One hive body or two?

[mfchele]

I purchased one hive body and two suppers. They came with a queen excluder and a lot of other items standard for a starter kit. But now I seem to be reading all over the place about adding a second hive body. Is it ok to have just one hive body or should I get a second before I start adding the suppers? If someone can explain the different effects of having one hive body v's two that would be helpful too.

Thank You so much for all the help. I love this forum!

[thegolfpsycho]

If this is a new colony from package, any queen worth her salt will have a single brood box expanded into the first super well before summer is over.  It's only a super if it's extra, so 2 brood boxes is the norm and we go from there.  When I get a boomer, I let her expand into 3 deeps.  I only squeeze em when making section honey, which is rare these days.  Only the old timers.....like me.. enjoy section honey any more, and it's a lot more work.  Of course, it you use mediums, I would think a minimum of 3 would be required for a decent colony.

[riverrat]

im only a 250 miles away to the south east in kansas about everybody know in thes part of the country runeither double deeps or 3 mediums which is about the same area as 2 deeps  the main reason is up in this climate the bees need the extra deep for stores to get thru the winter and it will give them extra room to help with swarming.