Supers back on or left off after honey spun off?

[daroco]

No, none at all

Thanks! The beery flavoured honey I had from another beekeeper must have been fermenting then.

 

[Erichalfbee]

If your super combs have had brood in them at any time then they will be a target for wax moth wet or dry


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If there has been brood and there is pollen provided those wet supers are topped and bottomed with a solid crown board and strapped tight there shouldn't be a problem. I have never had one. This year I pulled out a couple of supers that hadn't been used last year where pollen mites had removed the pollen for me. I just shook the dry powder out and the bees were fine with them.

the reason I questioned reducing from four supers to none in one step it was that I had experienced just that - late season swarming - as beeno suggests.

Whenever I have taken supers late in the season and they are mostly capped I have found very few bees in them.
It would be interesting to Know how soon after reducing your supers that late swarm went. Bees make swarm preps for quite a while before the beekeeper notices and bees out on the heather are quite squashed in without swarming. I always check the brood boxes when the supers come off. To make sure there is not too little or too much stores then take action accordingly

 

[Hachi]

The first and only time I put my supers back on wet for my girls to clean them up All the little gits did was to move it to the centre of the first two supers nearest the sun in each super. Since then as per JBM's advice, extract, store wet and ensure no nasties can get in ie board top and bottom, 3m joints where the supers meet and a ratchet strap round the lot... Simples. Never had a problem.

 

[Curley]

Well, YOU may have offended HER more.

Doh!!! Apologies to any who are upset by gender confusion!!

It would be interesting to Know how soon after reducing your supers that late swarm went. Bees make swarm preps for quite a while before the beekeeper notices and bees out on the heather are quite squashed in without swarming.

!Fair points Erica - according to my records 'twas about 2 weeks after they swarmed so in my mind it has been associated with the super removal. But as you say they could have been thinking about it earlier. It was was my second season and the first time I had had honey to worry about! I'm afraid I didn't note quantity of stores just that there were sufficient.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

So it wasn't the actual act of taking off all the supers that triggered it directly by the looks of it although it was fair enough to say that lack of space may have eventually contributed.

 

[taurus]

I read on here, I try to learn and remember, and just when I think I begin to understand the bees do something different.

Before I'd read this thread I'd extracted 2 supers and put them back above the crownboard for them to clean. I thought I was doing right.

So today I get time (and weather) to take them off, and they've only gone and half filled them again.

So now I have no idea what's going on. I thought they were meant to be winding down at the moment. The brood boxes are both full of honey as well. Where is it all coming from?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Before I'd read this thread I'd extracted 2 supers and put them back above the crownboard for them to clean. I thought I was doing right.

So today I get time (and weather) to take them off, and they've only gone and half filled them again.

Teach you not to believe all the nonsense about giving the supers back to the bees 'to clean'

 

[Swarm]

I read on here, I try to learn and remember, and just when I think I begin to understand the bees do something different.

Before I'd read this thread I'd extracted 2 supers and put them back above the crownboard for them to clean. I thought I was doing right.

So today I get time (and weather) to take them off, and they've only gone and half filled them again.

So now I have no idea what's going on. I thought they were meant to be winding down at the moment. The brood boxes are both full of honey as well. Where is it all coming from?

Don't despair, it sounds like you'll be clearing bees again, be happy and give them a couple of weeks yet. Balsam can provide a late crop so I'd leave them work that super until the first signs of Ivy.

 

[Cussword]

Before I'd read this thread I'd extracted 2 supers and put them back above the crownboard for them to clean. I thought I was doing right.

To be honest, I was taught the the bees treated above the crown board as "outside" so they would have brought any honey in frames store above it, back inside the hive.

Teach you not to believe all the nonsense about giving the supers back to the bees 'to clean'

Nuff said.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

To be honest, I was taught the the bees treated above the crown board as "outside" so they would have brought any honey in frames store above it, back inside the hive.

in an ideal fairy world yes, but in reality they will often just ignore the super completely or, if they need more room, use it.
Think about it - if you want to build an extension to your house do you build it in the Kitchen or outside in the garden?

 

[Ely]

+1 for storing supers wet here. Less faff and they smell lovely.

 

[Cussword]

in an ideal fairy world yes, but in reality they will often just ignore the super completely or, if they need more room, use it.
Think about it - if you want to build an extension to your house do you build it in the Kitchen or outside in the garden?

Good point, I'm convinced..

 

[REDWOOD]

Don't despair, it sounds like you'll be clearing bees again, be happy and give them a couple of weeks yet. Balsam can provide a late crop so I'd leave them work that super until the first signs of Ivy.

that's exactly it. If we get a good spring that's the only time I will remove supers, extract and put straight back on. By mid September the colonies have begun to dwindle and can easily fit into a 14x12 box.

 

[psafloyd]

Same here

What do you bag them in? And is that a super in each bag?

 

[psafloyd]

Bit of a nonense giving them back to the bees 'to clean them' either sal them up in a bag or strap them up tightly with a board each end so nothing can get in and you're done - storing them 'wet' also discourages waxmoth

But storing them wet won't make any difference if there is already any wax moth in there, will it, JBM?

Do people not fumigate them with a sulphur candle? I did a load last year as I know I'd had some wax moth and I didn't want them doing any further damage.

 

[psafloyd]

To be honest, I was taught the the bees treated above the crown board as "outside" so they would have brought any honey in frames store above it, back inside the hive.

Unless they need the space and then they will use it. I have one doing that now as it was a swarm that moved into an empty box when I was on holiday and they built comb onto the crown board.

I put a brood below and the queen moved down, but the super that was above the original brood was being used as a super, despite being above a crown board.

 

[Erichalfbee]

What do you bag them in? And is that a super in each bag?

Ooops missed the bag bit. No bag just stack and strap up

 

[Swarm]

Super in each bag, sealed and stacked.