When You Should Add a Second Box to Your Hive

Your hive probably currently looks like this, right?

This is typical of this time of the year, but the question is this: when should you add a second box to your hive? That question has a rather simple answer: when the bees have filled 80% of the frames or are starting to build on the outer frames of the current box.

You should put your new box on top of the old box and move one of the outer frames with as little brood as possible into it to encourage the bees to start moving up. You should not take out a frame from the middle of the brood chamber because this will throw off the queen's movements within the chamber. The queen will eventually start laying in the new box, but will primarily stay in the bottom box.

The purpose of additional boxes is to encourage expansion of the colony. The bees will grow until their living quarters restrict them from doing so. At this point, they will swarm. The second - and eventually, the third, fourth and fifth - box allows them to expand without having the need to swarm. They will also build honey almost exclusively in the upper boxes, as the queen has already established a brood chamber in the original lower boxes. This will allow you to extract honey without disturbing the queen's brooding habits, killing any brood unnecessarily and potentially having brood in your honey. This is why it's important not to remove any frames from the queen's brood chamber. She will typically stick to the lower two boxes while honey is stored in the upper boxes.

If you are using middle bar frames, it is important to check that the comb is being drawn properly. You may have to adjust this as needed. It is also important to check that the hive is level and that the new boxes are securely on the hive.

Eventually, your hive could look like this:

Have any questions? Contact us and we'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.