You know, I was always trying to find the best way to make sure that my bees had enough space. It was a real pain to have to judge when it was the right time to add another brood box. The worst part was that sometimes I would add it too late, and the bees would have already started to build burr comb onto the bottom of the frames.
Of course, whenever I would have to do a brood box inspection, it would just get squished. So, I’d have to scrape it off, and I’d always feel really bad for it. It’s such a waste of the bees’ hard work. I really wanted a way to avoid it.
I also found that when I’d add a new brood box, the queen would simply refuse to go up there to lay in it. It would take her ages to eventually go up into it, and by that time, the bees would have already filled up the first brood box to the point of swarming, so I’d have to add a third brood box.
I mean, I was happy to do it. I just wanted my bees to be comfortable. But, as you can imagine, it just took up too much space.
So, I had to come up with a solution.
That’s when I discovered the Double Brood Box Method.
The Double Brood Box Method
It’s really simple. Instead of adding a new brood box to the top of your hive when your bees need more space, you simply add a new deep super to the top instead.
This is the key to it all. You see, the queen will never lay in a super. It’s just not in her nature.
You can also just leave the frames in your deep super blank, without any foundation, so that the bees don’t even try to build comb in it. It’s best to do this, because, like I said before, you don’t want the bees to build burr comb on the bottom of the frames.
The bottom of each frame in your super should be about 1 to 1.5 bee spaces apart from the top of the frames in the brood box below. This is what they call “bee space”.
If you don’t know what bee space is, it’s just the right amount of space that bees need to move around in. If you get this right, they’ll simply build comb there, because it’s a good space for them to move around in. But, if you get it wrong, they’ll fill in the space with propolis, which is a kind of glue they make to seal up any gaps that are too small for them to fill in with comb.
You should have about a bee space of bee space all along the top of your brood box frames, so that the bees can move up into your super easily. This is why you need to add the super on top, rather than below, like you’d do with a normal brood box.
The Nectar Super
This is where it gets interesting. You see, the other thing that I didn’t like about the old way of doing things, was that I was always having to disturb my bees right near the brood nest just to add another brood box.
But, with the Double Brood Box Method, you don’t have to do that. Instead, you can just add a new deep super on top, that’s going to be devoted to nectar collection.
Whenever I’m doing a hive inspection, I just take a look at how much space the brood nest is taking up, and if I think that they’re going to need more space soon, I add another blank deep super to the top of my existing one.
This is the key to the Double Brood Box Method. You always add the new deep super to the top of your existing one, rather than adding it to the bottom of your brood box. This is because, if you added it to the bottom, you’d be disturbing your bees right near the brood nest, and that’s something you never want to do.
Only When They Need It
The thing I love about this method, is that you never have to guess when your bees are going to need more space. With the Double Brood Box Method, you simply add another blank deep super to the top of your existing one whenever the space the brood nest is taking up is getting too close to the edge of your deep super.
If you think that they’re going to need more space soon, but not quite yet, you can add a queen excluder between your deep super and your brood box. This will make sure that the queen can’t lay in the blank deep super, and it’ll force the bees to fill it with nectar instead. This is great, because it means that you’ll have a completely separate box that’s dedicated to honey, and that you can just take off when it’s full.
If you’re a bit worried about the downsides of using a queen excluder, like the possibility of your bees swarming because they don’t like it, you can just add a “queen excluder” made of two queen excluders on top of each other, with the holes staggered. This is what’s known as a “slatted rack”, and it’s a way of giving your bees just a bit more space between your brood box and your deep super, that they’ll fill up with propolis. It’s like a kind of “mellow” queen excluder. Of course, the bees will eventually fill it up with propolis, so you’ll have to replace it with a new one every now and then, but it’s definitely worth it if you don’t want to use a real queen excluder.
Of course, if you’re doing the Double Brood Box Method, you’ll have to add a queen excluder between your deep super and your top brood box, but that’s only if you’re doing it for the first time. After that, the bees will have already filled the bottom brood box up with brood, so the queen will have to go up into the top one to lay in it. Just be careful to add your deep super with the queen excluder between it and the top brood box before your bees fill it up with brood. You should be good after that.
Double Brood Box Pros and Cons
The Double Brood Box Method in beekeeping is all about space management, and it’s ideal for people who want to give their bees plenty of room to grow, without the risk of the bees swarming from too little space.
If you’re the kind of person who’s always really careful to make sure that your bees have enough space, so that they never feel the need to swarm, then you’re the ideal candidate for the Double Brood Box Method.
On the other hand, if you’re the kind of person who likes to have things fully automated, then there’s a good chance that the Double Brood Box Method in beekeeping just isn’t for you.
The problem is, you see, that the Double Brood Box Method in beekeeping requires you to judge when your bees need more space, so that you can add a new deep super on top of your existing one. If you’re late, then your bees might start to build burr comb onto the bottom of the frames in your deep super. If you’re really late, then they’ll start to swarm, as a way of finding somewhere with a bit more space.
The other thing that you’ll need to judge, is when your bees have enough honey stores in your top brood box to be able to winter successfully. If you’re too late adding your deep super to the top, then you’ll have to add a nectar super instead, and you’ll have to hope that your bees fill it up with honey before winter comes. If you’re too late, then you’ll have to feed your bees.
Of course, if you’re early, then your bees might not fill it up with honey, and you’ll have to supplement it with sugar syrup in order to help them out. The thing is, if you add more than one deep super to the top of your existing one, you’ll need to feed your bees sugar syrup to help them out regardless, as the bees won’t have enough time to fill all of your deep supers up with honey before winter comes.
On the other hand, if you’re using the Double Brood Box Method with just one deep super on top of your existing one, then your bees will be able to fill it up with honey before winter comes, so you won’t have to feed your bees.
This is why the Double Brood Box Method is so great. If you’re late, you can add a nectar super to the top and feed your bees. If you’re early, you can just make sure that you only add one deep super to the top of your existing one, and you won’t have to feed your bees.
The other thing that you’ll need to judge, is whether your colony is strong enough to be able to cope with the extra space. If they’re not, they might not be able to keep the whole area warm enough during the colder days, and the queen might stop laying.
If this happens, don’t worry. It’s completely normal for the queen to stop laying during the colder months. In fact, it’s vital for the survival of your colony that she does, as the bees have to form a tight cluster around the brood to keep them warm.
The thing is, if you’re doing the Double Brood Box Method, you’ll have to make sure that your bees have enough bees to be able to form a tight cluster around the brood, and enough bees to be able to keep the whole area warm enough as well. If you don’t, then they might have to abandon the brood to survive, and that’s not good at all.
Of course, this is all just in the case that you’re using the Double Brood Box Method for winter. If you’re not, then you can just take your deep super off, and add your queen excluder to the top of your existing brood box, with a new deep super on top of that. If you’re not sure what I mean by “brood box”, it’s just another term for “deep super”. It’s the same thing. The point is, it’ll work just fine in the summer. It’s just that you’ll have to judge when it’s the right time to add your deep super on top, like you would have to with a nectar super.