Many supers ?

[MMJ100]

I am much puzzled by the amount of supers that American's, in particular Linda from Atlanta has on her hives in February.
She has photos on her blog of several hives with up to 4 supers on top of a base/breed super. beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com

I have been taught and read that in winter one cuts down the space the bees need to heat etc as the colony becomes smaller.

I have to say that 2 of my 7 colonies had one super on top though this winter. I left them like that as the colonies seemed to be so strong and the bottom box was so "stuck together". So I mainly put this down to much stores and my inability to take out each frame and disturb the colonies in autumn. Perhaps my mistake or ignorance!

I do live in a similar climate to Linda's (South of France) although I do get snow where most of my bees are located (at 750 meters high). In fact yesterday the field where they are was snow covered. While the hives located under leafless oak trees were in full 13 deg sunshine and all hives were bringing pollen in at a moderate rate. ( my hive 500 meters lower down is flying and bringing in pollen at 10 arrivals/per 10 seconds) currently on sunny days.

I will be interested to hear your views,
Michael

 

[Skyhook]

Seeing as she seems to have lost 3 hives out of 5 so far this winter, maybe you shouldn't take too much notice of what she does.

 

[Dishmop]

Perhaps she's going to put a revolving restaurant on the top with 360 degree view.

 

[Finman]

I am much puzzled by the amount of supers that American's, in particular Linda from Atlanta has on her hives in February.
She has photos on her blog of several hives with up to 4 supers on top of a base/breed super. beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com
Michael

I have read Lindas posts on Beemaster forum and I do not trust nuch on her skills. She may do what ever.

 

[dpearce4]

I have read Lindas posts on Beemaster forum and I do not trust nuch on her skills. She may do what ever.

She says she is a Master Beekeeper on her blog front page.

 

[NickB]

I left 3 supers on top of a brood-box this winter,mainly for space and storage reasons.
I put a plain crown-board above the broodbox in place of the QE,reckoning that the still "dead" air in the supers would act as a reasonable insulator.
The colony seems to have survived OK...

 

[enrico]

As above. Many use it for storage with a full crown board inbetween.

 

[Finman]

I left 3 supers on top of a brood-box this winter,mainly for space and storage reasons.
I put a plain crown-board above the broodbox in place of the QE,reckoning that the still "dead" air in the supers would act as a reasonable insulator.
The colony seems to have survived OK...

A strange habit.

 

[Winker]

I left 3 supers on top of a brood-box this winter,mainly for space and storage reasons.
I put a plain crown-board above the broodbox in place of the QE,reckoning that the still "dead" air in the supers would act as a reasonable insulator.
The colony seems to have survived OK...

I do the same

 

[MMJ100]

I am a New Bee as you will have seen. I asked what I thought was a genuine question. I and others, with less experience than some of you replying today, might have hoped for a more helpful reply so as to increase our knowledge. That I believe is what this forum is all about and not about making unnecessary and unhelpful comments. Apologies and private messages will all be appreciated and answered.

Michael

 

[MMJ100]

NickB, enrico, & Winker,

Thank you for your honest contribution

Michael

 

[itma]

Michael, I note you have seven colonies.

You have probably realised that the principal reason that mainstream hives are made of modular sections is so that they can be made larger or smaller as the needs of the season change.
And that you can use a barrier to restrict where the bees can go.

Using a no-hole crownboard allows you to stack spare supers above the board, and below the roof - I'd also put another plain board to seal the stop of the stack.
The boxes have to go somewhere, and on top of the colony isn't a bad place.

Currently all my colonies appear to have supers on them. But the shallow boxes above no-hole crownboards are actually surrounds for thick insulation board. The bees don't have access and there is no honey, no frame, in there.

You shouldn't be in any situation that requires having three supers for the bees (as well as the brood box) over winter.

 

[Ely]

My wooden commercial box has a crown board and then a super with insulation then roof. I find this is enough for the colony and stores.

Sent from my XT615 using Tapatalk 2

 

[dpearce4]

sorry my original post was a silly one.

I have now read back through her blog having a look for where she takes honey and stuff. Having read it i know she follows a more natural/sustainable method of beekeeping where she only takes honey she feels the bees do not need.

The pics on the first page you can see there are no crown boards or queen excluders between the boxes, that is because she has left the hive with plenty of stores for the winter and doesnt want the queen seporated from the colony if they go up looking for stores and then go into cluster due to getting cold.

She takes a few frames at a time and does a crush and strain method of extraction, not using an extractor.

I hope this helps more.

 

[richardbees]

not a method I'd endorse - frames of honeycomb will be well crystallised by mid-winter....it all sound's a bit ditsy to me!

 

[Ely]

She'd be better off with a top bar hive with her style

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[dpearce4]

She'd be better off with a top bar hive with her style

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Or a Warre. new ontop old off the bottom.

 

[richardbees]

Cheers Ely!

(selling the bugger in summer)

.../by way of a product endorsement ?

rich

 

[Ely]

Cheers Ely!

(selling the bugger in summer)

.../by way of a product endorsement ?

rich

hehe. I don't like my pains poly 14x12. I don't know whether to stick to my wood commercials which are great or try a sw ienty. Btw. What am I being thanked for?

 

[MMJ100]

Thank you dpearce4,

I see a lot of people store empty supers that way in the winter. Seems like a good idea. I have mine all cluttering up my shed.

Thanks everybody for a more positive approach this morning. Everybody has their own methods and I believe we can examine them and find out which works for us individually and find out if we are making a mistake.

Some of us New Bees with only a few years of experience rely on Old bees to learn. I see that over 250 people have read this in less than 24 hours. I am confident a large proportion wanted to know the answer.

Thank you Beeks for an answer to this small question