Hive Layout

[RichBeach]

My hives have the supers full of honey (which I will not be extracting) but the brood box stores are fairly empty. As I am not taking any more honey off and swarming season is all but over, would it be ok to set up my hives now into their over winter configurations of super(s) placed below brood box with queen excluders removed. I feel that this could enable the stores to be more evenly distributed throughout the hive for the rest of the foraging season to give the bees a more accessible food source for the winter cluster. Please advise.

 

[Erichalfbee]

If you are leaving them a super of honey just take out the excluder and leave it on top
Why is your winter configuration putting shallow/s under ?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If you are leaving them a super of honey just take out the excluder and leave it on top

although why you should need to leave a full super on I've no idea.

Why is your winter configuration putting shallow/s under ?

Because that's what is fashionable at the moment

 

[gmonag]

...although why you should need to leave a full super on I've no idea.

Come now - no idea? Perhaps because honey is what bees use to feed them through winter?
I should have thought a thinking man like you could work that out.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Come now - no idea? Perhaps because honey is what bees use to feed them through winter?
I should have thought a thinking man like you could work that out.

I don’t know because I run 14x12 but I thought there was enough room in a Nat brood for their winter stores. Is there not?

 

[GuyNir]

I don’t know because I run 14x12 but I thought there was enough room in a Nat brood for their winter stores. Is there not?

There is, definitely.

 

[RichBeach]

When all the stores are in the supers with little in the brood box then they will need the super to get through the winter.

 

[GuyNir]

Another misconception is the no. of bees in the hive. People look at their hives in Aug/Sep and think I should leave lots of food for them, when in reality the no. of bees in the hive during winter is lower.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Come now - no idea? Perhaps because honey is what bees use to feed them through winter?
I should have thought a thinking man like you could work that out.

A thinking man would know that a super is not needed if the brood box is managed correctly - feeding or not.

 

[gmonag]

I don’t know because I run 14x12 but I thought there was enough room in a Nat brood for their winter stores. Is there not?

OP did say the brood box was fairly empty of stores

 

[Erichalfbee]

When all the stores are in the supers with little in the brood box then they will need the super to get through the winter.

There’s plenty of time to do something about that though. If you put the supers underneath the bees will move the honey up to the brood box anyway and move down so you might as well leave them where they are surely.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

OP did say the brood box was fairly empty of stores

well it's only July for goodness sakes - the bees are nowhere starting to contract for winter and shifting the stores around the nest. The brood box is probably (and quite rightly) full of brood at the moment

 

[gmonag]

I hope the OP has the answer to his original question somewhere in this thread

 

[RichBeach]

Yeah sort of.Thanks to you all for contributions. There doesn't seem to be much forage about at the moment.

 

[Patrick1]

If you are leaving them a super of honey just take out the excluder and leave it on top
Why is your winter configuration putting shallow/s under ?

I hate this idea, the super is for honey stores if the brood is that large give them another brood box, a double brood to over winter is a great system, or split, over winter two hive, plenty of time to build up and feed on the ivy, not my favourite stores and you have to watch for unusable stores in January.

 

[bingevader]

What baffles me is that there's a lot of talk that leaving a full super is unnecessary, but then in the Autumn, all we hear is FEED FEED FEED!

 

[Ian123]

What baffles me is that there's a lot of talk that leaving a full super is unnecessary, but then in the Autumn, all we hear is FEED FEED FEED!

From who?….if they need feeding feed it’s no big deal if they don’t happy days bees winter perfectly well on sugar or honey/sugar.

 

[REDWOOD]

its not winter yet still lots to forage, you should get a few frames of ivy if nothing else

 

[Patrick1]

What baffles me is that there's a lot of talk that leaving a full super is unnecessary, but then in the Autumn, all we hear is FEED FEED FEED!

Well that’s simple, honey £8.00 per LB syrup around £1 the maths are not hard, even if you think you want to keep bees “naturally” you cannot track feeding unless you take it off and then feed, when winter feed time arrives ...................not yet,

 

[gmonag]

I do think I want to keep bees "naturally", whatever that is supposed to mean. Do you keep bees unnaturally? I am a hobby beekeeper, not a bee-exploiter for profit, and the maths are irrelevant for me. It is perfectly possible, actually quite easy, to keep bees without feeding them sugar. It does not involve "tracking feeding, taking it off and then feeding when winter feed time arrives".....what does all that mean anyway?
All I do is leave sufficient honey frames in the hive after harvesting the surplus. Not difficult at all and probably better for the bees.