How many brood boxes

[Jimbo]

I am interestered to know how many brood boxes people are using .
I currently use 1 deep is this the norm.
Thanks jim

[jayj200]

I think the norm down here is two then a honey super when the deeps are full should be pre flow

[Suncat]

I use 1 deep also, then a seperator, and then 2 deep supers on top, this is the way my dad had it and also his mentor.

Seems to work ok for me.

Thanks
John

[SkipS]

I am using 1 brood box then a queen excluder this year, adding supers as necessary.  Has worked here in NW Iowa.  Next season I plan on mixing it up a little with and without the excluder. 

[Jimbo]

I use 1 deep also, then a seperator, and then 2 deep supers on top, this is the way my dad had it and also his mentor.

Seems to work ok for me.

Thanks
John

Thanks for rely
Exactly the way I have mine.
Cheers

[BeeMaster2]

Jumbo,
Is the separator you mentioned a queen excluder? If it is, you need to remove it before winter. If you have them on right now, during your winter, your queens can be trapped below while the res of the bees move up to the honey as they run out of honey in the brood chamber. This usually happens at the end of winter. If you have them on your hives, I recommend that on the next 50 plus day that you remove them to save your queens. If the bees are still well below them, you could probably do a quick removal during a sunny day.
Jim

[kanga]

Jumbo,
Is the separator you mentioned a queen excluder? If it is, you need to remove it before winter. If you have them on right now, during your winter, your queens can be trapped below while the res of the bees move up to the honey as they run out of honey in the brood chamber. This usually happens at the end of winter. If you have them on your hives, I recommend that on the next 50 plus day that you remove them to save your queens. If the bees are still well below them, you could probably do a quick removal during a sunny day.
Jim

In some parts of Australia that may be the case but for the most that is not necessary in Queensland. Our winter is nearly over and in the coastal areas of Sth East Qld some beeks have actually already extracted in preparation for an early swarming season.

Kev

[Suncat]

Jim,

Yes I did mean a queen excluder, and as Kanga has said, in SE Qld the temps are always pretty mild at the worst of times (we did get down to 5C for a few nights, but still 20-22C during the days).

3 weeks ago I was able to rob 30kg of honey from my 2 productive hives (I took most fully sealed frames, probably 9 from each hive, still leaving 9 that had been partly sealed and still with lots of honey).  The brood box still had ample supply of honey, and the bees really haven't stopped collecting, and are as busy now as I have seen them in 12 months (still lots of drones coming and going during the middle of the day...)

I will keep in mind (for future years) the idea of removing the  queen excluder, but I would probably just move some honey frames from the supers down if they appear to be running low.

I am new and always learning and like to hear how other beeks run their hives.

Thanks
John

[BeeMaster2]

John,
If you are going up to 20 C during the day, the bees will move the honey down into the brood chamber. Like you I do not remove all of the honey. That way I never have to feed sugar water.
Jim

[yantabulla]

I leave my QE's on all year west of Coffs Harbour.  Despite a frosty couple of weeks in winter they are fine and I am putting drawn frames down into the brood box in stronger hives to free up space and reduce swarming. They are noticeably uncapping honey in the brood chamber presumably to free up space for the queen.  There is no flow on here at the moment. I like to restrict mine to a single full depth 8 frame.  Easier to manage and to scan for disease.  I will pull the excluders up on a couple to give them more space and to create brood for queen rearing and nuc building but other than that they they get one super.

[Gary and Margaret - kiwimana]

We use two full sized boxes over winter in Auckland, probably too much but we have never had a hive run out of honey (except when a hive was once robbed out by wasps :( )

The colonies go into Spring still with honey, which is good for when do splits etc.

I guess it all depends on how bad your winter is, we get lots of rain here.  So sometimes in winter the bees don't get out for a few days.

Cheers...Gary

[b2bnz]

I run all 3/4 size boxes and have found that 2 x 3/4 brood boxes are just the right size for our climate here in Auckland. One full size is not quite big enough and 2 x full size is too much. Running all 3/4 size boxes through out my 8 hives means that I will always have the correct size boxes and frames when needed, I can start new frames in the honey supers and then in a year to two, move them to brood frames and when very dirty after three years, take them out and clean them and start the process again.