I use double National brood boxes on production hives. Management starts early in the season. In April, all colonies are checked carefully for disease (Module 3 is extremely useful for this).
Now is the time to carry out replacement of old, diseased and distorted frames. Select the 7 oldest frames, usually found in the lower brood box, and replace with fresh foundation. Make sure all the new foundation is in the upper brood box or swap the boxes if its easier. This ensures a maximum of 3 years for frame rotation. Incidentally, there is no need for Bailey frame change or feeding.

Use of dummy boards

I use three different widths in order to adjust the space available to the bees. I find this useful if the colony is a bit small. Alternatively, if you are greedy, you can force more honey into the supers.

Using double National brood boxes – May, June, July

Ensure you can double up during May, June and July. Advantages are;

• The arch of honey in the upper brood box protects the supers from pollen.
• Supers can be removed anytime without concerns over starvation.
• Bees respect the bee space between the brood boxes.
• Swarm cells tend to be built between the brood boxes. Thus no need for full inspections. Just tilt and smoke.

Using double National brood boxes – August

By August, the bees have their arch of honey in the upper brood box and the brood area is reducing. Himalayan balsam will boost the nectar flow. Varroa treatment can be administered if needed, otherwise it is safe to go on holiday!

Using double National brood boxes – September

You will need about 20kg of stores in your hive by the middle of October when feeding ceases. The theoretical maximum for one National brood box is 25kg, so a single brood box hive would only have a couple of frames for the bees to live on with 20kg stores.

Alternatively, leave them a super of honey but this raises questions.

• Do you leave the queen excluder in or out?
• What do you do in the spring?
• What do you do with any honey left in the super?
• It may be contaminated with varroa treatment products.

Double brood – disadvantages

• Harder to move double brood hives.
• Hives can get rather high.
• Can lead to very strong colonies which could be daunting to newbies.
• Requires more boxes.

These could be good problems to have!

I use rhombus bee escapes with an eke below so that the bees have space to go down into. They should all be down overnight. Note; the image on the left is upside down

Porter bee escapes in the crown board are fiddly, slow and prone to propolising. If you are in a hurry, shaking bees off capped honey is surprisingly easy and efficient. The frames need to be immediately placed in a covered container.