Single brood chamber management explained

Single brood chamber management does not mean hives have only one brood chamber all year. This video explains how I manage my hives to run as singles most of the year and I get a lot more honey. What the explanation here and more videos on the subject in the coming days.

[@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

“Let the queen rip” lol exactly Love the diagrams discussion

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Thanks Ian, It seems I can explain things better when I draw pictures!....as long as I don't have to spell it I'm OK!

[@MoonMan1333]

Amazing explanation. I’ve never seen it explained so clearly. You’ve changed the way I will manage my bees.

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Glad it was helpful!

[@joattheraces2005]

Peter, this video was so helpful. It actually helped connect a bunch of the missing pieces that I had in my mind. I really appreciate the way that you teach.

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Thank you!

[@costicoman]

Perfectly explained! A honey flow graph over the timeline will complete the picture.

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

I like the idea! Thanks.

[@alschneider2820]

I’ve been searching for weeks for this very kind of video, thank you so much for doing that and thank you for the visual aid that always resonates well with me

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Glad it was helpful!

[@salembeeman370]

I live in Connecticut and just have to assume the months advance by 1. by May we are in the honey flow. Sounds like Maine doesn't start till July. We are going into a dearth by July.

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Flows start here mid May usually peaking in June....may contue to mid July then usually a 4 week dearth followed by a possible Fall flow till frost in Late Sept.

[@davidmartin6312]

great video as usual. you are a huge help to us new bee's . I'm a 3 year keeper and seem to be learning the hard way.

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Glad to help

[@juskonig]

Absolutely cracking video, and can be applied to any hemisphere, adjusted for flow/seasonality...thank you!

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@maineiachomestead7550]

Thank you Peter! This one is saved and I will come back to it many more times throughout the seasons. Can't wait to stop in the week of the 5th to get my sassy nuc from you.

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Wonderful!

[@tommysutton4283]

Lllll

[@Heidihoffarth]

Thank you! I think I am going to try this method this year!

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Just don't do it too early!

[@ChrisFiggatt]

Excellent explanation and drawings!

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@woodlandharvesthoneycompanyllc]

That is the best explanation I have ever seen. Now I know how to get started. It will take a little more time because I don't have much drawn comb. I'm just starting out.

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Thanks great compliment!

[@Hoofer001]

The John Madden approach to bee keeping.Works for me.

[@jmom5735]

Superb presentation of your method. Saved this video as I would like to try a couple single broods this year. I was wondering about the timing of mite txs and you got that in too! So appreciative of your sharing information and knowledge! Thank you! ❤️🐝🐝 in Northern IL.

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

So nice of you

[@kathyhathaway8823]

That was explained very good information Peter . I run bottom deep an above it a medium for my brood . But for winter I will leave the medium brood and let them fill it with honey for winter also just to be on the safe side also I run 8 frame boxes . Thanks for all your info you share with us all.

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Sounds like a good compromise considering they are 8 frame.

[@TheIrfanxz44]

Great video just what I was going to try this year I’m planning doing 2 chambers until end of may then do my splits and keep single chamber until August then go back to 2 chambers to let them grow for fall flow and winter I normally overwinter 2 chambers and 1 super for winter food and don’t need feeding usually depending on fall flow

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Sounds like a great plan.

[@redbaron8989]

Great info! I was wondering what percentage of the brood box is typically stored honey in say September? Have you ever inspected the bottom (brood box) in September? Please keep these videos coming!!

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

This depends on local flows and time of frost. Here in Maine if brood boxes are about half full Sept 1 and there is some honey flow they probably will need no feeding and be full by Sept 30, if there is no flow its time to take supers off and start feeding. My aim is to have the upper brood chamber FULL by Sept 30.

[@scotthenderson4376]

This enplanes my issues. I was under the impression it was a single box all year. I kept getting full brood then they swarm (usually when I'm out of town) then they fill it up with honey as the new queen is getting mated and starts laying Then want to swarm again as shes so confined. I always wind up adding the second deep with excluder to keep her in the box.

[@beehinde]

In your diagrams you are describing oversupering for August, I use undersupering which works for me.above the queen excluder

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

I certainly undersuper when adding foundation otherwise it does not matter in my view.

