They’re handy for sure. With wood prices going up, it’s not nearly as cost effective as it was when this video was made. I’m expanding my apiary, and actually have been buying only deep gear since the lumber shortage started, but I have 14 hives now, so that factors in big time. With 6 or fewer hives, the cost difference is not so terrible.
You should try and set up how to introduce nucs to their new supers ? As a new bee keeper I find all this info incredibly helpful! Have yourself a great day. 4 inches of snow fell lastnight in Cochrane, Alberta
Thanks for the suggestion! I can totally make that video. This feels like such a long winter even down here in So Cal. We don't get snow, but the temperature has been very cool for this time of year. I hope the spring comes soon for you and you have a great bee season!
I had single 10 frame deep boxes and swarms was a problem. Now I run double deeps and a medium honey super. Part of the issue is the breed of bees because Italian make brood like mad and Carniolan have a smaller cluster. I had bees in a single medium and in the spring it was packed with brood, added a deep on top and now its a great hive.. I get the idea of having more med frames but it can cost when you have more hives than a backyard operation (3 Med boxes vs 2 deep boxes w/ little difference in cost of components).
Agree 100%. The irony for me is that I expanded quite a bit after making that video and mediums become cost prohibitive really quickly after about 3 or 4 hives.
Thanks a lot for the video. I guess you have visitors the Dog keeps barking 😂😂 Please upload more videos, it has been a while since you uploaded something. Good luck
If you run the numbers, 8 frame mediums make great sense. two 8 frame mediums have just over the number of cells found in one 10 frame deep. BTW, Michael Bush runs about 250 hives of nothing but 8 frame mediums.
Michael Bush is legit. I found that once I got up to 5 hives that the cost of mediums vs deeps became problematic. I actually switched to mixed gear ironically.
I started beekeeping with all mediums a couple years ago. This year I'm going to start converting to deeps. Last year was swarmy and going through 30 frames per hive killed me. Especially by the time I got to that bottom medium box the bees were getting cranky. So the moving two boxes vs one and thirty frames vs twenty was a deal breaker on all mediums for me.
The size of the frame is the same and this is a huge advantage, but the type of frame you would choose depends mostly on the area in which you live. If you live in an area with a very strong nectar flow, then it is better to use Langstroth-Ruth (deep)frames, if you are high in the mountains then the short frame (medium) is suitable for you. Russians use so called Dadan-Blat frame which is extremely deep, but they have a strong nectar flow.
That’s great information. I’m also learning that when expanding your apiary, the cost of medium equipment can add up fast! I’m moving from having 5 hives to having 15 hives this year, and it has me seriously questioning the idea of all mediums. I like not having to order different sized gear though, so I’m sticking with it for now.
@@disciple43 I would be happy to share my experience with you as long as you are interested in what amateur beekeeping in Bulgaria (Southeast Europe) looks like. You can find me in FB:)
@@bayrakov My family immigrated here from Hungary and Romania before WWII, so I have some cultural connection to that area. I’d love to see what you’re doing out there. Can you share a link to your FB page?
@@disciple43 I'm just starting. I'm not planning to have many beehives as I do not have plans to sell it. So I will have 2 hives might be 3. Can't make a decision. But I think I will got full frame the full frame price here 3 AUD but 3/4 cost 3.75AUD. That means for the same volume of frames I have to pay 3.75*4/3=5AUD. 3 AUD vs 5 AUD the asnwer obvioulsy says go for full frame. As result, I tend to go with full frame. But my back doesn't wanna take extra weight. So I think to go 2 8 frame broodboxes for everything, but I think to use only 7 frames in each of 2 broodboxes making some extra space between each and leave a bit from left and right. In that case I will have 14 full frames in 2 broodboxes. which make 140% of the 10 frame as result less work and less chances to have swarms. But I also do not like idea of having 2 broodboxes as it makes complex inspecting the hive. But I like the fact that 7 full frames will have same weight as 10 frames of 3/4. So I think to go with 2 7 frame broodboxes.
