Single Brood Chamber Management - The Journey Starts !

Hey all,
Well, the 2024 season has started. The weather was warm, so I was able to crack some boxes and start the transition to Single Brood Chamber management. The colonies that needed the room were moved to 1 deep and 1 medium. I think 2 stayed in just 1 deep. This starts the work towards my goal of running Single Brood Chamber Management. We'll see how it all goes.
Give me hints and/or clues to steer me in the right direction.
Thanks for watching. Like & Subscribe to follow the Journey,
Brian
Website: castlehives.com
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Timeline:
0:00 - Intro
0:17 - Single Brood Chamber Plan
3:47 - Colony Work
6:40 - Recap
Equipment Used to Film:
GoPro Hero 12 Black with DJI Mic
Edited with Final Cut Pro X
Tags:
#beekeeping #ohiobeekeeping #beekeeper #ohiobeekeeper #honeyBees #CastleHives #hiveinspection #apimaye #hivealive #lorobbees #beekeeping2023 #bees #backyardbeekeeping #apiary #honey #beethelighthouse #beethechange #savethebees #singlebrood #sbcm

[@aaronparis4714]

Give that small colony a frame of capped brood give them a boost

[@NKYHoneyBees]

It worked like a charm for me last season. I experimented with 4 hives. Gooing to 8 hives this season. Good luck bud. Keep us updated.

[@CastleHives]

Thanks, Anel. . I'll share everything so that folks can see what I do.

[@BohemiaBees]

Once you go SBM you’ll never go back. Great video

[@CastleHives]

Thanks, Jason. I'm excited to see how it goes.

[@BrianCooper901]

I had a couple nucs that were growing fast and I didn't have enough equipment so I kept them in an 8 frame single deep with supers on top and they did well. The double brood chamber management may take more time but seems to be a bit more forgiving if the weather is bad or you are busy early in the season. I see folks having to feed them a lot more too to get them through winter. I would think having a deep single brood with a deep honey super that you leave for their winter stores (that you give them access to when you remove the queen excluder late in the year) could be feasible. The downside is you still have to lift it off when doing inspections throughout the year. I'd love to see you keep at least one as a double deep just so you can compare since there is so much variance in pollen and nectar resources throughout the season due to weather so you can make a side by side comparison. But they are your bees and it is your journey so do what's best for you! Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences with us.

[@aaronparis4714]

You gonna like this system better I’m up in Canada and I do the same method you only need two box when your in swarm season that will kill that urge to swarm I will be dropping mine down areound June 30 when I make my nucs

[@EfrataHoneyBees]

It will be really challenging keeping up with the single brood chambers but it will be interesting your journey this next calendar year. Bee Blessed!!!

[@CastleHives]

I have been told that you have to always keep 2 boxes ahead of where they are at, so that they have room. When the flow hits, i'm adding 2 mediums so they'll have 1 deep for the brood chamber and 3 mediums for honey. We'll see how it goes. I'll share everything, so stay tuned for how it all goes.

[@TennesseeMountainBees]

Awesome video, Brian! Looking forward to more on single brood management!

[@CastleHives]

Thanks much. Good to see you in the comments. I'm excited to see how it all goes.

[@paulgroth5414]

I feel your pain! I lost half of my hives , so many factors involved with bees, keep at it! I love singles, but keep an eye on them!

[@CastleHives]

That's the plan!

[@RandWFarmstead-TonyWalsh]

Good luck with everything Brian, you are the best beekeeper I watch on YT. Hope you have a blessed weekend my friend.

[@CastleHives]

I appreciate that Tony. Hope you have a blessed weekend as well.

[@russellkoopman3004]

Good luck Brian.

[@CastleHives]

Thanks Russell.

[@BlanchardsBees]

I like doing the single brood boxes but i like using a deep on top so they can fill it for winter. A lot easier when it comes to inspection. I've yet to crack any boxes open but its getting close. Hopefully I'll just be able to rotate the boxes and put in an exluder but as you know how plans go with bees 😅 🐝 Thanks for sharing 👍

[@CastleHives]

I bet that would work great. How did you fare through the winter? Appreciate you watching

[@BlanchardsBees]

@CastleHives they are all still buzzing! Really mellow weird winter

[@CastleHives]

This winter was so odd. .