[@HaselorHoney]

Thanks for sharing, I use single broodboxes but I’m in the UK so the season I believe is a bit shorter. 🐝🐝🐝

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

I lived there for many years and suspect if anything it is longer than Maine but concentrated to peak in May with Oil seed. Worth a try however.

[@beehinde]

@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer Agreed the UK season is longer, with poly hives you can feed for longer if you use the commercial invert syrup and also draw foundation into November. In the spring in poly you will have brood frames right up to the hive walls.

[@Robbie-Rob_Bees_Apiary]

great pictorials and explanation. could you do similar video for double brood chamber hives?

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Yes I will

[@TheKB1210]

Great information and presentation! Are you shaking the queen down and adding the excluder at the start of your main flow June 10-20? My main flow in Omaha NE typically starts 10-15 June so I’m trying to time correctly when I shake the queen down and add the excluder. Thanks!

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Yes that is the plan.

[@garlorco]

Thank you for the most clear presentation on single brood. I will watch this ten or so times to let it sink in. I will use extended oxalic acid in May. When do you do your splits or nucs?

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Thanks I am glad it helps. I would watch Bob Binnie's recent post about extended OA treatment...not very effective mite reduction. Consider other options.

[@garlorco]

@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer I will do that. I've used it with great success so far last year. Randy Oliver is having great success as is others. I think it is all in the way it is done.

[@woodlandharvesthoneycompanyllc]

Ok I have watched this excellent video several times. I'm just getting started so I only have 6 hives. Two of them are splits I made to try to curb swarming. They are building up fast. One is already in a hive body almost all the frames drawn. The other is filling up a 5 frame and will be ready for a hive body this coming week. I am feeding them. The other 4 are strong. I tried to super them back about the first part of July. That's when they started thinking about swarming. I only have foundation no drawn comb other that what is in the bottom hive bodies.I did the splits and took the excluders out. Now it's Aug 1st, should I leave the supers on with no excluders to try to get frames drawn or put the excluders back on and remove the supers when there is no brood in them. Or leave them on with the excluders and hope for a nectar flow between now and the middle of Sept. Is there a chance they will swarm with only the foundation in the top hive body? Of course I would take the supers off in September and feed sugar syrup. If I got a few frames of late honey that would be fine or just getting wax drawn to give the bees so they could store winter syrup or honey. I'm kind of stumped on what would be the right path to take..

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Thanks, I would leave honey supers on (with no queen excluder)Still lots of time to grow between now and frost at least locally. Make the call to take it off sometime in early September depending upon how the flow goes....if it does.

[@Gattinaelegante]

I'm new to beekeeping and this was a really helpful video, especially with the pictures. I would really like to do a single brood chamber because it's lighter weight and easier to inspect. If you have allowed the creation of brood in a deep super, and in July there is still possibly some brood in the super, does the use of Hop Guard have any effect on the quality of the honey in that super? I know it's suggested that you don't use brood boxes for honey (that you, the beekeeper, plan to harvest) because of the risk of contaminants from varroa treatments. Would that also apply to the super where you've allowed them to make brood? I understand that all remaining brood will eventually hatch out of the super and leave that space to be filled up with honey, but can it be contaminated from the mite treatment? Thanks. :)

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Yes within 24 days of reducing from two to one brood chambers all the brood in the upper chamber has emerged. If you had to use a mite treatment before this time I would use Formic Pro which can penetrate capped brood but I use hop Guard if temperatures are too hot for FP. I would only put hop guard in the single brood chamber, not in the rapidly reducing brood in the upper super. Both Hop Guard and Formic Pro are OK to use with honey supers on the hive. I am not aware of issues arising from the mites in the honey.

[@patmanhoward5681]

Thank You for the videos! What would be the temperatures for the months you specify? I'm in South Carolina and the Maple's start blooming end of February

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Here in Maine it varies from about a 25F average in January to about 75-80F in July.

[@rn-kf1ib]

awesome video Bee whisperer. how do stop the hive from swarming or producing a queen cell when you reduce the colony to a single brood box in the summer?

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Timing! Allow the queen to lay flat out till the honeyflow is about to peak and then reduce to sigle....they concentrate on honeyflow....but keep an eye on it if the flow is not strong.