So for a 3 inch taller box you get almost twice as much honey. And one would have to conclude that there is almost twice as much brood space per frame in deeps as well. Yup, i’ll stick with deep brood boxes and medium supers. Also, using deep boxes with shallow frames as honey supers will apparently produce easily harvestable comb honey. Thanks for the excellent idea, i think that i will experiment with it once i set up a second hive.
I’m actually migrating to deep brood chambers now since I’m expanding the Apiary. All mediums starts to get cost prohibitive after 5 or 6 hives. I’m finding that the bees draw out deep foundation as fast or faster than medium in my area, and the management of the brood is FAR easier in deeps. I probably need to do a “deeps VS mediums revisited” video as an update. With lumber going up in price, the cost is even more of an issue now.
People do it that way. I think Kamon Reynolds, another youtube beekeeper, ran all 10 frame deep gear for quite a while. I think he just recently started using medium supers. You'll end up with pretty much the same amount of bees and honey regardless of what size gear you run. The health of the queen and colony contributes more to the number of bees and amount of honey you'll get than the box and frame size.
My husband is going with deeps, when its time for him to split then im going to grab the spilits for me to have hives , how would we go about apliting from deep to medium in a split????
So if I’m understanding correctly, you want to make a medium split from a deep hive. Is that correct? If so, your best bet is to get your medium box and frames and put them on top of the deep in February, or whenever your bees start building up for spring. Let them fill the medium box, then take the whole thing off as a split when it’s 80% filled. You could just put it on it’s own bottom board and walk away and let them make a queen, or, you can locate your queen and leave her in the deep and add a purchased queen to your medium.
Easier would be to prepare medium box only with frames or two depends on how strong is the colony you would like to make split from as with that method you will be using the flying bees only. Of course you would need a bottom and top cover to complete the new hive. You are simply removing the deep hive and put the new prepared one on its place. Mandatory is to have a queen in a cage in the new hive before making the change. You can go catch your old one or put a completely new one. Since there will be no brood in the hive, bees will accept any queen. For example I am always catching the old one and putting her in a cage in the new hive. Once I exchanged hives, I wait for 2 hours to give the main colony a new queen. With the latter I am achieving two things, changing the queen of the main hive and using the old one to create the split. If the split is ok after the Winter, I am changing the old queen with new one.
In my opinion deep in history is deeps used for all but the weight was to much to lift harvesting honey so in history they used deeps for brood and mediums to lesson the weight of lifting deeps
Good point. At the beginning of langstroth hives, only deep equipment was available so that’s what you used. I can’t imagine handling a bunch of deeps full of honey. That would be back breaking.
@@disciple43 yes and there is also a shallow supper have not seen any videos on shallow suppers or to the fact that any one even uses shallows which are 3 5/8 i think not sure what they were even used for might have been used for winter food above cluster may have been used for comb honey cause you would not need to use wire in them and they wouldnt practical in a honey extractor i know they had shallows not sure any more where i seen them im think forest hill wood working amish makes them i think that is where i seen them be nice if some one knew of them and could put together a video on them but in the mean time i will do some research on shallow suppers
@@andrewklahold2880 Shallow supers have been around awhile. I think like you said, they’re mostly used for comb honey or for beekeepers with bad backs so they can lift the super. Also winter feeding makes sense. I know Mann Lake sells them, and I think Dadant does too. I don’t own any or I would make a video on them.
@@disciple43 I'm just starting. I'm not planning to have many beehives as I do not have plans to sell honey as I do it for myself. I want healthy honey, pollen and royal jelly. So I will have 2 hives might be 3. Can't make a decision. But I think I will got full frame the full frame price here 3 AUD but 3/4 cost 3.75AUD. That means for the same volume of frames I have to pay 3.75*4/3=5AUD. 3 AUD vs 5 AUD the asnwer obvioulsy says go for full frame. As result, I tend to go with full frame for broodboxes and supers. But my back doesn't wanna take extra weight. So I think to go 2 8 frame broodboxes for everything, but I think to use only 7 frames in each of 2 broodboxes making some extra space between each and leave a bit from left and right. In that case I will have 14 full frames in 2 broodboxes. which make 140% of the 10 frame as result less work and less chances to have swarms. But I also do not like idea of having 2 broodboxes as it makes complex inspecting the hive. But I like the fact that 7 full frames will have same weight as 10 frames of 3/4. So I think to go with 2 7 frame broodboxes. I will keep the behives on the backyard. So the idea is not to move 8 frame super but take 2 frames out as a harvest and only then I take it out. I think moving 6 full frames in 8 frame super is ok. Am I right or I miss something?
