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.
To be placed on the each month's List for 2025 NUCs, you must pay the $50 non-refundable deposit. Deliveries of NUCs are arranged on a first come, first deposit paid basis. NUCs are expected to start being ready late-April, BUT THIS IS WEATHER dependent.
5-frame NUCs are available in the following options:
5-frame NUC with frames - no box (BYOBox) $195 ea
Bring your 5-frame or 10-frame deep Langstroth-style hive body box on your prearranged date/time and we will put the frames of into your box following a brief hive inspection. NUC frames will include: 5 deep wooden Langstroth-style frames, drawn out wax comb on Plasticell foundation, honey, nectar pollen, brood and a mated queen of known genetics - Italian (naturally mated outside the Africanization Zone for gentleness and honey production).
5-frame NUC with frames & plastic box $225 ea
NUC with 5-frames in a corrogated plastic EZ-NUC box (pictured). NUC will include: 1 EZ-NUC box, 5 deep wooden Langstroth-style frames, drawn out wax comb on Plasticell foundation, honey, nectar pollen, brood and a mated queen of known genetics - Italian (naturally mated outside the Africanization Zone for gentleness and honey production).
Our Queens are naturally open mated and are actively laying eggs in your NUC colony when you pick up.
Our queen and queen cells for NUC production aim for stock that is gentle, easy to work with and build-ups abundantly for pollination and honey making. If you are a beginner, hobbyist or if you are a seasoned commercial beekeeper, our NUCs will be just right for you!
Queen Cells & NUCs are always in limited quantities based on the season. Please pre-order yours early, so we can be sure to reserve your needs as soon as possible.
NUCs cannot be picked up until final payment has been received by GreenView Aquaponics.
GreenView Aquaponics Family Farm and Apiary is based in Cape Coral, FL on SW Florida's coast and producing Queen Cells & NUCs for sale from April to Oct/Nov.
Italian Queens are known for producing hives that have a high volume of brood year-round. The queens tend to continue to lay eggs regardless of weather, nectar or pollen conditions and many beekeepers, who pollinate in early spring, prefer the Italian genetic stock. Since Italian queens produce large hive populations, it’s very important to keep the colony well fed throughout colder months when bees are unable to forage or periods with high amounts of syrup or honey consumption. Italian Queens will have mixed coloring when they emerge since we allow for healthy, open mating by purchasing our queen mothers from open mated stock N of I-4. They have many fine qualities: the queens are exceptionally prolific, known for a fast spring buildup, gentleness and honey production. From New Beekeepers to Commercial Pollinators and Honey Producers, you can be confident that when you purchase our Queen Cells, you are not only getting a high quality Queen cell with great genetics, but you are getting the benefits of a high-quality control process: from breeder queen selection to colony feeding (to produce quality royal jelly and queen cells), to grafting, incubating and finally getting the queen cells to you. We do all we can to ensure quality and care each step of the process!
Queen cells & NUCs are always in limited quantities based on the season. Please pre-order yours early, so we can be sure to reserve your needs as soon as possible
Other options:
Learn more: How to Select a Bee Smoker
