Deep or Medium

[MikeG]

OK, all you knowledgeable experts.  Could I get some advice?

My first package is going to be 6 weeks this weekend.  Unfortunately (didn't read here soon enough), I started them out with deeps.  Wish I'd gone all mediums.

I have a new deep ready to go.  I also have 3 mediums ready to go.  Do I put the deep on, and be forever stuck with handling deeps?  Or do I put the mediums on and begin a gradual switch?

I hate to waste my deeps.  But I'm 57 now, and don't look forward to handling them in my later years.

I'm sitting here with 2 packages, 3 deeps (1 unused), and 3 new mediums.

Oh, if only this were the "deepest' question in life (or the most difficult problem).

Any comments are greatly appreciated!

Mike

[MrILoveTheAnts]

Use the mediums after they've filled 8 of the frames with comb. Save the Deep for a swarm or split next year.

[Kathyp]

you won't be picking them up much if you just use them for bottom brood boxes.  use your deeps on the bottom and use medium above.  the only time i pick up my bottom box is once a year to clean off by SBB, other than that, it stays put.

don't worry.  those deeps won't spoil.  you'll end up getting hooked and you'll have more hives next year.  they have other uses also.  you can put them over feeder buckets, use them to hang frames in when you do hive checks, etc.

[doak]

Kathyp has a point. I find it easer to reverse boxes in the spring with deeps. You are less likely to split the brood nest with deeps. The deeps weigh only about half as much with brood as they do filled with honey.
My 2 cents.
doak

[MikeG]

OK.  If I eventually use a queen excluder or preferably slats, will they need two mediums above the deep before the excluder, or one medium over the deep?

[doak]

Don't know how others see it, but I'd use 2, which I am useing on the "BIG" swarm I caught Easter week.
They have made 3 medium supers of honey and I put another one on today.. And they did all that through an x-cluder.
doak.

[Moonshae]

I'm using deeps for my brood, too, ordered before exploring very deeply here. Perhaps using the one deep and two mediums, after the winder, when the cluster is in the top boxes, remove the deep and put in another medium instead?

[Kathyp]

I'm using deeps for my brood, too, ordered before exploring very deeply here. Perhaps using the one deep and two mediums, after the winder, when the cluster is in the top boxes, remove the deep and put in another medium instead?

i did the same thing.  i don't think that using the deeps for brood is to big a deal.  i would have done differently if i'd read here, but i'll keep the deeps for at least the lower brood boxes.  i don't swap boxes as a rule, although i did this year, so for me it's not such an issue.

i sure wouldn't toss the deeps...there is always a use for an extra box or two, and for big swarms, etc. a deep might be just the thing.

[Michael Bush]

As someone who has cut down every frame and every box to mediums, obviously I think you should go with mediums.  Then I cut them all down to eight frames.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beeseightframemedium.htm

[Brian D. Bray]

Mediums, mediums, mediums, and more mediums.  Whether 8 or 10 frame your back will forever thank you for the switch. 
Last year I bought a batch of deep nuc boxes because I could buy them cheaper than the medium nuc boxes, cut them down and made shims out of the waste. 

I recommend medium boxes, screened bottom boards, and slatted racks on every hive.  I also perfer top entrances.  Your old solid bottom boards can be used for top entrances, just turn them over (bottom side up) and place on top of hive.

[soilserf40]

Am going to all 8 frame mediums, since I am approaching middle age, (66) :shock:.

Thanks to M. Bush and others here.

[Kirk-o]

Mediums are better the queen likes mediums better to
kirko

[Robo]

queen likes mediums better to
kirko

 :?


I'm with Kathy,  use the deeps on the bottom and they don't have to be handled but maybe once or so a year in the Spring and they light then.  A deep frame gives the queen a larger uninterrupted area to lay.

[Michael Bush]

>A deep frame gives the queen a larger uninterrupted area to lay.

The circles my queens lay usually span three or four mediums.  It doesn't interrupt them at all.

[Michael Bush]

Let's try one more thing.  Everyone who has used deeps for brood raise your hand.  OK, out of all of you who have used deeps, how many have had to lift a deep full of honey?  I think that should cover it.

90 pounds is bad enough.  Having to bend over to pick it up is worse.  Having to set it down gently is even worse.  Not being able to rest it on your body is even worse.  Having to support 90 pounds on your fingertips in a 3/8" hand hold is even worse.  Dropping it is even worse.

Richard Taylor in The Joys of Beekeeping says:

    "...no man's back is unbreakable and even beekeepers grow older. When full, a mere shallow super is heavy, weighing forty pounds or more. Deep supers, when filled, are ponderous beyond practical limit."

[Robo]

Let's try one more thing.  Everyone who has used deeps for brood raise your hand.

Hand raised

OK, out of all of you who have used deeps, how many have had to lift a deep full of honey?

Not since I stopped using all deeps many years ago.

I think that should cover it.

I don't think so.  If you use deeps for just the brood chamber, there should be no need to lift full boxes of honey.  A properly managed brood chamber should not be filled with honey and bound.  Come late fall when they fill it, I find no need to dig into the bottom to inspect.  In the rare case, you can move frames.  So if miss management is a criteria, then you are correct. 

I'm glad all mediums work best for you.  I personally don't find it worth the extra time/work/cost and I'm sure there are others here as well.  There is no "right" way, it comes down to personal preference.  If everybody liked vanilla, they wouldn't make chocolate.

[annette]

Michael

You know I finally got rid of that full deep super for the bottom brood by following your instructions. See "help with removing super". Now I can finally go with all mediums. Can't wait. Now I can switch out frames and have everything the same size.

Annette