I am too, but I'm not sure I like it either because the boxes seem so tiny and it's afiddle to have to split the boxes to see what's happening in the lower one. It also means I've run out of supers!
I've got one of the modern beekeeping 6 frame nucs, I like it. I'm not so convinced about using for two three frame colonies, so one entrance is blocked and there's a thin dummy board to fill the extra space.
As a newbee I was advised to go with nationals, and did so, and have ended up with brood and a half, but I'm attracted to the idea of one size box throughout the hive. Brood boxes as supers are out for me with my girlie muscles, so it must be smaller brood boxes. I've been reading about the stable-climate hive by Roger Delon, translated by David Heaf. I like the idea of brood expansion/clustering vertically, given the smaller box, rather than horizontally, I suspect that is what naturally the bees would do if not coming up against a Q exc. Also the idea of the bees over-wintering with 'a dome' of honey above the cluster seems to make sense rather than having their winter stores to the sides of the cluster, and risking isolation starvation.
I don't know if you've thought about it, Beejazz, but in case you are, don't be tempted to use MB all-medium one-size Langstroth boxes. They're still wide, so you won't be able to successfully help the bees to create that vertical cluster shape. Use 8-frame Nationals like Ian Craig as Drone Ranger mentioned in post 9, or get a Warré like Chris (I don't yet have any experience of Warré hives - so can't advise).
Kitta
About brood and a half - it keeps happening to me as well, but I recently read an article somewhere of somebody who uses brood and a half as his preferred option. What he does is to keep them on brood and a half over winter and then towards May add a queen excluder underneath the super to allow the brood to hatch and the frames to fill with honey. He adds his honey frames above that original brood super. Towards the end of the season he harvests the honey supers, remove the queen excluder, and leaves the original brood super, now filled with honey, for the bees as winter food.
If I get a hive with brood and a half again, it won't bother me any more. I certainly won't try and correct the situation again by moving super frames into the brood box - that is a nightmare.
Kitta
PS: but take care of the drones ...
That pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter. Definitely worth a try but just too shallow in my opinion. It's a system -all shallows- which I feel benefits from being worked without an excluder (and I doubt that there'll ever be a better season to test the theory).
Going back to Drone ranger's thoughts on 6 comb boxes, does anyone here use 8 frame units? I'm talking about actual narrow boxes here, not full sized ones closed down by followers -been there and then realized how silly it is not to fill each box with it's maximum quota of frames. Again, this ties in with beejazz's thoughts on vertical movement and general nest configuration, something which I've commented on before(!).
Not really silly, Prakel - it gives you flexibility. You can increase the numbers when necessary and, more importantly, it helps with manipulation. All the frames can stay inside the hive as you move through the box (both points mentioned by Ian Craig in his article!).
Kitta
Hi Melifera
Thanks for finding the link to Ian Craig article
I had never heard about the Modern Beekeeping 6 frame Nucs
or the Climate hive and I haven't seen any 8 frame boxes
Its all good stuff wonder if it could help produce 6 frame nucs for beginners
I can see one of you guys inventing a new hive type
Just different perspectives. I've a few boxes in the shed, full of follower boards so I've certainly 'had a go' with them. Initially years ago when I bought into the Killion's doctrine of two followers and brood on all faces of the remaining combs. I gave up on that and returned to full sets of frames as I never really saw any real difference to the end of year results*. Then again more recently, when I bought into the idea of a vertical brood nest but I'm now thinking that it is pointless to have a piece of wood in the brood chamber when the space can be filled with a comb of honey and pollen.
edit: *although I probably fooled myself into seeing short term benefits initially. The important thing is how units perform consistently over the entire year.
Last edited by prakel; 20-07-2013 at 10:15 AM.
I bet they sold you a coupla of bottles of *red* first- makes you more credulous.
Beejazz, why the Delon stable climate hive? I won't be critical, BUT somebody who adds 5 mm. to the height of a hive, and then changes its name so people will link it to him,makes me question his motivations. Especially when afterwards he "invents" a frame and some wax sheets to fit it and spends his time selling these and other items.
In your place, I'd go for a Warré with a flat wooden crownboard plus insulation and flat meatl roof, and work it with wooden frames, supering or nadiring according to your taste.
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