Question about bee space

[Drone]

Hi all,

I hope everyone is well and your bees are healthy and getting ready for spring.

I did a quick inspection last weekend on my one remaining hive (I lost two - Waaaa) and everything looked great. The biggest problem I see is that the space is so large between the upper and lower frames (two deeps) that the bees fill this space with comb and it makes it difficult to work the hive.

I measured the space to be around 1/2 inch. I have heard that bees will fill areas under 1/4 with propolis and areas over 3/8 with comb. Therefore I am considering shaving about 1/8 to 3/16 of the bottoms of my hive bodies.

Does anybody else trim woodenware for optimum spacing? It seems like the right thing to do, I'm just not sure if it's worth the trouble. I would also hate to start getting frames elsewhere (I currently use Brushy Mtn. wood frames) just to find that the spacing is too tight!

Anyway, I guess I'm just thinking out loud, thinking about the bees, thinking about spring...

I would like to hear feedback from those who do this. Did it make a difference?

Thanks!

-John (Drone)

[Jerrymac]

Measure your boxes and then measure the frames and let us know what those measurements are. If all your boxes are the same and all your frames are the same then it might be wise to shave some off. But post what you got here first so we know if your equipment is standard stuff or if you might have got a bad batch.

[Michael Bush]

There are some major inconsistencies in frame and box size on deeps.  Luckily these don't seem to exist on mediums.  Deep boxes vary from 9 5/8" (which they should be) to 9 1/4".  Deep frames vary from 9 1/4" (which they should be) to 9".

[Drone]

MB - Interesting point about the inconsistent sizes on the deeps. I only seem to have an excess of bridge comb on deeps. The mediums are always pretty clean.

Do you know if the depth of the rabbets and thickness of top bars are pretty consistent? Or is this another dimension that varies between manufacturers.

Jerrymac - I didn't get a chance to take measurements last night, but I will this weekend.

[Brian D. Bray]

There are some major inconsistencies in frame and box size on deeps.  Luckily these don't seem to exist on mediums.  Deep boxes vary from 9 5/8" (which they should be) to 9 1/4".  Deep frames vary from 9 1/4" (which they should be) to 9".

It depends on how the manufacturer lays out his rabbit depth.  The depth of the rabbit affects how the frames hang in the box and what clearance there is between the top bar and the bottom bar above it and visa versa.  When buying frames from 1 manufacturer and boxes from another it is possible to have frames that hang below the bottom of the box necessitating adding a shim (thin strip of lath) along the bottom of the box, or the opposite problem of having to trim the box down 1/4 of an inch. The opposite also occurs where you have top bars that are even or above the top edge of the box.  The easiest thing to do is to measure the depth of the rabbit and then adjust that depth. 
As MB pointed out this is much more common with deeps and than either mediums or shallows. 

[Drone]

OK - I did some measuring last night.

I don't have the dimensions in front of me right now, but the bottom line is there is a difference of 1/4 inch from the bottom of the deep frames to the bottom of the deep body. There is also 1/4 inch from the top of the deep body to the top of the frame.

So, when I stack 2 deeps, I get the 1/2 inch space that I have a problem with.

My mediums have the same 1/4 inch clearance on top, but only 1/8 inch clearance at the bottom for a total of 3/8 when stacked - perfect. So I guess I'm going to shave about 1/8 inch from the bottom of my deeps.

I also was looking at some used frames last night and noticed that the mediums were very clean on the tops and bottoms but the deep frames needed to have a lot of comb removed from the tops and bottoms. I'm not sure if this is due to the spacing, or just the fact that they were used in high traffic, brood-rearing areas.

[Michael Bush]

Some of the deeps are intended to have a metal rest installed and are therefore 1/8" deeper in the frame rest.