Frequently Asked Questions
1. I have deep hive bodies for brood boxes. How do I use a medium frame Nuc?
If you use medium boxes for supers, put your medium box on the bottom board and install your nuc with the rest of the frames of foundation or drawn comb and once the nuc is ready for the second box, add your deep hive body on top of the medium box.
2. Why do I want all the same size boxes for brood and honey supers?
Get started right in your beekeeping hobby by using all the same size boxes for brood and honey supers. All frames are the same size and can be used in all boxes(brood area or honey storage area). If you have mixture of deep (9 1/8") frames and medium (6 1/4") frames, you cannot use them everywhere. As you gain experience and beekeeping knowledge you will be glad you used all the same depth boxes.
3. I'm just getting started. In your opinion, what size of boxes should I start with?
In the early 80's, I ran all deeps in the 10 frame size for honey production. Deeps are heavy, with brood boxes averaging 50 plus pounds and honey supers will be over 80 pounds. 8 frame sized equipment mimics the natural cavity of the honey bee, a tree.
Bees will build up faster, thrive better and make it less frustrating to the new beekeeper as they fill out the narrow boxes quicker. Start with 8 frame mediums to make it better for the bees and lighter equipment for you to lift with all frames interchangeable throughout the hive.
4. I have deep boxes. How do I switch over?
If you have bees now and only have one or two hives of a combination of deep and medium supers, make the switch now before you get too committed. You can sell your deep equipment on Craigslist after you transition to medium boxes in either 8 frame or 10 frame sizes.
5. What is the advantage of purchasing a Nucleus over Package bees?
Package bees are usually cheaper, but the disadvantage is a slower buildup. Package bees have to start building comb to have a place for the queen to lay. It will be 21 days before any new bees are emerging to replenish the attrition of the bees in the colony. Because of this slowdown, and because package bees come from usually southern queen breeders that use miticides that reduce the queens reproductive ability, queen supercedure is usually an issue. Nucs have all stages of brood that is already emerging with little slowdown in buildup. It is worth the minor extra cost to purchase a nuc over a package.
6. Does Beekeeping Bliss use toxic mite treatments?
Because we are trying to select from our stock varroa hygienic bees, we do alcohol washes on a regular basis from spring to fall, but especially summer to fall when brood levels are going down and true mite levels can be measured. We select our breeder queens from the lower tested colonies (among other positive traits) and breed from those the next year. If levels are high in some colonies that we don't select from, we do brood breaks in combination with Oxalic acid vaporization treatments in those colonies so they don't artificially dump extra mite loads on the colonies of low counts from drift. This would skew the true mite levels on our selected breeder stock. Be wary of some operations offering bees that use toxic chemical treatments (tactic/Amatraz) that are then stored in the wax and have been proven to affect the reproductive capability and longevity of your queens and drones.
7. I want to go "Foundationless" with my frames, and let the bees build their own comb. Is that a good idea?
On the "Information" page on this website, download the page, "Foundationless?" for my thoughts on this subject.
8. Should I go with screened or solid Bottom Boards?
This is a common question and most of the time screened bottom boards are misunderstood and misused. Go to the "Information" page for my thoughts of what you should do.
9. Why should I start with 2 colonies?
This may seem counter intuitive, since two colonies are obviously more work than one. Two colonies will give you two things: the chance to compare colonies, which will help you spot problems earlier because you'll see a difference, and a colony to work with in case you lose one, which is common with novice beekeepers. If one colony loses its queen, then you can place a frame of brood with 1-3 day old eggs from the other hive into your queenless hive and they will raise their own. And if one colony becomes weak, you can equalize the two hives by adding more bees to the weaker hive. With one hive these management practices are not possible.