The Basic Components of the Honey Bee Hive
The honey bee hive consists of several boxes that are named after their colony use versus simply the size.
The most common naming convention among beginning beekeepers is simply a brood box and a super. The brood box is the box where the queen lays her eggs (the “brood”) and the super box is where the remaining worker bees place the honey stores. So, you may also hear them called honey supers.
The more experience beekeepers tend to use the size and function in their names, so you may a “deep box” or “deep brood box”, which refers to the box as before where the queen lays her eggs.
Super boxes for the Langstroth hive come in 3 sizes:
- shallow ask known as
- medium also known as an Illinois Super
- or the no longer commonly use Wisconsin Super
Then we have top and bottom boards that also come in different variations:
Top boards with inner and outer covers, used mostly up north and Migratory Top boards more commonly used in Florida since we don’t have a huge temperature differential that causes condensation inside the hive.
Bottom boards can be solid or screened. The screened bottom board is known to be used in the control of the varroa destructor mite.
Then we have frames and sometimes we have foundation.
Wax coated plastic foundation is an injected molded, food grade plastic raised cell sheet covered with beeswax. Coated with 100% US beeswax in Hamilton, IL to help the bees start drawing the cells. The best plastic foundation available. Tested and proven as the ultimate in plastic foundation. They are ready to use, just put into your frames. Wax moth damage? No problem! Simply scrape the damage off and put them back on for the bees to clean up. Pull them from the box and put them right into your frames and onto your bees.
- Precise deep cell walls.
- Uniform exact cells with sharper cell edges for quick acceptance.
- Textured cell interior.
- Requires no reinforcement.
- Use in wedge top bar or slips easily into grooved top bar frames.
- Durable plastic holds up to years of extracting.
- Product may be white or yellow color.
Size Chart:
| Deep | fits 9 1/8" frame | fits 9 5/8" box | size 8 3/8" and 81/2" x 16 3/8" | Deep Deep Super Hive Body Brood Box Brood Nest |
| WI Super | fits 7 1/4" frame | fits 7 5/8" box | size 6 1/2" and 6 5/8" x 16 3/8" | Uncommon Size 3/4 Super Wisconsin Super |
| IL Super | fits 6 1/4" frame | fits 6 5/8" box | size 5 1/2" and 5 5/8" x 16 3/8" | Medium Super Illinois Super Modified Super Dadant Super Most common size for Honey Super |
| Shallow Super | fits 5 3/8" frame | fits 5 11/16" box | size 4 3/4" x 16 3/8" | Shallow Super Often used for Cut Comb |
Quantity: One (1) Sheets
Shipping cost: N/A
Shipping: Not available
Farm Pick Up cost: Free
Farm Pick Up by Appt: Pick up appointments must be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance.
Pick Up at Gulf Coast Beekeeper Meetings | Collier or Charlotte: Free
Collier:2nd MONDAY of each month
Charlotte:3rd TUESDAY of each month
Other options:
Learn more: How to Select a Bee Smoker