@@disciple43 eight frame boxes started off with 210 frames but did not want to fill out outside frames well so that's why I went to 8 but they are doing great in each I started off with one nuke and one unwanted bees Bees just showed up in a old box they ain't had bees in it in 20 years and that was the second bees. I have four hives and two nucks now. Hope when the weather breaks hoping to have by the end of the year 10 to 12 nuke and six full size beehives. I don't think I'm thinking too much but maybe I will see
How do you find 2 brood boxes? Does it work ok? I'm just starting. I'm not planning to have many beehives as I do not have plans to sell honey as I do it for myself. I want healthy honey, pollen and royal jelly. So I will have 2 hives might be 3. Can't make a decision. But I think I will got full frame the full frame price here 3 AUD but 3/4 cost 3.75AUD. That means for the same volume of frames I have to pay 3.75*4/3=5AUD. 3 AUD vs 5 AUD the asnwer obvioulsy says go for full frame. As result, I tend to go with full frame for broodboxes and supers. But my back doesn't wanna take extra weight. So I think to go 2 8 frame broodboxes for everything, but I think to use only 7 frames in each of 2 broodboxes making some extra space between each and leave a bit from left and right. In that case I will have 14 full frames in 2 broodboxes. which make 140% of the 10 frame as result less work and less chances to have swarms. But I also do not like idea of having 2 broodboxes as it makes complex inspecting the hive. But I like the fact that 7 full frames will have same weight as 10 frames of 3/4. So I think to go with 2 7 frame broodboxes. I will keep the behives on the backyard. So the idea is not to move 8 frame super but take 2-3 frames out as a harvest and only then I take it out for inspecting broodboxes. I think moving 5-6 full frames in 8 frame super should ok. Am I right or I miss something?
After watching this ua-cam.com/video/z768OIA3bMo/v-deo.html video I came to conclusion all I need is just need to find frames which have the size of 2 boxes. So if we take 2 boxes : deep 241mm + medium 169mm = 410mm. So it mean that the frame need to have height of 400mm, instead of deep frame which is 232mm. If we use as this guy only 7 frames of 8 frame box with some side inserts then these 7 frames will be equivalent to 7*400/232 = 12.06 frames. This is what I need I need a broodbox slighly more than 10 frames so that bees will have space to have food for the winter. The only problem I do not wanna make the frames of that size manually. This will be an awesome brood box and easy to inspect which is close to nature. Moreover using 8 frame boxes means we use 8 frames supers which is easier to handle than 10 frame supers. I wish there were on sale in australia frames 400mm height.
Love the video. I was contemplating using more mediums next season. I am gonna do it now after watching your video.
They’re handy for sure. With wood prices going up, it’s not nearly as cost effective as it was when this video was made. I’m expanding my apiary, and actually have been buying only deep gear since the lumber shortage started, but I have 14 hives now, so that factors in big time. With 6 or fewer hives, the cost difference is not so terrible.
Great video. Barking dog was hilarious
You should try and set up how to introduce nucs to their new supers ? As a new bee keeper I find all this info incredibly helpful!
Have yourself a great day.
4 inches of snow fell lastnight in Cochrane, Alberta
Thanks for the suggestion! I can totally make that video. This feels like such a long winter even down here in So Cal. We don't get snow, but the temperature has been very cool for this time of year. I hope the spring comes soon for you and you have a great bee season!
