position of honey super?

[Hivemaker.]

..............

 

[Hivemaker.]

Just interested to know if we take into account that bees work downwards in a natural environment does anyone on the forum super under the BB or have in the past.

And not just the odd one over winter but summer

Yes Tom,and they produced more honey in this format,i started a thread about it a while back............and yes i have done it on occasions.http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=9849

 

[TJSnapper]

I use put new supers under the full ones as the bees tend to work from top down.

 

[richardbees]

I'd never even thought of adding an empty super underneath until reading this forum.

The mechanics don't make sense....I have to lift the almost full super off, put it down on the up-turned roof, put on the empty super, replace the almost full super then the roof?

Then some weeks later I have to take off the (still) almost full super to see if the added super is full enough yet that another super should be added?

Meanwhile remembering that they ALL have to come off so I can check the broodbox for Q cells...?

Nonsense

 

[Hivemaker.]

I use put new supers under the full ones as the bees tend to work from top down.

Ah,so what if you put on a few empty one's....where do they start working from.....must be the top one if they tend work from the top downwards?

 

[sugarbush]

Just interested to know if we take into account that bees work downwards in a natural environment does anyone on the forum super under the BB or have in the past.

And not just the odd one over winter but summer

I have spend a lot of time removing feral colonies from buildings and one thing I frequently observe that brood is always towards the top, but the honey is always farthest from the entrance.

So in an ideal world the entire hive should be turned upside down.

 

[Hivemaker.]

I'd never even thought of adding an empty super underneath until reading this forum.

The mechanics don't make sense....I have to lift the almost full super off, put it down on the up-turned roof, put on the empty super, replace the almost full super then the roof?

Then some weeks later I have to take off the (still) almost full super to see if the added super is full enough yet that another super should be added?

Meanwhile remembering that they ALL have to come off so I can check the broodbox for Q cells...?

Nonsense

Your correct Richard,imagine doing this with a few hundred hives,when you can just simply look in the top,and top super if needed.

 

[TJSnapper]

Ah,so what if you put on a few empty one's....where do they start working from.....must be the top one if they tend work from the top downwards?

Only put one on at a time, excuse the rogue "s" that crept in at the end of super

 

[Hivemaker.]

Only put one on at a time, excuse the rogue "s" that crept in at the end of super

But what would happen if you needed to put more on,you had to,you had no choice,you were forced to,and only had foundation.

 

[OXFORDBEE]

There's no significant difference between top and bottom supering. Here's quite a good comparision.

Top vs Bottom Supering.

 

[Hivemaker.]

There's no significant difference between top and bottom supering. Here's quite a good comparision.

Top vs Bottom Supering.

OB..........take a look at page eight of this thread.

 

[OXFORDBEE]

oops duplicate post!

 

[m100]

4 - 5 empty supers?

In the wild, they would have had the brood cells closer to stores. We beeks exclude the queen getting near the stores but not too far away. Hence we don't put all the supers on at once but gradually.

Besides, you're not going to help them produce wax with all that space to heat.

If they start at the bottom they will have a problem, but such a size cavity without restrictions is no problem for the bees, they start at the top and work down. So the top super will be initially filled with brood and then as they work down they fill with stores from the top until they are in the bottom box which is full of brood. Then harvest the five supers, put the 'brood box' at the top of five supers and start again.

A single entrance at the top ought to help but its not essential.

 

[Busybee123]

Ah,so what if you put on a few empty one's....where do they start working from.....must be the top one if they tend work from the top downwards?

Strange, nobody seems able to answer this one.....

Having read this and a few similar threads on this forum, opinion seems to be divided. However, personally I can't see the advantage of bottom supering. At this time of year when your primary concern is honey production surely it has to be easier to add supers on top as required? All you have to do is lift the crown board and have a look to see if the last super you put on is nearly full. If it's nearly full, just add another. Minimum disturbance - let the bees get on with their good work!

Also, if you bottom super, do you not run the risk of ending up with (for example) two supers of uncapped "nectar" instead of one super full of capped honey and another partly filled one?

I'm still very much a newbee, so forgive me if I'm missing something, but I just can't see the point of bottom supering......I've also found that if you try and get the bees to do more work than they want to do, they have a habit of getting even in the end