Ordering Brood Box (& roof)

Modifications & Building Bee Hives
1

Aloha from Hawaii!
I was gifted a flow super 7 (langstroth 10 equivalant)
Have no brood box, base or roof.

Flow doesnt build brood boxs or roofs to fit this model
Wondering where should I buy?
Need best for tropical climate (warm & wet)

Plz help!
Zero bee expiernce
(execpt a one day workshop)

2

Hi Ryan,
Sounds like you were gifted a modified 10 frame langstroth so you should be able to buy a standard 10 frame langstroth box to suit from any good beekeeping shop. Don’t forget you will also need a base and queen excluder.

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. Ryan… Beethinking.com that makes the Flow-Hive has 10 frame Western Red Cedar deep n mediums … The ship quickly too ! Or as Ridderrick mentioned any 10 frame Langstroth will work. Here’s two pix’s. One of the flow n one of my 10 frame Beethinking hive … I have Cedar Shallows I made too nut not in these pix’s.

Good luck,
Gerald in Washington State.

1 Like
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Ooooh … The shallow box under the Flow-hive is a pollen ever effective pollen trap.

Gerald

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Is that so the bee store pollen below the brood and not up on the flow frames Gerald?

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Yes thats exactly what i’m looking for
(base, 10 frame size brood box, frames, queen exlcuder & roof)
Where would you recomend getting those
(i wanna start with the best)

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In my humble opinion, the best Langstroths are from Bee Thinking. The reason I say that is they use Western Red Cedar, which is light weight (2/3 the weight of pine) and highly resistant to rot and insect damage. They are pricey, but to me, they are totally worth it. Shipping might be costly to Hawaii also, but that is the price of living in paradise! :blush: Here is a link to a full hive on their website - should have everything you need to start up:

If you want to compare, Mann Lake and Brushy Mountain also make very nice hives, but they are pine or cypress and you will have to keep painting them especially in your climate.
http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/UNASSEMBLED-10-Frame-Complete-Hive/productinfo/101/

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Have you contacted the guys at http://www.hawaiibeekeepers.org/ as they will know the best source of beekeeping equipment.

9

Hey Dawn I hope your well. My bees are kicking butt and have built out the entire brood box. Should I add another brood box before I add the flow frames? I’m in Tennessee so we still have a good fall coming.
I’m a little confused why they sell the flow hive with only one brood box when everything I’m reading says you need 2 brood boxes before you put the flow hive on. Thoughts?
Thanks,
John

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Please don’t add the Flow super at this time of year. :wink: I would definitely order another brood box, but your local beekeepers are the best source of information about whether to add it right now or not. My intuition would be that you may be too late. If you do add it, I would suggest adding it below the existing brood box, then take it off in November if the bees are not using it. You can add it back again (below) in Spring when the colony starts to build for the next season. It is best to have plenty of bees in the space available, rather than too few to defend the hive from pests.

I like to add new brood boxes below for the following reasons:

  1. Less thermal stress for the bees. Warm air rises. The bees generate heat to keep the brood (or the cluster) warm, if you put empty space above the brood, it makes more work for them.
  2. Less rearranging for the bees. Bees in natural cavities tend to build down. If you add space above, they usually move everything up, totally disrupting their current hive arrangement for several weeks or more. If you add space below, there is much less tendency to do this.

The Flow hive was developed in subtropical Australia, where one brood box can be enough. Also, many commercial beekeepers run on one brood box. However, for hobby beekeepers, you are much more likely to over-winter successfully if you have two brood boxes and in some climates, even three.

So for now, I suggest you get local advice. I wish you all the best!

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Thanks Dawn! Very useful info. I do a have a local bee keeper helping me and what you’re saying is right in line.
You bring up a great point about adding it to the bottom. I will go that route for sure!

Thanks,
John