SUPERS fors and against

[E1M]

Can anybody tell me what advantages or disadvantages there are with a) Adding many supers or b) Removing each one as it is filled and simply placing a new super in its place?

 

[YorkshireBees]

Can anybody tell me what advantages or disadvantages there are with a) Adding many supers or b) Removing each one as it is filled and simply placing a new super in its place?

One argument against adding many supers at once is that you will increase the volume of the hive that the bees need to regulate the temperature in.
Having said that if I am going to be away for a while and there is a decent flow on I may add an extra super earlier than required.

In terms of removing for extraction, when a super is ready by all means remove it and extract but generally it's good to put the extracted super back onto the hive asap after extraction to let the bees clean it up and or refill it.

Also having multiple supers on you will find that the central frames will fill up faster than the outer frames so you may bee to manipulate the frames to get a full super rather than more than one part filled super.

 

[victor meldrew]

Bees need room to convert nectar into honey ,which they do by hanging droplets into empty cells .
In other words they need more room to handle than to store honey therefore more supers is the answer to your question.


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[YorkshireBees]

Bees need room to convert nectar into honey ,which they do by hanging droplets into empty cells .
In other words they need more room to handle than to store honey therefore more supers is the answer to your question.


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Totally agree, once a super is being worked by the bees I already add the next. If there is a heavy flow on they need LOTS of space for processing and you want that in the supers not in the brood box!

 

[E1M]

So if you end up with a number of supers on a hive I imagine you do not bother inspecting each super you just go to the brood for inspection or inspect one or two supers then the brood?

 

[victor meldrew]

You will soon learn the conditions prevailing in each super as you lift them off to inspect the brood box . Also you'll get a feel for what a brood box full of honey weighs against a brood box full of brood .


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[domino]

I add supers in pairs so they have buckets of space.

 

[Finman]

And when you give empty combs, they must be between brood and former honey. Order is capped honey up and empy combs over the brood.

Druring good flow it is wise to give foundations to be built.
But foundations in one group. Otherwise bees do old combs too fat.

Often I give a box where half box has nectar combs and another half foundations. But bees build all even if the box is full of foundations. And foundations above brood.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Can anybody tell me what advantages or disadvantages there are with a) Adding many supers or b) Removing each one as it is filled and simply placing a new super in its place?

Depends on whether you want to get the extraction over and done with once or have multiple sessions. I aim for one session to clear osr honey and another later on for the main crop.

 

[iand]

Don't just use honey as your criteria, bees need room as well.
As previously mentioned osr off in 1 or 2 pulls depends on the weather/temps, then summer honey off before moving to borage then likewise before the heather.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Don't just use honey as your criteria, bees need room as well.
As previously mentioned osr off in 1 or 2 pulls depends on the weather/temps, then summer honey off before moving to borage then likewise before the heather.

Fair point about the room but I have built adequate spare equipment. Overengineered maybe

 

[Nige.Coll]

And when you give empty combs, they must be between brood and former honey. Order is capped honey up and empy combs over the brood.

Druring good flow it is wise to give foundations to be built.
But foundations in one group. Otherwise bees do old combs too fat.

Often I give a box where half box has nectar combs and another half foundations. But bees build all even if the box is full of foundations. And foundations above brood.

thanks no one has told me that. I wondered why hives with added frames were trying to swarm and not drawing comb out.

 

[drex]

Depends on whether you want to get the extraction over and done with once or have multiple sessions. I aim for one session to clear osr honey and another later on for the main crop.

Who wants to be continually cleaning an extractor?

 

[Elaine]

I sell some of my honey locally - and one of it's selling points is that it varies with the available forage, so I take out the frames as they are ripened during my weekly inspections, I don't even wait for them to be capped, just test the water %. The disadvantage of stacking up the supers and only doing the extracting once or twice a year is that the variation of the honey is lost.

 

[madasafish]

I sell some of my honey locally - and one of it's selling points is that it varies with the available forage, so I take out the frames as they are ripened during my weekly inspections, I don't even wait for them to be capped, just test the water %. The disadvantage of stacking up the supers and only doing the extracting once or twice a year is that the variation of the honey is lost.

+1

Spring honey is different in texture and taste form summer which differs from autumn.

Subtle changes in flavour and colour make honey come alive with the season in which nectar was collected.

Lime, HB make two entirely different sorts of honey. Mixing them is like eating a curried beef wellington with pepper sauce and chips...