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.
The amount of space you need and or want to give your bees in the brood chamber can vary. Many people use only a single box and then do splits to keep the hive from swarming, other people such as in the video add multiple boxes to give them more room to expand keep them from swarming. Basically as bees run out or room for brood/pollen/honey it triggers a swarm.
Here in the northern part of the US a hive of two ten frame deeps is the norm for winter with a stack of supers the rest of the year. The queen usually has free run of those two deeps and often free run of the entire colony. I run all eight frame mediums.
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Three eight frame deeps here in the North East US. Feeding sugar would be a last resort; studies are indicating that honey is better for them: http://agrinews-pubs.com/Content/News/Latest-News/Article/Study--Sugar-diet-may-have-impact-on-honeybee-health/8/6/7139
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@Gayle I also in NC where do I go to learn how to become a bee keeper?
Start with joining a bee keeping club and watch YouTube. Look up the bee blog and the fat bee man. You can look up books as well on Amazon. The Beekeepers Bible, Honeybee Democracy, and so that you can catch free bee’s, Keeping Honeybees and Swarm Trapping.
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I’m in Georgia, and was told by my father-in-law that I should only use one brood box. Then that I should use an excluder and place honey supers above that. He said that’s how he used to do it, and that this is how all commercial beekeepers do it.
I shouldn’t argue with an elder. 
But I do. I learned most of my beekeeping from reading on the internet, through several sites. I started my hives with one brood box, then added another, because this is what I read you should do. (I’m sorta trying to say, I don’t know the RIGHT answer, but maybe things have changed.) But my father-in-law still insists I’m doing things wrong, and allowing my hive to get too big where it might swarm.
My thoughts on the matter… Isn’t a big hive good? larger numbers means it’s stronger and better able to do the work needed, right? More bees, more production, more honey. Plus, a larger hive going into winter.
Anyway, I did two brood boxes because this is what I read I should do, and what I saw pictures of hives having - two large supers, then honey supers.
Now for what to expect as far as growth for this year. Like I said, I started last year, in the summer. I did get a very late start - about as late as it gets (June 27th). The bees did fine on building up to a strong two deep supers. I tried adding a third super on mid-September because they seemed ready for it. I had grand ideas of getting loads of honey in a fall harvest. NOT! They wouldn’t even start building comb up there. I guess they had enough to do, and enough space, in just the two supers.
I did manage to get some honey at the end of winter though. I looked in on them at the end of December, and they’d hardly touched the honey stores, so I took two frames. Then at the begining of Febuary I took two more frames. It still left them with honey, and things were begining to bloom anyway.
One last bit of advice. If I had known back in the fall what I know now, I would have prepared myself. My hive grew really large by Febuary, and ended up swarming on March 15th. If I’d been smart, I would have bought more frames and built more supers over the fall and winter. I would have split the hive during the first nice week in Febuary, with a second empty brood box above. Instead - I lost the swarm and split the hive at the end of March. Then I lost a month of production and brood rearing because there apparantly wasn’t any brood young enough to be made into a queen in one of the hives (one did have LUCKILY one good queen cell that hatched). I did goof in lots of ways.
So my advice - stay one step ahead of the bees, and be ready for a huge growth as soon as weather warms (in Georgia that can be January).
Sorry for the long post, but the “one super” - “two super” thing is sort of a sore spot for me. Even though I’ve had the bees for a year, my father-in-law still insists I’m doing all wrong by letting the bees raise brood in two deep supers. And I’d say between the two hives they’ve made 150-200 pounds of honey so far this year. I’ve only taken about 65 pounds of it, since the rest was on frames that were half brood/half honey.
Hi Shea, I believe your father-in-law in on the right track, I’m assuming you mean Georgia USA, I’m in Australia. My climate would be similar to yours I expect. I only run single deep brood boxes. As long as all your frames are in good nic, meaning most of the area on them is good worker comb, you’ll get more bees than you need to build a hive up nice & strong. I find I have to weaken the brood out to prevent swarming via preemptive swarm control. Most times it works. I’m able to sell the excess colonies as I’m not looking to expand. I work about 60 hives. With 1 brood box & 1 honey super with queen excluders, I’m averaging around 100kg of honey per hive, per annum. Plus whatever colonies I sell. By using preemptive swarm control measures, your constantly placing fresh foundation in the brood, that assures you that the brood combs are good. Also you can keep a check on diseases at the same time. I forgot to mention that my honey supers are also deep. That way I can place frames of brood above the queen excluder of any hive if I think that hive needs a boost in population after first checking on that hives brood health & status.
In January and February - This is when you should have chequer boarded the hive brood and when they started to fill that add the supers - This way you would have had your double brood