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.
Queen Cells (Local Pick Up ONLY)
1-10 cells $9.00 per cell
11-25 cells $7.00 per cell
26-100 cells $5.00 per cell
101+ cells $4.00 per cell
- Our queen cells are available on a first come, first serve basis from April to Oct/Nov.
- Our hatching days are every Tuesday and Friday. Cells must be picked up the day BEFORE these hatching days, which is Monday and Thursday preferably between 8am-10am.
- Please bring sufficient containers/equipment to transport your cells.
- Queen cells 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
Ordering more than 50 cells?
You may order/schedule via eMail: greenviewaquaponics@gmail.com or Text (239) 443-5597
If you have any questions about cells, please Text Astrid at (239)-443-5597. We are a working farm/apiary, so we are not as quick with phone calls as we are with text.
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
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
