Second super??

[browncow]

Where does it go? On top of the first one or on top of the brood box with the first going on top of the new super?

 

[drstitson]

You must be joking! - this year? Most/many people are having to feed at the moment.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I put drawn supers over and foundation under.
If you truly are in a position to add a second super just now you must be living on a different planet than the rest of us.

 

[Hivemaker.]

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=12357

 

[YorkshireBees]

If you truly are in a position to add a second super just now you must be living on a different planet than the rest of us.

Maybe not. One of my hives, given a couple of days of half decent weather like yesterday, will be ready for a 2nd super aswell! Only problem is that it is just the one out of 13!

 

[browncow]

Sorry for giving the impression that I needed to do it now, I should have said WHEN or IF.

Thanks for the link Hivemaker, I couldnt find anything myself.

 

[Erichalfbee]

It was envy what made me say it honest

 

[YorkshireBees]

It was envy what made me say it honest

and I don't know if I should laugh or cry!

2-3 hives that are storing in the super and 10 hives almost at the point of needing feeding!!!

No idea why those few hives are doing better!

 

[Poly Hive]

Mark them well and if they have the other characteristics you want then consider breeding from them.

PH

 

[drstitson]

with PH - frugal bees with strong colonies sound like a good basis to breed from. presumably have foraged well in the early spring. anything obviously different about them appearance wise? what is their provenance?

 

[YorkshireBees]

Mark them well and if they have the other characteristics you want then consider breeding from them.

PH

I most definitely will!

 

[masterBK]

I had a colony like that collecting honey when the others were not. Watched them and soon realised they were silently robbing the others !!

 

[Dilligaf]

Had to super mine last week as there were queen cells appearing, no room left in my WBC that had wintered on brood and a full super.
Checked yesterday and the q cells were gone & they were happily drawing on the foundation.
For info, the new super went under the full one.

 

[drstitson]

"Watched them and soon realised they were silently robbing the others !!"

Italians by any chance?

Latest political scandal involving Lega Nord (although same applies to other parties) - received public funding for elections of at least 4x what they spent!!!!
In the case of LN they used funds to buy property for family of leader. The party treasurer has just returned gold bars and diamonds to authorities!!!!!

Makes fancy duck houses, sat TV subs and PPV porn seem really tame in comparison!

http://qn.quotidiano.net/cronaca/2012/04/17/698950-lega-belsito-rosy-mauro.shtml

Headline in the paper edition was "Ciao Tesoro!"

 

[TOBY-3652]

I have got 1 colonie out of 8 that brought in 160 pound of honey last year. Got 3 splits off it and this year is nearly ready for a 2nd super. The super that is on is half full.. This one came out of a old hive that had not been touched for 5 years weather it was the same colonie that had lived there all that time i dont know, but it us allways the first flying and last to go to bed..

 

[Poly Hive]

Classically the new super was put on the top of the last one and so on.

However there was research that suggested that putting an empty super on top of the brood nest promotes more nectar collecting.

However way you do it, if you are working with a partner or team, make sure you are ALL doing it the same way lest serious confusion take place.

PH

 

[moor141]

Had 1 full super 3 weeks ago, its now empty and I'm feeding 3 out 6 colonies.

 

[Hivemaker.]

However there was research that suggested that putting an empty super on top of the brood nest promotes more nectar collecting.

Can you please provide a link to this research you speak of PH.


From previous threads on this subject.

ADDING SUPERS FOR EXTRACTED HONEY.
The actual operation is about the simplest in beekeeping: with the super ready on a stand beside the hive, remove the crown-board and put it over the supers; smoke once, put on the excluder, and lift the supers on top of it. Total time, about twenty seconds. If you are using a plain zinc excluder, you will have to scrape the tops of the brood-frames to allow it to lie flat—a job best done by firm smoking and one determined stroke per frame, rather than by many delicate strokes.

Estimating the right time and order for adding supers is more difficult; the advice used to be to super when the first crumbs of fresh white wax began to appear at the tops of the brood frames, but this is now reckoned as too late. Probably the stock is really only ready for supers when, on removing the cover-board (with only a whiff of smoke), you find bees at the top of the six middle frames.

The first super must, if possible , be of drawn combs and not foundation. Bees cannot draw out foundation until warm weather and plentiful nectar arrive, and if you insist on their doing so, will often swarm with ample room at their disposal – “room” which they cannot use.
It is now considered that the second, third and fourth supers may be added on top of the first and allowed to remain there. It is true that a super of foundation will be fully drawn faster if one puts it below the first super as soon as the bees have half-occupied it, but honey farmers say this is done at the expense of work in No.1 super, and that the overall work in a bock of supers is no better by this means than by “top supering”.

Snags:
Adding a super to early: the result is to drive the bees down from it, because of the loss of heat.

Putting a second super of foundation under the No.1 super without letting the bees start work on it in the upper position: this disheartens the bees and may cause swarming in the same way as giving foundation only in the No.1 super.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Radcliff omits reference to pollen in supers which is a valid point that hivemaker makes. He also omits the benefit of top supering enabling quick checks with large numbers of supers (Hivemaker). I've got stocks on 7 supers that are quite happily in the top box drawing foundation.

The point about faster drawing when bottom supering (PolyHive) is mentioned but the caveat is that work in supers above is retarded as work commences in the new supers below and the risk is partially filled supers and consequent wasted space, especially when foundation is being drawn.

Hope this helps...


Just found this paper which compares top and bottom supering. It might be of interest...Top Supering vs Bottom Supering
http://www.ent.uga.edu/bees/Publications/EffectsTopVsBottom.pdf
__________________

 

[Poly Hive]

I can't no Pete as this was done pre web, and I recall it from the little grey cells, though if I remember rightly it was written up in ABJ but that memory may be wrong.

PH

 

[Teemore]

I'll be adding a third super to one of my hives this week as the apple blossom is coming through. This colony had already mostly filled a super that was added just after St Patrick's day to give them some space to cluster: they were starting to cap it before being moved to the apples. The second super is probably 60% drawn out and contains a growing amount of nectar and some capped cells. Judging from the colour the comb has taken on, it appears the bees have been working dandelions. The colony has 9 1/2 frames of BIAS (National). Several other colonies are starting to work their second supers but are a little slower as they are having to draw out foundation... As a contrast, colonies on OSR are doing very little!