Hello
We have just purchased a 6 Frame Flow Hive (8 frames in brood box). We currently have a strong 10 frame Langstroth brood box.
My question is, if we purchased and placed a 2nd brood box onto the flow hive, can we divide up the 10 frames between the two and add in new frames?
Many thanks
Deb
Hi Deb, welcome to the forum where you will find lots of reading and very good advice from the members.
With your climate I wonder why you are thinking of a double brood box hive as I think a single brood box is likely normal in your area.
I would consider when it is warmer doing a split to make up a single 8 frame brood hive and the rest into another brood box hive that if you didn’t want a 3rd hive then it is very saleable.
A single brood box hive is much easier and a lot less time needed to manage if your climate is warm enough.
Cheers
Hi Peter
Thank you for that. The only reason I thought of a double brood box is because I don’t want the 10 frame box. I want to just use the 8 frame I got, but I didn’t want to deplete any of their stores.
It was suggested on another site that I just take the all the brood and the most full frames and put into the 8 and discard the other 2 frames. Would that be the better option do you think?
Ta
Good morning Deb, I understand where your coming from and your thinking. When I moved from a colder climate as a semi commercial bee keeper where it was standard practice there to have 2 10 frame brood boxes because of the climate. So when I moved up to the Sunshine Coast and getting a bit older I decided to opt for 8 frame hives for the lighter weight. Then asking about it made sense to run single brood boxes.
You can very easily run single 8 frame brood boxes in your climate and so rather than disguarding 2 frames of brood what I would do is to make a walk away split and begin another hive and sell it if you didn’t want to add to your apiary. But beware that having bee hives is VERY addictive.
Just dumping two frames of brood goes against my thinking when there is much better options available to you. If you haven’t done a split before it can be a bit daunting for the first time. A few months ago I went down to the Tweed and showed a guy there with one hive how it is done and now he has two strong hives and the queen-less hive made their own queen with no fuss.
Cheers
what peter said is one option- but- it may be that the outermost frames in your 10 frame box are either all honey and/or empty comb. If that’s the case you could just remove them and harvest the honey and wax. The bees should be fine losing some stores.
I don’t know how cold it gets where you are- but if it was me here in SA I would probably leave off transferring the bees until just before spring.
@Peter48 would you make a split at this time of year? We woudn’t here.
As several others have said, you can, but you may only need one brood box in your climate.
If it was my hive in your climate, I would do the following:
Just my humble opinion. 
Actually last July I did splits of about 25% of my hives which were all successful in producing their own queens and had to do one today, a walk away split. I must have a much milder ‘Winter’ here but I’m certainly not saying it is right for everyone, far from it, but it works here. My hives don’t ‘shut down’ with the cooler climate at all, I checked a few of the other hives today and found hives heavy with honey that I extracted from 6 weeks ago. I run 8 frames supers and always leave 2 frames of honey if the weather turns sour.
My coldest night this June and July has been 11C outside the hive, so it is nothing like what you get even in Adelaide and I recon up on the hills would be a few degrees colder still. The last few days have been 23/26C and the girls are busy with a good nectar flow.
A huge difference to what I used to get out in the Hawkesbury and Mudgee areas with -7c common at night in July. Tis funny that JeffH is only 18 klm’s away and my bees hit a dearth from mid last November till mid March with the heat and drought while Jeff continued to produce honey. So while he is close by we can have different micro-climates.
Cheers
We’ve actually been having odd mid-winter weather with lovely sunny days and very active bees. My brother was considering putting an ideal on his hive it’s so active. However in my limited experience we get very little honey to spare in winter-0 the bees keep collecting nectar but eat it at a similar rate. Often stronger hives come through winter with loads of stores to spare- but no surplus.
But just a few weeks ago temps dropped down to below zero early in the morning. Frost in the hills is not uncommon. Hardly see any drones at this time of year at all- so have always assumed splits would not take very well- and try not to disturb hives at this time of the year anyway.
Cheers pete!
I’m following what you are saying Jack, I still shudder thinking of the Winter nights out at Nairne out near Mt Barker. The days were often too cold as well.
After doing my split today I was stunned at the increase of honey in the supers since I extracted 6 weeks ago, even found lids full of comb and honey so time to kick myself for being too slack.
Good morning all
I cannot thank you enough for your advice and input on this. I am going to go with the single brood box and keep the 2 frames in the freezer as suggested. I am opting not to do a split and selling the other hive, as I simply don’t have enough knowledge to ensure a quality sale.
I am sure you will all hear from me again at some point, as I continue my learning and seeking experienced peoples preferences.
Cheers
Deb
Speaking for myself, I would be delighted if you post again. You are thoughtful, responsive and you read answers carefully. Perfect member of this forum, thank you for joining us!
Our pleasure to be of help Deb. I even though of offering to pop down combining it with a visit to my brother but I’m pushed for time right now with doing my own splits and extracting honey.
There is a very active bee group on the Gold Coast that might be worth thinking abut in expanding you knowledge. I think they are around Nerang.
Look forward to you posting again.
Cheers