Novice seeking advice please.

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

E1M

House Bee
Joined
Apr 24, 2011
Messages
169
Reaction score
0
Location
Wisbech
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
6
Hello,
I want to put a super onto my hive.
I have read and been told that you should fill it with 11 or 12 frames.
I am using plastic spacers, which give me the correct 5mm spacing yet I can fit 14 frames with a little room for movement.
AM I doing something wrong?
Sorry to ask such a simple question.
Help required please.
Iain
 
You can get 14 frames in - but will you be able to get them out after the comb is drawn and full of honey? :)
 
Hi E1M,

Tempting as it is to go for quantity, listen to the advice of generations of people who've been at it longer than us newbies.

The bees need their space to do their work. We need to work with them as much as possible.

Dusty
 
Hello,
I want to put a super onto my hive.
I have read and been told that you should fill it with 11 or 12 frames.
I am using plastic spacers, which give me the correct 5mm spacing yet I can fit 14 frames with a little room for movement.
AM I doing something wrong?
Sorry to ask such a simple question.
Help required please.
Iain

The spacers should butt up to each other ie push them onto the top bar until they reach the sidebar on each frame.
I guess you have offset them so they interlock. That would not leave enough space for the bees to draw the comb out afaik.
With the spacers butting up to each other you will get 11 frames spaced with a gap at one end or possibly 12 frames in max.
 
That appears to answer my question, although whilst I agree that would give 11 or 12 frames in the super, it would mean the spacing, which I have been told should be 5mm will in fact be about 14mm.
As our mentor states, and this forum, ask one question and you will get many different answers. However, Yorkshirebees, yours seems to be correct.
Thanks again, I know it makes sense.
 
Also, you could leave them draw comb a while and then take a frame out, space the remainders evenly and they will draw out a little more, people aim for ten or even nine frames in a super (less work extracting)
 
Hi Iain, I work in Wisbech and if you still have doubts and want me to have a look (at the super, not in your hive) tomorrow I am happy too.
Pete D
 
Do you not have castrated runners in National supers?
 
Do you not have castrated runners in National supers? (my underlining)

Now that's a new one!! :)
 
I do not have Castellated runners, I am using plastic spacers, and have since discovered there are two different sizes. Why doesn't anyone tell you this! Thanks to everyone for trying to help, you have all added to my knowledge.
Iain
 
What, and take all the fun out of it? ;)

In supers I use standard spacers on undrawn frames. These are typically in the first super above the brood, as the frames are drawn I move them up into additional supers above and replace the narrow spacers with wide ones to go from 11 frames to 9 in the upper supers (less frames = more honey and less extracting). New indrawn frames are then added into the first super.

Requires a bit of shuffling about during a flow, but it works for me.
 
Now that makes a lot of sense Nellie, thank you.
 
I do not have Castellated runners, I am using plastic spacers, and have since discovered there are two different sizes. Why doesn't anyone tell you this! Thanks to everyone for trying to help, you have all added to my knowledge.
Iain

If you ever do change to castellated runners note that you can get these with 9, 10 or 11 slots; just to keep you on your toes.
 
Davelin,
Well, there's a surprise, more detail to worry about.
Whoever said Beekeeping would be easy?
Obviously I still have a lot to learn.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top