Frank, there is one small advantage for using deeps for brood
chambers. The honey arch bees normally locate in frames are about
the same size whether the frame is a shallow or a deep. This means
that a larger proportion of the frame is available for brood in a
deep than in a shallow.
It is easy to work deeps without doing heavy lifting. Place an empty
deep off to the side of the hive. Remove half, or more, of the hive
frames into that empty as you inspect them. Then move the hive body
with the remaining frames onto the top of the empty. Inspect the
lower hive body. Reverse the process to reassemble the hive. The
same can be done with the extracting supers if they are too heavy.
Only you can decide if the extra time is worth it but you can avoid
compromising beekeeping practices to suit your comfortable lifting
limit. Dan
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