Over or under ?

[oliver90owner]

Get yourself a 14x12 hive then you need not worry over or under!

Yeesss! And where do the bees put that 'super equivalent' of stores? OVER!

 

[Swarm]

= too much space and too much food.

I agree, which only goes to show that going 14x12 is not necessarily a holy grail. With a full super over the BB still full on spring inspection suggests they would do quite fine in just the BB alone.
Putting supers under, this year, is just my own curiosity as to the difference. I do not feed as a matter of course and prefer the method I adopted when I started, which is to forfeit one super per hive which always remains with the bees. Not as a half brood, it is their surplus to use as they want.

 

[MrB]

mine are over!

 

[Andy Duff]

i always thought "yummy mummy" and Cornwall were mutually exclusive. Or is that just the lower end of the Tamar.

plenty of yummy mummy in Cornwall. They the seasonal grocs, not the native web footed pasty munchers

 

[Andy Duff]

Get yourself a 14x12 hive then you need not worry over or under!

Yeesss! And where do the bees put that 'super equivalent' of stores? OVER!

The way to go



Angus

 

[Travelator]

Full super OVER.

Put the stores where the bees want them to be.

Never tried under (yet), but I was under the impression that it was a good way of getting the bees to clean out a half-empty super, because you're putting the stores where the bees *don't* want them to be.

 

[picton farm]

Mine are OVER.
But supers that needed cleaning out after spinning went UNDER the broods weeks ago and are now stored for next year.

 

[Finman]

.
The own story is, how to get the extra winter food to be recycled.

When the wintering is clear, and new food is coming in, I take extra food away from hives. It restricts the brood area and bees just keep the extra food warm.

 

[Drew]

Why do you put yours under, Drew?

James - Advised by my mentor (and doesn't seem to do any harm)

"Logic" being:
1) Provides (more than) enough (I have Langstroths so probably have enough without the added super)
2) The lower super provides "shelter" from wind etc swirling round the bottom of the OMF. (My stand actually has a "skirt" beneath the OMF anyway).
3) In the spring the queen/cluster will be moved up into the BB (ie not in the super) so the super can be removed easily (if super above the queen and some brood may need to be got out in spring).

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Last winter did an over as it seemed most logical (and an under on another hive, but that was just for wind resistance). This winter larger brood boxes mean I'm not bothering with either.

 

[Stiffy]

The question was

should a super FULL OF STORES go below or above the Brood Box over winter?

Just answer.... UNDER or OVER !

Some put an empty super to eke the BB above an OMF but that was not the question

Stick it where you like, in the Tamar Valley it is hardly likley to get cold enough that the bees will not find it!

Re: Yummie Mummy see mums.net for examples, usually associated with Kensington and Rock (Cornwall)
Cheers
S

 

[drstitson]

sorry - forgot Rock. blinkered by Torpoint and Saltash!!!!

 

[Hawklord]

I put an empty super under the brood box as this reduces the risk of Autumn swarming, if they need more space they can draw comb below the frame which can be removed at first inspection in Spring. The only problem that I can see with leaving a super of stores with them is that it will become contaminated with oxalic and surely would be unfit for human comsumption?

 

[drstitson]

humans don't consume the winter stores, bees do.

oxalic residues in wax are not a problem.

oxalic may be toxic but plenty of foodstuffs have high levels and yet aren't banned.

 

[Hawklord]

humans don't consume the winter stores, bees do.

oxalic residues in wax are not a problem.

I have heard reports of a chemical build up in wax which is also present in the foundation we are buying. I pretty sure that bees do not consume all there stores through the winter and there will be some that goes through to extraction the following year.

 

[Finman]

I have heard reports of a chemical build up in wax which is also present in the foundation we are buying. I pretty sure that bees do not consume all there stores through the winter and there will be some that goes through to extraction the following year.[/quote


yes but carrots have 100 fold more oxalic acid than trickled honeycombs.
But no one extract treated winter food.

.you just have wrong information if yor chemical list has oxalic acid
I have linked at least 10 times those researches into this forum. .

 

[drstitson]

"I pretty sure that bees do not consume all there stores through the winter and there will be some that goes through to extraction the following year."

agreed a little may get moved up

BUT

bees use stores for spring build up (early spring more likely to be danger period for starvation vs deep winter)
unused stores can be saved for use next year (or to bulk up nucs)
only super once most of stores used (see PH advice re frames of brood)

aside from the above

comb changes every 2 years mean every other spring you should be removing everything left prior to supering.



YES pesticide residues build up in comb. another reason to let bees build their own and a plus point for using all one sized boxes - brood frames were last year's super frames.

 

[Finman]

.
Uh. These things have been reasearched so carefully that you need not to be any opinion. I can clearly see that you have not read those results but you have courage "to believe". That is strange.

oa doest not aacumulate into wax. Show me one reaseach where it has been said.
Oa is on so harmless level that EU VETERINARY recommends that you need not follow the oa level because it is meaningless.

Please, readddddd!

Oh s*,*.