I had single 10 frame deep boxes and swarms was a problem. Now I run double deeps and a medium honey super. Part of the issue is the breed of bees because Italian make brood like mad and Carniolan have a smaller cluster. I had bees in a single medium and in the spring it was packed with brood, added a deep on top and now its a great hive.. I get the idea of having more med frames but it can cost when you have more hives than a backyard operation (3 Med boxes vs 2 deep boxes w/ little difference in cost of components).
Agree 100%. The irony for me is that I expanded quite a bit after making that video and mediums become cost prohibitive really quickly after about 3 or 4 hives.
Thanks a lot for the video. I guess you have visitors the Dog keeps barking 😂😂 Please upload more videos, it has been a while since you uploaded something. Good luck
If you run the numbers, 8 frame mediums make great sense. two 8 frame mediums have just over the number of cells found in one 10 frame deep. BTW, Michael Bush runs about 250 hives of nothing but 8 frame mediums.
Michael Bush is legit. I found that once I got up to 5 hives that the cost of mediums vs deeps became problematic. I actually switched to mixed gear ironically.
I started beekeeping with all mediums a couple years ago. This year I'm going to start converting to deeps. Last year was swarmy and going through 30 frames per hive killed me. Especially by the time I got to that bottom medium box the bees were getting cranky. So the moving two boxes vs one and thirty frames vs twenty was a deal breaker on all mediums for me.
It’s funny. I converted to deeps once I got past 5 hives and now I prefer deeps.
APPRECIATE YOUR THOUGHTS. GREAT TIPS
Thanks 👍
Glad it was helpful.
The size of the frame is the same and this is a huge advantage, but the type of frame you would choose depends mostly on the area in which you live. If you live in an area with a very strong nectar flow, then it is better to use Langstroth-Ruth (deep)frames, if you are high in the mountains then the short frame (medium) is suitable for you. Russians use so called Dadan-Blat frame which is extremely deep, but they have a strong nectar flow.
That’s great information. I’m also learning that when expanding your apiary, the cost of medium equipment can add up fast! I’m moving from having 5 hives to having 15 hives this year, and it has me seriously questioning the idea of all mediums. I like not having to order different sized gear though, so I’m sticking with it for now.
@@disciple43 I would be happy to share my experience with you as long as you are interested in what amateur beekeeping in Bulgaria (Southeast Europe) looks like. You can find me in FB:)
@@bayrakov My family immigrated here from Hungary and Romania before WWII, so I have some cultural connection to that area. I’d love to see what you’re doing out there. Can you share a link to your FB page?
@@disciple43 I'm just starting. I'm not planning to have many beehives as I do not have plans to sell it. So I will have 2 hives might be 3. Can't make a decision. But I think I will got full frame the full frame price here 3 AUD but 3/4 cost 3.75AUD. That means for the same volume of frames I have to pay 3.75*4/3=5AUD. 3 AUD vs 5 AUD the asnwer obvioulsy says go for full frame. As result, I tend to go with full frame. But my back doesn't wanna take extra weight. So I think to go 2 8 frame broodboxes for everything, but I think to use only 7 frames in each of 2 broodboxes making some extra space between each and leave a bit from left and right. In that case I will have 14 full frames in 2 broodboxes. which make 140% of the 10 frame as result less work and less chances to have swarms. But I also do not like idea of having 2 broodboxes as it makes complex inspecting the hive. But I like the fact that 7 full frames will have same weight as 10 frames of 3/4. So I think to go with 2 7 frame broodboxes.
Very smart video. Great job!
Thanks! Hope it was helpful.
I have 4 hives in the city limits and they are all medium. It just easier to manage for me I don't have to worry about what frames to bring.
Inventory management is definitely simple with all medium gear.
So for a 3 inch taller box you get almost twice as much honey. And one would have to conclude that there is almost twice as much brood space per frame in deeps as well. Yup, i’ll stick with deep brood boxes and medium supers. Also, using deep boxes with shallow frames as honey supers will apparently produce easily harvestable comb honey. Thanks for the excellent idea, i think that i will experiment with it once i set up a second hive.
