Keeping supers on all year

[Boston Bees]

I recall a talk form a BI who went to his apiary in Ireland in January, set up all hives with supers on. Returned in August for mass extraction.

Hopefully there's a bit more to it, in the way of spring inspections.

Otherwise, thank goodness I don't live near his hives.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Don’t bet on it
An association member hosted some commercial hives on his land and that’s exactly what happened for five years till they were removed.
I’m sure it’s quite a common thing

 

[CaptainCymru]

I meant say 4 supers max , which by sounds of it is too much . What I may do is just leave two on underneath which is basically just double brood box.Come good weather the next two supers can go on top then later in year take the bottom supers (making sure no queen) and stick them on top too with an escape for drones.That may be a viable plan.I wish I didn’t have supers now an just brood boxes , would make life so much more simple !

 

[Newbeeneil]

I looked after some hives on a balcony with nowhere to store supers over winter, so after extraction I put the wet supers above the crown board with a small access hole for the bees to rob out any honey. Then when they were dry I put insulation in an eke above the crown board with the supers above and strapped the whole shebang down. No problems even during the storms

 

[madasafish]

Hopefully there's a bit more to it, in the way of spring inspections.

Otherwise, thank goodness I don't live near his hives.

His visits are twice a year: once to extract,once to put super on

 

[oliver90owner]

he's not talking about nadiring just one shallow but stacking the whole lot under the brood box for the whole winter

At last, someone referring to shallows and not mis-using the word ‘super’. Obviously the Latin language is long gone, but they, at least, would have known what ‘super’ meant in this cntext.

There are a few posts which demonstrate that many beekeepers don’t really think about what they are doing and how to avoid future problems from their hive interferences.

Spreading the frames in a nadired shallow is the simple way to avoid waxmoth infestation - which is only most relevant to comb which has been brooded in previously. ‘Wet’ frames will be ‘dried’ by the bees, given the opportunity.

Bees will clean up any moulded comb before further use. They have better food storage habits than some of their keepers?

No matter how close the boxes fit, rain gets in; outcome is mouldy combs.

Putting boxes elsewhere at the end of the season needs some consideration, from the beekeeper, towards the well-being of the bees. The bees will always seal small gaps with propolis - given the opportunity - but many shift boxes (breaking propolis seals) late in the season, without any due consideration for the bees. Securely strapping the boxes together avoids virtually all possibility of water ingress from winter storms - unless the joints between the boxes is rubbish.

Properly insulated, and bottom ventilated, hives do not encourage damp conditions, thereby reducing the likelihood of mould on frames.

i know a friend who stores them above closed CB and under roof, wet....so no access for bees but stored on hive....

Those who know anything about waxmoth would know that keeping the frames warm would encourage the possibility of comb damage. I, for one, would never consider putting an empty shallow above the cluster such that it might be warmed by the bees’ activities. With access to the bees or not (I would not leave any more space above the bees than the absolute minimum - insulation directly above the crown board is required, ideally).

taller top heavy hives in windy winter months might be more likely to topple

Not if the beekeeper thinks, and actually takes preventative action, before it can occur. Beekeepers need to think a little more about separate free-standing hives than those on securely fixed multiple stands. It is usually only those that don’t think, that suffer with toppled hives. Same as multiple hives floating away during times of flooding…

Beekeeping is simple - but only when you think about what you are doing, and why you are doing it!

 

[polymath]

His visits are twice a year: once to extract,once to put super on

So a Bee Owner not a Bee Keeper

 

[Newbeeneil]

So a Bee Owner not a Bee Keeper

Hardly an owner, probably not the same bees every visit!
He just owns the woodwork.

 

[F.F.Stung]

I meant say 4 supers max , which by sounds of it is too much . What I may do is just leave two on underneath which is basically just double brood box.Come good weather the next two supers can go on top then later in year take the bottom supers (making sure no queen) and stick them on top too with an escape for drones.That may be a viable plan.I wish I didn’t have supers now an just brood boxes , would make life so much more simple !

I converted my 3 bs hives to rose hives, which means all boxes are the same size, half way between bs super and bs brood. So versatile, and the bees seem to like them too.

 

[CaptainCymru]

I converted my 3 bs hives to rose hives, which means all boxes are the same size, half way between bs super and bs brood. So versatile, and the bees seem to like them too.

yeah that’s a pretty good idea tbh , I’ve decided to give away my national hives to one of my family to start out and carry on with my poly jumbo langs . Management is far easier ! Same size boxes as you say !

 

[Antipodes]

I converted my 3 bs hives to rose hives, which means all boxes are the same size, half way between bs super and bs brood. So versatile, and the bees seem to like them too.

That must be close in size to what we call a W.S.P. box (named after Wyn Pender), which are about 195mm? More common on the mainland than here. We tend to go with a smaller one box system here at the bottom of Australia (down to 144mm), with the cool /changeable weather and minor flows. Generally no excluders.

 

[jeff33]

If I want the bees to clean a super I put it above the crown board having reduced the size of the feeding hole. It is usually clean dry in 36h then removed and stored. I sometimes leave a full super on if the hive is really strong going into winter and on 1st spring inspection ensure the queen is back down below and a Qx added. Once the brood has emerged from the super (as the queen will always lay in the upper frames as the cluster move up) it gets back filled with nectar. No nadiring necessary.

 

[CaptainCymru]

Yeah thanks for all your replies , I’m trying to simplify my operation as I work away , so moving over to the jumbo langs fully , one frame size an all. My extractor can handle those anyway. Will make life easy having 12 frames in the box , should reduce swarming urgency in the spring and leave enough stores for winter .