We use mostly standard Langstroth boxes with 8 frames for supers here.
 
We have some 3/4 depth (6 5/8 inch) supers - about 1500 of them, but they
are a nuisance to handle compared with the standards because we have to
handle more than one and a half times as many boxes in the honey house and
the field to accomplish the same work.   6 5/8 boxes are actually 64% not
69% as much comb area compared to 9.5 inch boxes because of the wood
and bee space area are larger as a proportion of total height.
 
The medium depth (6 5/8) supers are abandoned faster by the bees when
pulling and they are lighter, but they are more costly both to buy and to
use.  Our fellows handle them 3 at a time when empty instead of two at a
time like standards, but they just don't care for them because of all the
extra handling and fussing.
 
We ran Farrar equipment - 20 X 20 inch 6 5/8 deep boxes - for everything
at one time, but sold them.  Two queen colonies offered no advantage other
than better wintering.  The amount of work was more than double the work
of single queen colonies.
 
As far as weight is concerned, we try not to let standards get much over
55 pounds before we pull them.  If they get fuller, we figure we are
losing crop and encouraging burr and brace comb and wasting bee effort on
capping and hunting for space for nectar.
 
Many people like to get their boxes plugged up and then a standard can
weigh up to 100 pounds (as I recall), but this is poor beekeeping IMHO.
 
For broods, nothing beats the jumbo.  We used to have some, but cut them
down to standardise.  If jumbos ever get full of honey they are really heavy.
 
The queens like them best of all, and one jumbo is all the space any queen
could need.  However in our country, one jumbo does not contain enough
stores for winter - and a jumbo plus a standard is too much space to have
under an excluder.  Using a jumbo plus a 6 5/8 would give three different
box and frame sizes which is no way to run a commercial outfit IMHO.
 
If I were hobbying, I would run jumbos for brood.
 
Two standards gives a little too much brood chamber space and as a
consequence, some hives don't always go up as well as we like so we keep a
frame feeder in each brood box year round to reduce the comb area in the
BC.
 
We run both 9 and 10 frame spacing in the BC and don't notice any
difference between the two.  Using standards all around lets us draw comb
in the thirds instead of forcing the bees to draw it in the seconds.  Some
hives just don't draw foundation well, and having it in the BC can be a
problem in an otherwise good hive.  A few undrawn sheets in the third, on
the other hand are not a nuisance, as they get pulled automatically and
later go on another hive.
 
Foundation in the supers also pulls young bees up out of the BC and can
reduce BC congestion.  Bees always make some wax when there is a
flow, and it is wise to provide some space to use it constructively.
Otherwise it goes into tying everything together.
 
We do often have foundation drawn at 8 frame spacing - because our boxes
mostly have spacers, however some hives get it wrong and build across or
between.
 
Allen
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                        VE6CFK
Rural Route One   Swalwell   Alberta   Canada  T0M 1Y0
Email:   [log in to unmask]    or   [log in to unmask]
Futures, Art & Honey:http://www.cuug.ab.ca:8001/~dicka