I’m actually migrating to deep brood chambers now since I’m expanding the Apiary. All mediums starts to get cost prohibitive after 5 or 6 hives. I’m finding that the bees draw out deep foundation as fast or faster than medium in my area, and the management of the brood is FAR easier in deeps. I probably need to do a “deeps VS mediums revisited” video as an update. With lumber going up in price, the cost is even more of an issue now.
I'm using dadant deeps which are 1 foot and 13/64 in deep, for everything and it works for me
That’s definitely the most cost effective way to go. How much does one of those weigh full of honey though?
@@disciple43 an 8 frame deep full of honey weigh about 70 lbs ( I'm using solid wood boxes)
@@adamkozianowski4910 that’s totally manageable!
@@disciple43 I'm 6.3 230lbs fit build and I'm 30 yo. So for now I'm not having any issues
Very informative
Thanks Steve. Glad it was helpful.
I'm thinking of getting 10frame deep hives (more bees per hive for more honey boxes ) 100lbs is not too heavy
People do it that way. I think Kamon Reynolds, another youtube beekeeper, ran all 10 frame deep gear for quite a while. I think he just recently started using medium supers. You'll end up with pretty much the same amount of bees and honey regardless of what size gear you run. The health of the queen and colony contributes more to the number of bees and amount of honey you'll get than the box and frame size.
Hell yea !
Can u use one deep then two medium on top for brood chamber? If not can u explain? Please
You can absolutely use 1 deep and 2 mediums for your brood chamber if you want to. The bees don’t really care what size frames you use.
My husband is going with deeps, when its time for him to split then im going to grab the spilits for me to have hives , how would we go about apliting from deep to medium in a split????
So if I’m understanding correctly, you want to make a medium split from a deep hive. Is that correct? If so, your best bet is to get your medium box and frames and put them on top of the deep in February, or whenever your bees start building up for spring. Let them fill the medium box, then take the whole thing off as a split when it’s 80% filled. You could just put it on it’s own bottom board and walk away and let them make a queen, or, you can locate your queen and leave her in the deep and add a purchased queen to your medium.
@@disciple43 ok so i can do that, ty
@@aprilbatley9265 No problem!
Easier would be to prepare medium box only with frames or two depends on how strong is the colony you would like to make split from as with that method you will be using the flying bees only. Of course you would need a bottom and top cover to complete the new hive. You are simply removing the deep hive and put the new prepared one on its place. Mandatory is to have a queen in a cage in the new hive before making the change. You can go catch your old one or put a completely new one. Since there will be no brood in the hive, bees will accept any queen. For example I am always catching the old one and putting her in a cage in the new hive. Once I exchanged hives, I wait for 2 hours to give the main colony a new queen. With the latter I am achieving two things, changing the queen of the main hive and using the old one to create the split. If the split is ok after the Winter, I am changing the old queen with new one.
In my opinion deep in history is deeps used for all but the weight was to much to lift harvesting honey so in history they used deeps for brood and mediums to lesson the weight of lifting deeps
Good point. At the beginning of langstroth hives, only deep equipment was available so that’s what you used. I can’t imagine handling a bunch of deeps full of honey. That would be back breaking.
@@disciple43 yes and there is also a shallow supper have not seen any videos on shallow suppers or to the fact that any one even uses shallows which are 3 5/8 i think not sure what they were even used for might have been used for winter food above cluster may have been used for comb honey cause you would not need to use wire in them and they wouldnt practical in a honey extractor i know they had shallows not sure any more where i seen them im think forest hill wood working amish makes them i think that is where i seen them be nice if some one knew of them and could put together a video on them but in the mean time i will do some research on shallow suppers
@@andrewklahold2880 Shallow supers have been around awhile. I think like you said, they’re mostly used for comb honey or for beekeepers with bad backs so they can lift the super. Also winter feeding makes sense. I know Mann Lake sells them, and I think Dadant does too. I don’t own any or I would make a video on them.
