, 2010)

As Roland posted you can keep the queen in a single deep and move capped brood up above the queen excluder. I did this last year and it worked great. However, this year I have gone back to a double deep brood chamber because I am not checking my hives as frequently.

Tom


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## Goat Man (Nov 23, 2011)

Going into last winter all my hives were in either double or triple med. 8 frame. All survived the
winter! I did feed some dry sugar cake starting around Christmas. By April 4 they all had at least 8 frames of brood!

Sam


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## honeybeebee (Jan 27, 2013)

Switch frames 1&2, and 9&10...put the half drawn frames with the comb to the outside....feed ,feed, and feed....I know hard it is to not peek every few days....watch from outside for awhile. Or go peek in a different hive every few days. ...enjoy


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