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Author Topic: Single Deeps Wintering in Florida...  (Read 8831 times)

Offline BlueBee

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Re: Single Deeps Wintering in Florida...
« Reply #20 on: September 12, 2012, 05:13:39 pm »
Sorry Doug, I guess I did get off on a tangent  :( 

You mentioned Walt’s manuscript of the evils of a double deep in the OP.  It’s my opinion there are simpler ways to solve the problems he complains about, than the manipulations he suggests.  It sounds like you have a plan to use your existing equipment; that is good.  But for others trying to solve the ‘evils of a double deep’, it would be worth keeping in mind this problem has been solved a LONG time ago.

Finski my friend, Brother Adam would disagree with you, rest his soul  :angel:

Offline Finski

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Re: Single Deeps Wintering in Florida...
« Reply #21 on: September 13, 2012, 01:03:02 am »
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My friend was better beekeeper than Brother Adam. He read ordered 2 American beekeeping magazines to home and learned from there.
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Offline BlueBee

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Re: Single Deeps Wintering in Florida...
« Reply #22 on: September 13, 2012, 01:12:41 am »
Finski are you saying your friend learned how to keep bees from us Americans?  Hey, maybe there is hope for us after all  X:X X:X X:X

One of the pioneers in American bee keeping was Charles Dadant.  He invented the Jumbo hive.

I have a mixture of hives/nucs.  Some are all mediums, some are deeps + medium supers, some are jumbos.  They all work, but some make my life easier and some make my life harder  :-D

Offline Finski

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Re: Single Deeps Wintering in Florida...
« Reply #23 on: September 13, 2012, 02:08:57 am »
Finski are you saying your friend learned how to keep bees from us Americans?  Hey, maybe there is hope for us after all  X:X X:X X:X


that friend was a real  beekeeping renewer in Finland 50 years ago. He had worked in Canada as young guy and learned English language there. He brought many profound ideas from America to Finland. He used Canadian Caucasian bees in  hives.

He told me what is difference with American and German beekeeping. In German they research research what colors bee see. In America they research how to get more honey.

But this Forum, I do not know these methods

- catch and release
- do nothing in front of problems (englishmen shake bees if they do not know or they burn hives)
- feed 60 kg honey to bees during winter  , some record competition?

- 200 year draw backs like top bar and natural combs

.brother Adarm wrote: "severe winters where temp drops to +5C. ....wow!

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Offline sterling

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Re: Single Deeps Wintering in Florida...
« Reply #24 on: September 13, 2012, 11:55:34 am »
As Walt said in the end of his Beesource article, the solution is simple; use jumbo hives.  Dadant and Brother Adam figured this out 100 years ago.  Modern beeks just like to make life difficult for some reason :?  

Why fool with picking up a deep and putting a shallow under it for winter pollen stores?  Why fool with trying to keep brood out of shallow supers in the winter/spring?  Why fool with swapping boxes in the spring?  Why sort through dozens of brood frames in the spring looking for queen cells?  Why do beeks like to make their lives more difficult?

The solution is simple:  use jumbo frames.  I overwinter in a SINGLE jumbo box in Michigan.  No honey boxes on top, no pollen boxes on bottom, no candy boards, no swapping, no nothing; just one box and the bees are boiling out by spring.  The large brood frames make a lot of bees.  Of coarse my hives are also insulated polystyrene hives which also makes a big difference in wintering success IMO.

Blue you had an awfull lot of swarms this spring. Did the swarms come out of those jumbo hives?

Offline Finski

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Re: Single Deeps Wintering in Florida...
« Reply #25 on: September 13, 2012, 03:37:12 pm »
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I wonder that frame type discussion.
I do not use excluder. The queen may lay as much is can and it  may lay in top most box if hive feels so.

So I expand the hive according  bee number and then in autumn I restrict the hive.

I do not need any philosofhy or backround why I do this. This is very basic in beekeeping.
It was teached to me at the beginning of my beekeeping.


I had jumbo like hives at very first ( 30 cm x 30 cm) but I burned my first  hives.

In Florida winter is not a problem. And winter is very short.

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