From Lloyd Spear<<In France, Jumbos [Dadant size] are almost exclusively used as brood nests, never
lifted, and all supers put on top.>>

This sounds like a very manageable system for inspection, monitoring/treating mites, and then wintering in standardized sizes. You are only moving heavy boxes when working with honey and could remove a frame or five to make supers lighter to move. Plus the hive would be much shorter and supers at a more manageable level.

For my location in Maryland, we have one early nectar flow and then a dearth from July on, so I need strong colonies coming out of winter and multiple supers going on early. 

From Peter Borst: <<I think the answer lies in the comb honey era.>>

C.P. Dadant does say that "we are specialists in extracted honey production". He described how Doctor C.C. Miller used a second 8-frame brood box to give "prolific queens" room to lay and then "removes this at the opening of the crop, leaving in the lower brood chamber the best brood combs" to crowd the bees into honey supers. 

Dr. Miller must have used queen excluders, but his system may be a way for me to manage with 8-frame and not have to buy/build all new equipment.

It is interesting to read all the different hive styles that Dadant, Langstroth, Brother Adam, and others have tried. I wish I had read them more before I started beekeeping to save myself some of my hive experiments (I erred on the smaller, swarmier hives). I may experiment with some extra deep single hive bodies just to compare management.

Regards,
Debbie Hewitt in Maryland

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