Supers with sugar syrup after winter early spring

[tom8400]

I know this post is completely at the wrong time but one thing I still can't get my head round is.


If the hive is fed and they have a brood and one super which is filled with sugar syrup, when you open in the spring and start to add supers, what do you do with this super assuming it's still full of sugar super and maybe a trace of honey they may have moved up?

I'm unsure if it's best to leave it on and stack empties above always leaving the super but putting the queen excluder below it or does it need to come off and be extracted and use the syrup in the winter? I assume it won't crystallise?

Perhaps someone could kindly clear this up as in all books and the depths of YouTube nowhere does it explain this.

I guest some people extract it as part of the honey harvest but I know that's not true honey then

 

[Bee Boys]

I agree it would not be honey

 

[coatesg]

Is it necessary to leave the super on when feeding? Feed them and let them backfill the brood area before winter.

 

[Poly Hive]

The assumption is that most if not all the super would be empty of stores and full of brood come time to super up again.

Coatesg many colonies are far too big to fit a single brood.

Where does it go? The bees eat it.

If your youtube vids are not from the UK, then ignore. Much safer. *Top tip*

PH

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I know this post is completely at the wrong time but one thing I still can't get my head round is.


If the hive is fed and they have a brood and one super which is filled with sugar syrup, when you open in the spring and start to add supers, what do you do with this super assuming it's still full of sugar super and maybe a trace of honey they may have moved up?

I'm unsure if it's best to leave it on and stack empties above always leaving the super but putting the queen excluder below it or does it need to come off and be extracted and use the syrup in the winter? I assume it won't crystallise?

Perhaps someone could kindly clear this up as in all books and the depths of YouTube nowhere does it explain this.

I guest some people extract it as part of the honey harvest but I know that's not true honey then

Simple - don't leave a super on when feeding, or over winter, it's seldom needed

 

[maz0]

I was under the impression, as taught by my local association that they typically will be down to a single brood box by winter and you will want the brood frames containing the honey stores....the supers are intended to be as described...superfluous.

Interested in how others do it though as I was not expecting to leave supers on over winter...

 

[madasafish]

I leave one super on under the hive over winter . Always empty by Spring.. (Lamg jumbos so super is never used or needed for brood)

 

[Levitt53]

I leave one super on under the hive over winter . Always empty by Spring.. (Lamg jumbos so super is never used or needed for brood)

Yes this is what I do. One super with partly filled frames that they clear out. Looking at my notes I nadired them on 14th September last year. At the moment the hives are absolutely rammed with bees so I'm just carrying on as normal for the moment and will do one more extraction before I put them to bed. Last year I didn't need to feed as I had left enough and with the additional from the ivy the hives were really heavy and they all had plenty left come spring.

 

[enrico]

remember that bees eat from the bottom of the hive upwards. So, if you leave them with a super then leave it at the bottom of the hive and that will be what they eat first. in theory this should be emptied by spring but as stated it really isn't necessary. For years I overwintered on a single brood with a block of boiled hard sugar over the feedhole in January. That is not necessary now as fondant has replaced that and boiled sugar wasnt really good for them! Most bees will survive on a brood box full of stores but we have got more paranoid about them starving. Hard winters and mild winters can cause starvation! so we tend to overcompensate with more stores. Just keep an eye on them and use fondant if necessary. But if you do feel you need a super on as well then put it under the BB.
I tend to put a super of uncapped frames under the BB in Autumn and they move it up into the Brood box and then I top up with sugar if required.
E