Adding a super

[Rock_Chick]

What’s your thoughts on adding supers. Directly above the brood box or over the first super. Or straight on top.
reason I ask is. The one above brood box always gets full of pollen, at least the middle 5 frames. I’ve always gone over the BB but it’s got me thinking what other do.

 

[Anduril]

Above your first super.

 

[Ian123]

Above brood….under first

 

[Erichalfbee]

To get them drawn over the brood.
Drawn supers I put on top

 

[Wilco]

I always do under the first/existing.

1. Bees naturally fill from the top down.
2. They're not going to want to carry nectar across a full shallow to reach it.
3. When it comes to clearing, the new super may not be fully capped so you can clear down into it and take off the full one from the top.

Edit: see comments from @Finman below in posts #6 and #7.

 

[Finman]

What’s your thoughts on adding supers. Directly above the brood box or over the first super. Or straight on top.
reason I ask is. The one above brood box always gets full of pollen, at least the middle 5 frames. I’ve always gone over the BB but it’s got me thinking what other do.

You have too few space in the brood boxes. That is why bees store pollen into super, which is nearest the brood.

That is why I started to use 3 langstroth brood boxes now bees store pollen into the lowest box and the edgemost frames, because frames are too cold for brood. They like to store pollen into brown combs.

I do not use excluders. So I have found a natural way, what bees do things right with their instincts.

I do not have pollen in super combs.

 

[Finman]

I always do under the first/existing.

1. Bees naturally fill from the top down.
2. They're not going to want to carry nectar across a full shallow to reach it.
3. When it comes to clearing, the new super may not be fully capped so you can clear down into it and take off the full one from the top.

In this case it is better to keep pollen box just over the brood.

When I give a new empty super box to the hive I always put it over the brood. Bees store nectar to rippen, and when honey is ready, they move it to the top combs.

 

[aj180949]

I find Finman's advise very sound. FYI I tend to keep two full size Lang brood boxes and no excluder. Pollen ends up in these two brood boxes. When adding supers (I prefer shallower ones, such as the so called Ideals Langstroth) I always add a new one under the current top box. I have found bees reluctant to go to an added empty top box, in particular if it only has starter strips. They move happily into a box that is located under a full or almost full box to fill in the void, I guess.
I monitor the hives by weight (I have means to do it) and if I think that the time is to harvest, I just grab the top box. Nice and easy. I do not believe that building 'towers of Babel' makes sense so never more than 4 boxes in a hive..
I hope that my comments will assist.

 

[Finman]

. I do not believe that building 'towers of Babel' makes sense so never more than 4 boxes in a hive..
I hope that my comments will assist.

It sounds that your queens are not good layers.

 

[nettle]

I think I'm going to try removing the queen excluder from my good hive. I was in there yesterday and they're pretty close to full in their brood-&-a-half, with stores built right to the walls, but they're not moving up to the super I put on a couple of weeks ago, despite me putting a frame of partly-capped stores up there to encourage them.

 

[drex]

Last week one of my hives was not going into super. There was a honey arch under the QX. I bruised this. This week I have brood right up against the QX and honey in super.

 

[Curly green finger's]

In this case it is better to keep pollen box just over the brood.

When I give a new empty super box to the hive I always put it over the brood. Bees store nectar to rippen, and when honey is ready, they move it to the top combs.

Same as Finman for me

 

[Moody]

I put mine under the partially full super, directly above brood box. I added a frame from the top super to encourage the bees. Seems to be working as they have drawn out some comb.

 

[ericbeaumont]

What’s your thoughts on adding supers?

What are your thoughts on adding broods?

Go to double and you'll find that most pollen will turn up in the bottom box (foragers dump it personally asap). If the queen needs more space, go to triple brood. By midsummer the third box will be used for honey and you can extract and have a stock of good brood comb.

building 'towers of Babel' makes sense so never more than 4 boxes in a hive

Human rules are of no interest to bees, so limiting a colony to 4 boxes (admittedly Lang) is curious. Of course, your queens may not be prolific and you may extract regularly and split colonies, but that and the risk of congestion and swarming surely means more work.

 

[Poly Hive]

Nettle? Down here the flow stopped dead two weeks ago. I have hives with 15+ frames of brood and not a bee in the super. Now that we have had a good soak (here at least) and it is promising to warm up a bit then the bees will be up ASAP. No flow= no need to work in the super.

PH