Jerry said:

> As Lloyd says, its a good option for hobby beekeepers because of
> reduced weight.  Many of our commercial folks use all deeps, so
> that they always have a box for whatever's needed - no real
> difference between brood boxes and honey supers.

That's kinda scary, given the bizarre cocktail of miticides
currently available to beekeepers.  Without a tracking system
(each box gets a number), I'd wonder if frames that held brood
might be mistakenly used for harvested honey at some point.

Just to contradict myself, I'm a very big fan of running 100%
"mediums" (6 5/8"), simply because they are lighter, they reverse
with ease, replacing any one comb with foundation does not present
the bees with a major comb-drawing hurdle, all woodenware is "standard"
('one jig on the table saw, one jig to rule them all...'), and one can
expand and compress brood nests in more graceful increments than one can
with deeps. Yes, each super has its own unique letter-and-two-digits ID.
(When I get beyond 2,600 boxes, I guess I add a 3rd digit...)

As a last line of defense, I use Stroller spacers in the honey
supers, so seeing slots for only 9 frames should stop even a
sleepy or distracted person from mistaking a brood box for a
honey box.

That said, I also have a buncha "shallows" that are chopped down
to serve as dedicated Ross Round supers.  Why one has to use/make
a non-standard super to make rounds still puzzles me.  All that
money for tooling the plastic molds, and Tom Ross never stopped
and thought about standard woodenware sizes?  Weird.


       jim (Saving $20 a month at Wal-Mart does not
            justify the loss of a middle-class job.)

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