As for deeps, 99% of the "all medium" beeks have kept bees for less than 10 years. Same ratio of beeks that have kept them over 10 years use deeps.
I don't doubt your statistics Walt, but I might have a different interpretation. :-D The "all medium" beeks have been keeping bees for less than 10 years because they are young people who are willing to think outside the box and try something different. People who have been keeping bees more than 10 years are old guys who are set in their ways and/or have a huge investment in deeps and don't want to have to change.
I'm an all medium, 8 frame, beek nerd who has been beekeeping for over 50 years, I must be a part of that 1%. But really, I'm an 8 frame, all medium, foundationless beekeeper because my 50+ years of experience has shown me I get the best results from the bees, with the least amount of wear and tear on me than any other method.
Mediums and eight frame are for lazy beeks, deeps are for bees.
One of the things that cemented the use of 8 frame mediums for me was the observation that the queens travelled up and down between frames better with medium hives than with deeps. The queens were able to use a larger portion of the hive as part of its brood chamber. One sure indicator a pending swarm, even in the absence of queen cups/cells, is usu both sides of every frame in the brood chamber is open or capped brood. In a 3 medium brood chamber that's 36 frames of brood. Any way you cut it, that is more brood than the 16 deep frames of brood in a 10 frame deep.
Does God give brownie points for lots of heavy lifting? :-D Doesn't mean you're lazy. Just means you will have the energy to have more hives.
Mediums and eight frame are for smart beeks. Trees are for bees.
Hey Walt, are you going to be at the NC State Beekeepers Association meeting this week? If so, I'll PM you my cell phone number and we can meet up.
Now to the query that started this thread: SarahM,
A common mistake made by beginning beekeepers is that they place the excluder on the hive at the same time they place the super full of foundation on. The result of this is are follows:
1. To the bees the excluder is pretty much the same thing as an inner top, they won't go past it except for a good reason. Always allow the bees to begin working the super drawing out combs and depositing nectar in the frames of the foundation. Once you have 2-3 partially drawn combs with nectar deposits you can then install the excluder if you really have to.
2. Without allowing the bees to work the frames 1st, or the use of baiting the box in the instance of like sized boxes, the bees just go past the excluder. Baiting the box is simply taking drawn framws from one box and placing them in the box above, giving bees 2 new frames in the one box and 2 working frames to draw the bees up into the new box.
3. As a result of the excluder applied imporperly, the bees have a limited hive size, as a consequence they begin back filling the brood chamber followed by queen cells because the hive has become to crowded so the hive goes into swarm mode.
Here's the solution to your situation.
1. Remove the queen excluder, if you haven't already done so. Let the bees to begin working the super unimpeded.
2. Take the frames that are not or only partly drawn out on one side and face the undrawn sides next to the brood chamber, one frame on each side of brood chamber. Using M for a miscellanious frame, P for a partially drawn frame, and B for a brood frame, the configurations should be thus: MMPBBBPMMM if only 3 brood frames, but you get the idea. The cure is similar to that of the honeybound hive, because the hive is honeybound, and placing the undrawn side next to brood allows the bees to increase the brood chamber.
I'm going to post a new thread as soon as I'm done with this answer on the Pollen Bound Hive. I found 2 such during my last inspection and thought the information would be of use to the forum members. Pollen bound is very much like honeybound, the solution is the same.
