Something that has me confused…well ONE thing…I watched a video and the guy had two brood boxes, one for the brood laying and after it established he added another Deep box and then a third one for harvesting. Of course he did this over a course of time.I thought that the brood box was also the primary food source for the bees and the super for collecting. I also thought that some honey would be left in the Flow Hive super for winter food backup.
Was the video I watched based on some cold location where the beekeeper felt there was a need for extra food or was he simply expanding his hive to two brood levels for extra bees? I know the flow hive says it’s complete with just the two.
Beekeeping is about location. If you live in an area that has a real winter (leaves fall from the trees in October and don’t return until March) then you will want at least 2 deep 10 frame brood boxes. I live in NJ and use 3 eight frame boxes before adding honey supers.
In the warmer climates the single deep brood box may suffice because the bees can forage for nectar and pollen almost throughout the year. The complete Flow hive as sold is a warmer climate setup.
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In the US the typical overwintering size, and if using an excluder the size under the brood nest, is two deeps in the North, a deep and a shallow in the near south and one deep in the deep south. As Red_Hot_Chilipepper says, it’s all about location.
Thanks for this, was wondering the same and I appreciate your answer.