To super or not to super.....

[BeeJuice]

16 degrees here yesterday so took a peek inside the hives.

One in particular (which was last year's biggest producer) is off to a good start. It is a double BB - the top box has 4 frames of honey then 4 of brood, eggs larvae - then more honey. Downstairs there are 3 frames of broom directly below the brood in the top BB and various stores which probably amount to a couple of frames of honey.

There's a couple of hundred acres of OSR on my doorstep which started flowering a week ago. So my question is, should I add a super? There's not a lot of laying space in the top BB - would it be a mistake at this stage or could it do no harm and solve a problem in the making?

Thanks

 

[B+.]

16 degrees here yesterday so took a peek inside the hives.

One in particular (which was last year's biggest producer) is off to a good start. It is a double BB - the top box has 4 frames of honey then 4 of brood, eggs larvae - then more honey. Downstairs there are 3 frames of broom directly below the brood in the top BB and various stores which probably amount to a couple of frames of honey.

There's a couple of hundred acres of OSR on my doorstep which started flowering a week ago. So my question is, should I add a super? There's not a lot of laying space in the top BB - would it be a mistake at this stage or could it do no harm and solve a problem in the making?

Thanks

Its a bit early, but, if your colonies are strong and the flow is about to start (and day/night temperatures look good for the foreseeable future) go for it.
The osr is just starting to colour up where I am but, I put a super on each of the colonies I look after for a lady because I have a lot to do on my own colonies and probably wont have time to check hers again for a couple of weeks.

 

[BeeJuice]

Its a bit early, but, if your colonies are strong and the flow is about to start (and day/night temperatures look good for the foreseeable future) go for it.
The osr is just starting to colour up where I am but, I put a super on each of the colonies I look after for a lady because I have a lot to do on my own colonies and probably wont have time to check hers again for a couple of weeks.

Thank you. In that case I'll go for it.

 

[Jed D]

We've added some drawn supers today, on our biggest colonies..

Daytime temps set to reach 15/17 degrees , night time temps 9/10 degrees..
OSR 50 yds away....

We've also united some overwintered nucs to make good size colonies !!!

Fingers crossed , it's about to start !!!