[@flowerstreetfarmbees]

With your overwintering losses, you might consider letting your colonies build up on two deep brood chambers, then pull off a box to split after the nectar flow starts, and run in singles after the biggest swarm potential.

[@CastleHives]

I thought about that and figured I can pull off some smaller splits and let those develop through the year. We'll see how it goes. I'm sure i'll mess up something. LOL. . Appreciate you watching Bryan.

[@tjjastrem127]

I agree with this. I would do two deeps then mediums you could split that box if you want and like someone else said then they have a deep of honey and a medium if you don’t split it for winter eventually. But hey I will be curious to see how it works gotta try new stuff right that’s how we grow

[@KajunHomestead]

Good luck Brian , I'm planning on doing single brood on half of my colonies this coming winter, alot of my colonies that were double deep only used one deep all winter and its alot to keep warm for a small colony. All my single brood 7 frame nucs came out swinging, I have already sold 7 overwinter nucs with enough bees to start another colony. I'm just gonna pack my small hives into single brood and give it a try.

[@CastleHives]

That's awesome Brad. The more and more I thought about it, the more SBCM makes sense to me you know. Hope you have a great season and thanks for wacthing.

[@mrcshoneybees]

Brain, great video. I'm ready for spring here in North Royalton Ohio. I'm afraid of opening them up this early.

[@CastleHives]

I'm ready for it to be Spring also. I think the cold spell we have this weekend will be the last, we'll see. Thanks for watching.

[@christopherroop4937]

❤️ Single brood management. Good choice Brian 👍🐝

[@CastleHives]

Thank you.

[@hamburghoney]

Good choice Brian! I have been using single box management for 3 years and will never go back. My overwintering success went up about 20% in northern wisconsin. As long as you put some insulation on top of and on the sides they will stay warm. I also stopped using a top entrances this year. You have to bottom supper though to make sure they dont get congested during a flow. See you next weekend. You can come out and check out some of our hives if you like.

[@CastleHives]

Thanks for sharing. I plan to under super. I'm sure i'll learn some lessons, but appreciate the tips. Cya in a week. I'll let you know what the schedule looks like. It'd be great to look at some hives.

[@StanGore-mk8ow]

exciting Brian!! honest beekeeping!! great work!

[@CastleHives]

Thanks Stan.

[@oneshoo]

Nice video Brian. I have been wanting to do single brood management for a while now, but I only run 8 frames. This year I am going to give the Demaree method a try on most of my production hives (6). We will see how that is going to go?? 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ It is supposed to be in the 60’s this week at the Jersey Shore and I think I’m going to crack the boxes and see about reversing?? Looking forward to your journey this season! 👍👍

[@CastleHives]

I've never done the Demaree method myself. Good luck. I'll share everything, so stay tuned. Appreciate you watching.

[@noahG82]

I couldn't keep up with my single brood chambers last year when the main flow hit they filled 2 supers with nectar in a week and half and swarmed before I could get to them lol. Make sure you can check them often like you said! I did the exact same added two mediums and next thing u know they are in a tree ha!! Good luck I can't wait to watch this as the season moves forward! Thanks for the video!

[@CastleHives]

Oh wow! I've been told always stay 2 boxes ahead and check every week. My old routine was weekly inspections on Saturday. Hopefully I can keep up. Appreciate you watching.

[@gregstrama7750]

Hi my Russian package, I went with the single box. Had 3 fool supers of honey was more than another hives. Bottom was fool of brood wall to wall. See you in Wisconsin!

[@CastleHives]

Sounds like it worked out great for you. Cya next week.

[@honeyandthecoop803]

I see those girls wanted their 15 minutes of fame. Give me the 🎤 mic 🐝

[@CastleHives]

Lol. . That they did. That colony has been a hair feisty.

[@kennith.]

Thank you for sharing. Brian, have you ever tried the long Lang./ horizontal format? Hope this season goes well for you.

[@CastleHives]

I did have a horizontal for about a year, they did not make it through the winter. Now, I'm not saying it was that configuration, just my colony did not survive. I think when managed properly, the long lang is a great setup.

