I live in Cheney Ks and want to run a unlimited brood nest. My question is how many hive bodys would I need for brood and winter stores. I just hived my frist package and they seem to be doing fine. I'm waiting for them to draw out there first hive body and to install the second. J.D.
Since you didn't mention size, I assume we are talking about deeps. Since the norm in KS is two deeps I'd guess that will probably do for the winter, but you can add a third when they get rolling. Running an ULBN with deeps is really tough because you increase the odds of a deep full of honey and that weighs almost a hundred pounds.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesulbn.htm
http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslazy.htm#lighterboxes
I run 8 frame mediums. For me an unlimited brood chamber is 4-5 boxes of mediums and then the honey supers. I prefer the mediums because they are lighter and I never have a problem consolidating brood frames into other boxes when it comes time to harvest. The narrower box also aids in handling.
For unlimited brood chamber, I run 3 deeps. You still need to keep an eye on them to make sure it doesn't get honey bound. The 3rd deep doesn't do any good if the queen doesn't go past a honey barrier to get to it.
Good luck...