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A Brood Box is a hive box in which the honeybee brood are raised; brood boxes are placed below the honey supers, separated from the supers by a queen excluder.  The brood chamber is contained within a Brood Box.

A mature, healthy bee colony with a population of 40,000 to 60,000 honeybees will likely require two Brood Boxes -- a "bottom" and a "top" Brood Box.  The over-wintering needs of colonies in cooler regions often require two brood chambers.  Colonies can often do fine and have adequate honey production with just one brood box, as long as the winters are mild, not requiring as large a brood cluster and honey reserves as colder areas need.  The advantages of having two brood chambers include better over-wintering, better overall health, less tendency to swarm, and better honey production.  The disadvantages are that building up a new, two-box hive often means you will have no surplus honey in that first season.  Also, a colony with a much higher population can be more defensive than a single-box hive, although this is often not the case.

The one-piece frames included in our Vented Brood Box are coated with a layer of pure beeswax to encourage rapid honeycomb development when the frames are newly introduced into the hive.  Each box also has screened, angled ventilation holes below the handholds at either end.  There are several advantages to screened ventilation holes:

	Ventilation holes provide critical added air-flow inside the hive for temperature control in the summer and moisture control in the winter.  This helps decrease swarming tendency in the summer and aids in varroa control and general hive health in the winter.
	By being screened on the inside, each hole provides ventilation without an additional entrance that could allow robbing.  This minimizes development of aggressive behavior while providing critical, year-round ventilation.
	Each ventilation hole is drilled at an upward 45-degree angle to keep the rain out, even during a severe thunderstorm, which are common in many warmer regions.
	Since the ventilation holes are screened, they do not represent an additional entrance that guard bees will protect.  This means they won't be trying to sting your hands when you pick up the box.

Angled ventilation keeps out rain