[@SylantBill]

I have switched over to singles also. Pulled splits already. I am located up the road from Bruce about 100 miles.

[@CastleHives]

Oh, nice. You guys down South have such a long season.

[@brianbennett4374]

Good luck I'm going to do one deep and the rest supers 👌

[@CastleHives]

I think it will work best for me. Good luck with yours.

[@flowerstreetfarmbees]

Thanks Brian! Can’t wait to see how it works for you. Do Apimayes allow for placing a queen excluder between the two deep boxes?

[@CastleHives]

Hey Bryan, you can put an excluder between the boxes.

[@coryrthomas6674]

Hi i ran single brood in all 7 frames apimape it went well i thing going to do the same this year

[@CastleHives]

That's good to hear. Thanks for watching.

[@nancynolton6079]

So in the single box management... how does one deal with all the pollen the bees bring in plugging up the brood chamber? Those deep frames cannot be moved up into a medium box. Was there much honey stores in those hives? Didn't look like much.

[@CastleHives]

That is the tricky part. I'm going to have an upper entrance in the 2nd super so that they can utilize an upper entrance and hopefully not plug up the brood area. If I see a colony that has an overwhelming amount of brood, I can equalize throughout the apiary. Keep watching, because I'm sure we'll all learn some lessons.

[@davelapp8412]

Thanx Brian, I was contemplating starting this method this year as well, was thinking of doing it this week, when it warms up after today's cold! In the double deep management I could go two to three weeks between inspections, what time frame in-between inspections were you going to use, 10 to 16 days or so?

[@CastleHives]

I'll inspect mine weekly until I feel comfortable. I don't want to turn each colony into swarm factories.

[@maksimstadnik1918]

Solid video! When do you predict swarm season startup this year, seems to be 2-3 weeks sooner than last year?

[@CastleHives]

The season is early. I saw 2 drones while going through, so there are a few out there, but not many. We normally don't see swarms until into Late May, so i'll be curious if we see any towards end of April or early May this year. The maples are opening up and there are other sources, so they're going to start building up very soon.

[@matthewsweeney2577]

Where is Ohio again, a t-shirt Where did I put that map… 👍

[@CastleHives]

Haha. . Ohio is where Ohio is. Thanks for watching.

[@hamburghoney]

I saw on one your Shorts videos the Queen Right Dials were being printed. Do you own a 3D printer?

[@CastleHives]

3 now.

[@hamburghoney]

can they print silicone as well?@@CastleHives

[@CastleHives]

@@hamburghoney No. Only a variety of plastic filaments.

[@johniac7078]

They look ok, but dont seem to have a lot of resources.

[@CastleHives]

Some are light, some are good. They all have fondant and I did swap some frames around. Our cold is about done, so they'll have liquid syrup soon. Hopefully that'll get them over the hump and into Spring. Ohio weather gets crazy this time of year. Appreciate you watching.

[@johnlawler3353]

I did this last year on some colonies and it worked pretty well. I’m looking to do DeMaree method on 10 of my colonies this year.

[@CastleHives]

Good stuff, i'll be curious how the DeMaree turn out for you. Thanks John.

[@aaronparis4714]

You gonna like this system better I’m up in Canada and I do the same method you only need two box when your in swarm season that will kill that urge to swarm I will be dropping mine down areound June 30 when I make my nucs

[@CastleHives]

I'm hoping that singles are the way to go for me.

[@aaronparis4714]

Give that small colony a frame of capped brood give them a boost

[@CastleHives]

It dwindled to nothing. The Queen stopped laying.

[@aaronparis4714]

@@CastleHives yes she is not laying because she will only lay out what there is enough bees to look after the eggs it’s 2 nurse bees per egg I have a small nuc it was bad but I added a frame of capped brood and bees to it now it’s coming back unless your queen is old I would try it any way

[@CastleHives]

@@aaronparis4714 Off camera, i've added a frame about 1/3rd filled with brood, enough that they could cover it, nothing happened. I tried to baby that colony and eventually just called it quits. I figured why baby a colony like this. Sometimes, they just teeter out.

[@aaronparis4714]

@@CastleHives I understand now 👍🏾