Number of hive body's

[JD]

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.

[Michael Bush]

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

[Brian D. Bray]

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.

[Robo]

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...