Step 4: Place the Hive Body on the Bottom Board.
Your hive body is most likely a rectangular box about 10 inches higher. This is called a variety of things: Hive body, deep hive, brood box, etc. This is where your bees and their queen will be living and raising brood (meaning laying eggs and creating new bees). They will also store pollen and honey in this box. These stores are resources to help keep the bees alive, and you should not harvest honey from the brood box.
While some beekeepers choose to use a medium box for the hive body instead of a large, it is more common to start with a large box. If you are using medium boxes, we suggest you start with two boxes, one on top of the other, to provide sufficient room for your colony.
When you place the hive body on the bottom board, line up the back and the sides. It should fit perfectly. If they are all the same color, the casual observer should not be able to tell that there are two separate components.
Click #7 below for the next step.
