I am thinking deep thoughts about my brand new Flow Hive 2. Living in upstate NY, I am thinking ahead to over-wintering my bees and would like to have a medium box to put on top of my (beautiful) deep cedar ‘8 frame’ brood box.
Has the Flow Co. considered adding a medium box to their product line?
You can use any standard langstroth box. You can probably find matching wood (obviously not a problem if you’re painting).
Not sure about your local climate but you may want double deep boxes.
Thank you - good point.
I am trying to balance giving the bees sufficient winter stores versus stressing them with too much space (based on Tom Seeley’s advice about modeling wild hives which are on the small volume end of the scale). Also, I just love the appearance of the cedar Flow Hive which we kept by using a clear outdoor stain. Since I may not find a medium cedar box, this may be a sign that I really need a deep one 
https://beebuilt.com/collections/parts-accessories/products/langstroth-medium-cedar-hive-box
Out of stock currently…
https://bespokebeesupply.com/products/langstroth-box?variant=4714220486697
With an 8-frame brood box in your region, you may want to consider “double deeps” for the brood. @Eva is not too far from you and I think that is what she uses. I believe that sometimes Flow has extra cedar brood boxes for you to buy in the USA. Is that true, @Freebee2? 
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@Dawn_SD yes we do, and I agree, double deeps can be a good configuration in colder regions.
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Not to contradict, but I have stopped using double deeps in favor of a deep + medium for winter. It’s a proportion that seems to work for the bees and suits my management style.
@cmm you can easily cut a deep box down to medium size if you really want a cedar one! In my area hives are better off painted with light colors (my Flow roofs are painted) as wood grain can get pretty hot in the summer.
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Thanks so much! Definitely more to think about as I try to get my ducks in a row. What I’m learning is that with so many variables in keeping bees (starting with macro and micro-climate around the hive), a single ‘right’ answer probably doesn’t exist.
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This is a great idea and the remaining part of the brood box use as a feeding shim/treating for Verroa.
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@cmm welcome to the fascinating world of beekeeping. I too am only a newbee, getting my bees in late November 2020. We here in the Southern Hemisphere (Australia), winter is almost over. I am in the southeastern part of the state of NSW, I have 2 brood boxes on my hive. I did that because I missed out on Spring last year, so decided not to attempt to harvest any honey, so added the second brood box instead. With feeding the bees 1:1 sugar syrup from mid Autumn through to mid July, I now have a strong hive, so much so that I’m pretty sure that I will need to do a split by the end of September, making the split a 2nd FH2+. After doing the split I will then finally get to putting the flow box on, and watch nervously for honey to be put into it.
Yes I’ve found that there are no set of rules, when it comes to beekeeping, even when it comes to just the different years that a fixed bee hive will experience, eg extreme wet years, or those dreaded droughts. Let alone to one day discover that you have a bee hater next door, whom has just poisoned your beehive. That hasn’t happened to me but I know someone that it did happen to. Yep the highs and lows of beekeeping, I hope that yours are all highs.
I must have one of the must spoiled beehives in the world, in-hive heating, insulation covering the hive walls, it has a home made shade covering the hive with drop down awnings on two side (lowered at night), and it’s backed up against an old shed that’s next door.
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