Uniform supers?

[brendan]

Newbie with question. What is the pros/cons of using hive body sized supers for honey storage above the queen excluder. It would seem to me that other than weight it would greatly simplify things. If I am not using any "hard" chemicals in my hive couldnt I use any super above or below the super. Whats the scoop? :?

[Keith13]

you certainly can but the weight issue is a major factor a medium is heavy for me 30-50 lbs and I am a big guy. One or two ain't bad but when you move 10 15 20 + in a day they get heavy. Deeps would be miserable for me to move around all day. They just are not worth the back strain imo

Keith

[HomeBru]

Newb here too, and we decided to go all mediums. That way we just "grab a box" rather than having to think about it and all of our frames are the right size. I'm 40 and 6'3" and my 13-year-old son is a good, strong farm boy so we weren't worried about weight right now. If it ever gets a problem, we may go with shallow honey boxes, but I can't imagine having to...

J-

[brendan]

I just hope that SOMEDAY I get boxes of honey that are too heavy to lift. In my second season this spring and did not get any honey last year. Having boxes too heavy to lift would be good problem :-D

[Michael Bush]

It's all about weight.

Standard 10 Frame boxes
Name(s) Depth Weight full of honey Uses
Jumbo, Dadant Deep 11 5/8" 100 - 110 pounds Brood
Deep, Langstroth Deep 9 5/8" 80 - 90 pounds Brood & Ext
Medium, Illinois, 3/4 6 5/8" 60 - 70 pounds Brood & Ext & Cmb
Shallow 5 ¾" or 5 11/16" 50 - 60 pounds Cmb
Extra Shallow, ½ 4 ¾" or 4 11/16" 40 - 50 pounds Cmb

8 frame boxes:
Jumbo, Dadant Deep 11 5/8" 80-88 lbs
Deep 9 5/8" 64-72 lbs
Western Bee Supply 7 5/8" 56-64 lbs
Medium, Illinois 6 5/8" 48-56 lbs
Shallow 5 3/4" or 5 11/16" 40-48 lbs
Extra Shallow 4 ¾" or 4 11/16" 32-40 lbs

http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslazy.htm#uniformframesize
http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslazy.htm#lighterboxes