What is a Hive Body and a Super exactly?
A Hive Body is sometimes called a brooder box and it is 9-5/8" deep. This is the first box above the Hive Bottom and it is where the colony lives. The frames in this first box are generally left alone and honey is never taken from this box. These boxes are also used as Deep Honey Supers but when they are full of honey they are very heavy and sometime hard to handle.
A Honey Super is a box that is just 6-5/8" deep and fits above the Hive Body. This box is generally used to hold honey until you "rob" it from the bees. To keep the queen out of this super you will need to place a queen excluder between the Hive Body and the Honey Super. This keeps the queen from laying eggs in this box but allows the workers to store their honey. Several of these boxes can be stacked up as the honey production increases.
You will want to select the style of starter kit you ordered (basic/pine or premium/cypress) to ensure that the boxes will match as you stack them up. They are all the same outside dimensions and commercial beekeepers don't really care what they look like but in a backyard beeyard it's nice to have everything look the same. All Boxes, Frames and Foundations are proudly made in America.