[@howardperson6341]

Very well done. Thank you. I am using all medium 8 frame equipment. I have been thinking that 2 mediums have nearly the same volume as one deep so I have been thinking of 2 mediums as the “single” chamber. Is this on track or am I a little off base?

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Right on track!

[@johnboyle4062]

Ireland calling thank you like a jigsaw you have put all the pieces together clear and precise

[@martinvejrup3646]

I Will try your model where you have 2 brood Chambers to midt June. I juse to have single right from the start and have hade a lot of Queen cells. So gonna try it next year. Thanks👍🏻

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Good luck!

[@4truth673]

Thanks, nice video. You speak of the times of year you are doing manipulations. Where are you located so that the time of year can make any sense to us? Thanks.

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Hampden Maine....it is on most of my videos!!

[@calbritt785]

Awesome videos thank I used to live in Maine but I live in Washington State now just wondering should you treat from mites with honey super On

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Yes the mite treatments I use are all approved for use with honey supers on....that is not the case for many other mite treatments.

[@calbritt785]

@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer Thanks for your reply could I ask you what type of Might treatment treatment that we can use with honey supers

[@Robbie-Rob_Bees_Apiary]

really like the graphics. your operation is probably too big for powder sugar treatment, but for hobbiest do you recommend and if so when.?

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Powdered sugar will drop mites a little, but very little. Not enough to keep them healthy. When levels get above 2% in an alcohol wash you should treat with a proper treatment like Formic acid, hop Guard or oxalic acid.

[@ericshipplett3517]

Sure wish you would write a book on this subject.

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Thanks

[@brianauclair2890]

Yes Peter a very good video. I'm much better at a hands on learning experience and the diagrams were just as good. My only question is where do the bulk of the bees go when you get down to Oct? In other words where did the excess you built up over the summer go? It's like cramming a heard down onto a pen.

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Thanks, They usually really fill, the bottom super. There are some that over fill it but at that stage the population is dropping very quickly as summer bees die off so within a week or so they all fit in.

[@brianauclair2890]

Thank you so much for replying back to me

[@olympiashorts]

I live in western Washington state and just purchased 3 nucs 1 week ago (I lost all my hives over this past winter). I had leftover frames of capped honey and pollen and was able to use these for the other 5 frames in each of these 3 hives. So, at the moment I have 3 single deep boxes. Given that these are all starting with a relatively low number of bees does it make sense to maintain a single brood chamber throughout this season? The nectar flow began here in late April and generally continues through July. I have plenty of equipment to add a second deep to each of these so that is not an issue. Also, since I have these frames with food is it necessary to feed at this time?

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

I use both methods for later splits, I suggest you try both and see which you like best. Your single brood chamber will make most honey but your doubles will go into the Winter with bigger clusters. Watch your mite treatment regimen as that is the most likely cause of hive loss.

[@BellyUpFish]

So, it sounds like for a beginner, you'd suggest 2 brood chambers, to start out?

[@scentsbyemebathbody3161]

Question: will they queen excluder be on the brood chamber In july & August as well ? Great video !!

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Usually yes unless you plan to go back to a double chamber after the flow.

[@Gunner662]

I assume this is based on if you live in Maine. Down South, our swarm season starts in April and honey flow starts in May. Just back up the months and this should work down South.

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Yes the measure is against honeyflows not the calander.

[@DialedN_07]

Sorry for asking a question that most here may know already, but I'm new to the channel. Where are you located geographically? I'm sure the months as explained in this video may adjust slightly depending on where you are.

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Verymuch so...I am in Hampden Maine.

[@melvinlantz9572]

Thank you for this great information. I run medium frames for this year. Would it be okay to run 2 mediums as a brood chamber for the winter? Next year I'm changing everything over to deeps box as brood chamber. Any input would be appreciated. Thank you.

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Makes very little difference until you see what other things you need the deep frames for.

[@melvinlantz9572]

Thank you. I don't have many deep frames. All the mediums I has already had drawn foundation in them so that what I use. They were packages . I didn't want them to work all that hard when they started out. I really appreciate everything you do for everyone. Great videos. Thank you again.

[@route-249]

So how often do you disturb the brood box once you have the supers on? Do you still dig down into the brood box every 7-10 days or do you just make sure they have room to store honey? Thanks...

