Does anyone leave the supers on all year ? Example , take off the supers from above the brood box and QE end of year , extract then nadir all said supers under the box until weather is warm again in spring , then reverse to put all supers back above? Logic being the honey not extracted gets cleaned up , the brood nest is up above and away from drafts and the queen has masses of laying space come the spring expansion again.What are the cons of this , I can only think of potential for wax moth in the lower boxes .
I’ve done this last 4 seasons, first season as a beginner I left above and had colony deaths (isolation starvation and my lack of know - how on other areas).
Positives:
-Supers come off clean as a whistle, bees clear out and repair comb. They usually move stores up quickly into brood box. Occasionally if they had plenty of stores in BB they will consume later and I have had odd frames of surplus stores in spring, I mark and save these for a dearth
-Extra insulation against drafts as you suggest
-Easy to remove any varroa strips in brood box in autumn. I vape from above the brood box using an eke in winter
-Easy to see what bees are doing through clear crown board
Negatives
-Only had one incidence of queen laying in super below on one frame only
-Timing the spring reversing right, but offset by not having to look for / find and remove queen in super
Never had an incidence of robbing, but I do usually have varroa trays in looking at mite drops at this time and entrances are small, so this could help re scent. I nadir mid September before gets cold
Never seen a slug or any dross in the super. Here’s one from last week, I posted on another thread. As above re timing it right, haven’t seen issues with foot traffic but I do reverse by mid April, have to judge re weather and forecast
