Debbie, I see almost all Dadant Blatt beekeepers using a single brood chamber. I visited the primary hive manufacturing facility in Chisinau,Moldova in July and the owner showed us his favorite hive, about the most complicated 'jumbo' you could imagine, with 2 brood chambers with a piano hinge between the two, a hinged telescoping cover, built-in feeder, integrated bottom board with grated entrance. I can send you photos privately if you want to see it. The ultimate gadget hive I would say, but this guy was in the business of building hives and he makes them for each beekeeper as a custom order. He told me it takes him a couple of days to refit his machinery and jigs to get everything set just right for each custom order. Our USAID project is recommending helping the Moldovans develop a standard national hive design and then mass produce it to bring down costs and increase efficiency. I am pretty sure they will come up with some type of modified 'jumbo' hive type, but time will tell. We went through a similar exercise in the Republic of Georgia on another project a couple of years ago and the national hive design was more of a Langstroth type. I am not going to 'tell' them what is best but let them tell us what is best for them. best regards, Bill Lord BeekeepingConsultingForDevelopment.com Louisburg, NC *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html