ENZO
House Bee
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2009
- Messages
- 139
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Jersey C.I.
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 16
Hello All,
I was just wondering, like most beekeepers I just keep adding supers on my hives when required, but my question is, does the hive/honey storage efficiency decrease as the hive gets taller/larger? I normally start to remove the supers when they reach 4 as height and manipulation starts to become a chore after that but would there be a problem or a loss in efficiency if I just carried on puting supers on.
Not all hives get this large but if I'm lucky I get several hives with 6 to 10 supers filled with surplus honey, over the season, hence I find myself extracting several times a year.
Does it tire the bees more working a tall "skyscraper" hive in respect to ventilation and converting the nectar into honey?
This may seem a stupid question but there must be an optimum "total size" of a hive.
I have read quite a few books and this has never been mentioned.
Many Thanks, Enzo
I was just wondering, like most beekeepers I just keep adding supers on my hives when required, but my question is, does the hive/honey storage efficiency decrease as the hive gets taller/larger? I normally start to remove the supers when they reach 4 as height and manipulation starts to become a chore after that but would there be a problem or a loss in efficiency if I just carried on puting supers on.
Not all hives get this large but if I'm lucky I get several hives with 6 to 10 supers filled with surplus honey, over the season, hence I find myself extracting several times a year.
Does it tire the bees more working a tall "skyscraper" hive in respect to ventilation and converting the nectar into honey?
This may seem a stupid question but there must be an optimum "total size" of a hive.
I have read quite a few books and this has never been mentioned.
Many Thanks, Enzo