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Typically I only check honey supers until honey harvest. Or when I do mite treatments.

[@route-249]

@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer Thanks. I don't manage single brood boxes but I am planning on starting to give it a try.

[@TH-cl5be]

what do you do with the brood in the frames you may have to take out the 2nd brood box to keep it under control, would you just cut out any brood and refit frame back into the box

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Any frames of brood removed from a strong hive is added to a less strong one. When trimming combs of bridges and burr it is almost always drone brood and lost in the process. I save the wax though!

[@danjensen4856]

Instead of actually having two deeps without excluder, could you then consider using a queen excluder when the second deep is added but then like for a month of period continously taking capped brood frames up in to the second deep i.e. still running with two deep of brood but having a queen excluder between (mostly capped above)?

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

I'm sure if you had the time to manage them that way it could work well.

[@danjensen4856]

Thank you. I am aware that you have a lot of hives - myself, less than 10…

[@timmiller2192]

I have a good May-June honey flow, would everything just move up a month? Or would I need to still keep the equinox in mind?

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Honeyflow more important than the day length...It does take some experimentation so if you have several hives spread out the manipulation to test results.

[@henrik5761]

In relation to when your flow starts, when do you put on the excluder?

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

It is more dependent upon when the hive is ready, but ideally it is just as the flow is about to boom.

[@johngriggs3874]

when you remove the brood frames to keep them from getting to many and you do not want to start another hive what do you do with the frames?

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

See videos on equalizing hives they often go to boost smaller hives sometimes to make nucs

[@TH-cl5be]

what size brood chamber would you prefer to over winter with out of the standard , 12x 14 or commercial sizes.

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

To date I have been really happy scaling down to a single Langstroth deep super. I will still overwinter larger units, double deeps , deep/mediums/deep shallows. But I will mostly (60%) aim for single deeps this year.

[@TH-cl5be]

@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer thanks for reply, would the usa deep be the 12x14 uk size do you know, or would that be your commercial size

[@houstonsheltonbees814]

👍

[@chasehamm4467]

When is your first Pollen? Main Honey Flow? First Flow?

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Usually April sometime late March

[@kennylecroy9706]

So when the single brood gets 80 % FULL THEN ADD ANOTHER DEEP? and excluder on top of 2nd deep ?

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Yes you do add a second deep temporarily, to act as a second brood chamber, usually before the honey super is necessary I then shake down the bees (and queen) into the bottom chamber and put the excluder between the two deeps, the upper brood chamber becoming the first honey super.

[@grcunyus]

How much does this change for the southern states?

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

Principals the same timing still relative to honeyflow but that may be several months before me.

[@shelbywright328]

how do virtually half the bees produce twice the honey? i'm relatively new to beekeeping and I grasp the logic.

[@mmb_MeAndMyBees]

Intense population work harder, if you prevent a Swarm, that is (!) Think of bees as Heating, more efficient in a smaller space, than big draughty place with West Wings... A packed brood will work harder, to fill the next box, and another box, than Bees that trickle in and out of a space that is to spacious (it's daunting going from basement, through 1st, 2nd floor, and then the attic, when their is nothing in there in the first place ! ...) Do you get it now !?! Busseling Bees.... Boom ! Hope this helps. 🤗 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

A single brood chamber hive from late June to Oct will have very similar amounts of brood as does a double brood chamber hive, only the space is more intensively used. The population of bees is almost identical.

[@danielmireault1229]

Do not used yellow pen!

[@jasonseaward8506]

Agreed, you can't see yellow against the white background. Maybe use a darker yellow, closer to a gold color or somewhat orangish-yellow.

[@BeekeeperBen]

Why don't you just leave them more honey then you won't have to worry about feeding and they rase better bees on honey then sugar syrup i believe.

[@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer]

I dont think that is correct. While sugar syrup has less nutrints than honey most of that comes from Pollen. There are significant andvantages of overwintering on sugar syrup (besides honey being 20x the cost) as it contains no ash content (undigestable material) some honeys, especially Fall honies can have high ash content meaning bees need to poop. Here in Maine we sometimes get 3-4 months between flying days. Hives eating syrup are not stressed by this , those eating honey can be.

[@BeekeeperBen]

@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer thank you for taking time to get back to me