@@disciple43 I'm just starting. I'm not planning to have many beehives as I do not have plans to sell honey as I do it for myself. I want healthy honey, pollen and royal jelly. So I will have 2 hives might be 3. Can't make a decision. But I think I will got full frame the full frame price here 3 AUD but 3/4 cost 3.75AUD. That means for the same volume of frames I have to pay 3.75*4/3=5AUD. 3 AUD vs 5 AUD the asnwer obvioulsy says go for full frame. As result, I tend to go with full frame for broodboxes and supers. But my back doesn't wanna take extra weight. So I think to go 2 8 frame broodboxes for everything, but I think to use only 7 frames in each of 2 broodboxes making some extra space between each and leave a bit from left and right. In that case I will have 14 full frames in 2 broodboxes. which make 140% of the 10 frame as result less work and less chances to have swarms. But I also do not like idea of having 2 broodboxes as it makes complex inspecting the hive. But I like the fact that 7 full frames will have same weight as 10 frames of 3/4. So I think to go with 2 7 frame broodboxes.
I will keep the behives on the backyard. So the idea is not to move 8 frame super but take 2 frames out as a harvest and only then I take it out. I think moving 6 full frames in 8 frame super is ok. Am I right or I miss something?
I just use All deep frame boxes
That's probably the most cost effective way to go. Do you run 8 frame or 10 frame hives?
@@disciple43 eight frame boxes started off with 210 frames but did not want to fill out outside frames well so that's why I went to 8 but they are doing great in each I started off with one nuke and one unwanted bees Bees just showed up in a old box they ain't had bees in it in 20 years and that was the second bees. I have four hives and two nucks now. Hope when the weather breaks hoping to have by the end of the year 10 to 12 nuke and six full size beehives. I don't think I'm thinking too much but maybe I will see
@@disciple43 and I'm going to try to get two Caucasian mountains bees
Nice! Best of luck with your beekeeping! Hope you have a great year.
@@disciple43 you too
From bottom up: 2x brood boxes, 1x medium super
How do you find 2 brood boxes? Does it work ok? I'm just starting. I'm not planning to have many beehives as I do not have plans to sell honey as I do it for myself. I want healthy honey, pollen and royal jelly. So I will have 2 hives might be 3. Can't make a decision. But I think I will got full frame the full frame price here 3 AUD but 3/4 cost 3.75AUD. That means for the same volume of frames I have to pay 3.75*4/3=5AUD. 3 AUD vs 5 AUD the asnwer obvioulsy says go for full frame. As result, I tend to go with full frame for broodboxes and supers. But my back doesn't wanna take extra weight. So I think to go 2 8 frame broodboxes for everything, but I think to use only 7 frames in each of 2 broodboxes making some extra space between each and leave a bit from left and right. In that case I will have 14 full frames in 2 broodboxes. which make 140% of the 10 frame as result less work and less chances to have swarms. But I also do not like idea of having 2 broodboxes as it makes complex inspecting the hive. But I like the fact that 7 full frames will have same weight as 10 frames of 3/4. So I think to go with 2 7 frame broodboxes.
I will keep the behives on the backyard. So the idea is not to move 8 frame super but take 2-3 frames out as a harvest and only then I take it out for inspecting broodboxes. I think moving 5-6 full frames in 8 frame super should ok. Am I right or I miss something?
After watching this ua-cam.com/video/z768OIA3bMo/v-deo.html video I came to conclusion all I need is just need to find frames which have the size of 2 boxes. So if we take 2 boxes : deep 241mm + medium 169mm = 410mm. So it mean that the frame need to have height of 400mm, instead of deep frame which is 232mm. If we use as this guy only 7 frames of 8 frame box with some side inserts then these 7 frames will be equivalent to 7*400/232 = 12.06 frames. This is what I need I need a broodbox slighly more than 10 frames so that bees will have space to have food for the winter. The only problem I do not wanna make the frames of that size manually. This will be an awesome brood box and easy to inspect which is close to nature. Moreover using 8 frame boxes means we use 8 frames supers which is easier to handle than 10 frame supers. I wish there were on sale in australia frames 400mm height.