8-Frame Deep and Medium Box Hive Kit

This 8-frame deep and medium hive kit is one of the most popular setups for backyard beekeepers. The combination of a deep brood box and a medium honey box gives bees plenty of room to grow while keeping hive components lighter and easier to manage during inspections and honey harvests.

Key Features and Benefits

• Complete hive starter kit: Includes the essential woodenware needed to start a colony
• Popular deep and medium combination: Balances brood space with manageable honey supers
• 8-frame equipment: Lighter and easier to lift than traditional 10-frame setups
• Rot-resistant cypress wood: Built from durable 7/8-inch thick cypress boards
• Double wax foundation: Heavy beeswax coating improves comb drawing and bee acceptance
• Screened bottom board included: Supports ventilation and hive management
• Assembly options available: Choose unassembled, assembled, or assembled and painted
• Expandable setup: Easy to add additional medium honey supers as the colony grows

What's Included

• 1 - 8 Frame Cypress Telescoping Cover
• 1 - 8- Frame Inner cover
• 1 - 8- Frame Cypress screened bottom board
• 1 - 8- Frame Cypress Medium boxes
• 8 - grooved top, grooved bottom medium frames
• 8 - sheets of double-waxed plastic medium foundation
• 8 - grooved top, grooved bottom deep frames
• 8 - sheets of double-waxed plastic deep foundation
• 1 - 8- Frame Wooden Entrance Reducer 

Detailed Description

The 8-Frame Deep and Medium Box Hive Kit is designed to give new and experienced beekeepers a strong, practical foundation for managing a healthy colony. This setup combines a deep brood box with a medium honey box, creating a balanced hive configuration that provides adequate brood space while keeping honey boxes lighter and easier to handle.

Built from smooth 7/8-inch thick cypress wood, this equipment is naturally resistant to rot and designed to last for years in outdoor conditions. Cypress is one of the most durable woods used in beekeeping equipment and performs well even without paint.

The included frames feature double-waxed plastic foundation, coated with extra beeswax to encourage faster comb drawing and stronger bee acceptance. This heavier wax coating was specifically chosen after seeing poor performance from lightly coated foundations commonly found elsewhere.

This kit includes the core hive components needed for bees to establish brood and store food reserves for winter. As colonies grow, additional medium supers may be added for honey production. Many beekeepers choose to add another medium box during the first season, especially when starting with a nucleus colony or in areas with long nectar flows.

You may choose your equipment unassembled, assembled, or assembled and painted. Assembled equipment is stapled for added durability, while painted kits are primed and coated with premium UV-resistant white exterior paint.

This kit keeps the equipment straightforward without overselling unnecessary accessories, making it a practical and reliable option for getting started in beekeeping.

We have multiple sizes and types of beekeeping starter kits, and it can be a little confusing. Because of this, we wrote a few posts to help. Should I Start With All Medium or Deep Boxes? Should I Start With 8 or 10 Frame Equipment? 

When looking for beekeeping kits for sale, it can be hard to distinguish the quality online. We have been selling this beekeeping starter kit since 2016, which is very popular and of excellent quality. The wood we use is a durable, 7/8-inch thick, smooth cypress board that is naturally rot-resistant and will last decades even without paint. Besides our cypress wood, we choose to use precision cut frames and foundation with double the beeswax on it as our competition, so you and your bees will be happy with our equipment. 

Each of our kits is designed to be the space where the queen can lay eggs, and the bees can store fresh honey to eat over the winter. This kit does not include the additional honey boxes or honey supers (What is a Honey Super?) needed for the bees to store excess honey for the beekeeper to harvest from. It is possible to need 1 more medium box and frames during the first year, especially if you start the colony with a nucleus hive or live in a sub-tropical climate. 

We recommend getting one more medium box with frames, just in case. If not used during year one, it will be needed during year two. If using a queen excluder, it would be placed above the boxes in this kit and under the additional boxes added to the hive.

Be sure to check out our Master Series on getting started in beekeeping. 

Beekeeping for Beginners - Is Beekeeping Right For Me? - What Beekeeping Equipment Do I Need? - Where Do I Get Bees? - How To Learn To Keep Bees 

If you would like to customize the kit, like opting for foundationless frames, wax foundation or a solid bottom board instead of a screened one, we recommend building your kit and adding separate pieces to the cart. All the pieces of the beekeeping starter kits can be purchased separately at the same price as they are in the kit. This way, you can get the bee equipment you want. You can use the list of products above as a guide. 

Some starter kits include lots of other beekeeping supplies that are not necessary. Since we started having beekeeping kits for sale, we chose to keep the equipment simple and not oversell. There are other pieces of equipment you will need like a hive tool, bee suit or bee jacket, leather gloves, a nucleus hive or package of bees (Package or Nucleus Hive, Which is Better?), a bee smoker, and a way to feed your bees. We have all of these products for sale, and they can be purchased separately through our website or in our store. 

There are other tools available like a bee brush, queen excluder, frame holder, and more that are optional. It's not necessary to purchase everything you need, but there are essentials that every beekeeper uses. 

Purchase 8 Frame Hive parts separately to customize your hives.

Be sure to read our blog on Should I Start With All Medium Or Deep Boxes.

Watch our YouTube video to choose your first beehive setup. Should you use 8 or 10 frames? Deep or medium boxes?