unfinished supers ?

[prana vallabha]

i have three hives with 2 supers on each which were looking promising at one time , anyhow none are full and a bit of capping here and there .Do i leave these on the hive or what as i will need to be feeding .....many thanks in advance......

 

[BeeBo]

I have the same issue and hope there will be some helpful replies.

I only have single supers, partly filled, on two national hives with single brood boxes. Probably 3-4 brood frames in each hive full of capped honey too.

If I take them off how should the partially filled frames be stored?

 

[enrico]

I take out any capped frames and more than 50 percent capped frames. I make a super up of all the uncapped ones and in September I put that super back under the bb for them to do what they want with it. Remove it in spring.
E

 

[For want of a better word]

We do it seems have a month or so of foraging left!
amalgamate the partly capped with the uncapped in one super, bees should eventually cap it,,,,, anything else put under the colony.. bees will clear it.

Yeghes da

 

[Erichalfbee]

I'm looking at my remaining supers today.
It's sunny......can't believe it !!!!!
Bees have been busy on Balsam.
As per enrico, nadir the uncapped frames and the bees usually move the stores up into the brood box.
For me it's too early to be feeding and I'm not far from you

 

[Arfermo]

I take out any capped frames and more than 50 percent capped frames. I make a super up of all the uncapped ones and in September I put that super back under the bb for them to do what they want with it. Remove it in spring.
E

Ditto. No feeding yet or Apiguard as queens are still laying big time. Making up for lost opportunity earlier in season due to weather?

 

[oliver90owner]

i have three hives with 2 supers on each ... Do i leave these on the hive or what as i will need to be feeding

Feeding? What for? Seems they likely already have enough stores for winter.They certainly appear to have sufficient stores until the next inspection? If you are already worrying about winter, think of how many over-winter on a brood andntwo supers! Not many!

Your first priority might be to reduce them to one super each. And then to no supers each, if you normally over-winter on just a brood box.

 

[prana vallabha]

i have three hives with 2 supers on each ... Do i leave these on the hive or what as i will need to be feeding

Feeding? What for? Seems they likely already have enough stores for winter.They certainly appear to have sufficient stores until the next inspection? If you are already worrying about winter, think of how many over-winter on a brood andntwo supers! Not many!

Your first priority might be to reduce them to one super each. And then to no supers each, if you normally over-winter on just a brood box.

when i say 2 supers there is only a bit in each super ,but not much coming in now , (not much himalayan balsam where i am ) hence trying to sort it out before ,i,e it gets to cold etc,etc

 

[Hawklord]

I took all the empty frames away last week and put the part filled frames together.

 

[itma]

Frames need to be sorted.
Any that you think will be completed can be left above.
Any that are barely started can be put below the brood. The bees will move it up, and if its 'ripe', it'll help fill some cells to capping point. (There may be a 'cost' of perhaps 20% of the moved honey being consumed in the process.)
If putting a box under the brood (nadir not super), be sure that the hive entrance is well restricted (three fingers size?) otherwise you'll be risking encouraging robbing.


You don't absolutely have to wait until a frame is fully capped, if you use a refractometer to check the water content of a few typical open cells is below 20%. The rough-and-ready approximation is the "shake test" - frames shaken that don't drip/drop their copen-cell content are taken by some folk to be 'ripe'.


Another approach is to extract the part-uncapped frames (gently, especially if in a tangential extractor) BEFORE uncapping. This first extraction from the open cells can be collected and (if refractometer tested at 20% or more water, or if lacking a refractometer) fed back to the bees.
Once the first run from the uncapped cells has been collected, then uncapping and extraction can continue as normal. Just don't mix the two unless you are sure that the first run is 20% or under - otherwise you've wasted your time doing the extraction twice!
NB Two-stage extraction tends to create more mess than normal ... !

 

[oliver90owner]

Post #1 anyhow none are full ..... Post #8 when i say 2 supers there is only a bit in each super-


Ahh! We now learn that these six supers are mostly empty! And, it seems, most frames are empty.

As I said, start by removing three of them. Then re-appraise the situation.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Bit daft having them all on then. How did that happen? Don't you check them? I look at mine twice a week. A large colony can empty a super in no time if the bees can't get out.

 

[prana vallabha]

Bit daft having them all on then. How did that happen? Don't you check them? I look at mine twice a week. A large colony can empty a super in no time if the bees can't get out.

thats no problem as it is their's after all ,,,i don't keep bees just for their honey ......

i am just trying to get the supers drawn which has happened ,,, but as i said ,i just want to start sorting supers out for end of season ,,,,, that's all

 

[BeeBo]

Any that are barely started can be put below the brood.

Should the queen excluder be put under the brood box to avoid the queen laying in the nadired super?

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

No. No need.

The bees will clear the nadir either now, transferring stores upwards, or during the winter, leaving it good and clean in the spring.

But the brood naturally moves upwards, and in spring HM will be in the upper part of the BB and laying nicely. Another reason for the smaller box to be a nadir.

Dusty

 

[oliver90owner]

to avoid the queen laying in the nadired super?

Not unless the brood box is full. Very easily avoided by not parking a full box of frames under. Let's face it, they do not usually need, or have, a full complement of frames. KISS.

Most, who insist on leaving a nadired shallow of stores, for winter stores, put it there late on when brooding has reduced.

I have often left, say, half a dozen frames in a box under the brood for the duration of winter. Initially they shift the contents up, then the frames act as baffles between OMF and cluster, no risk of wax moth (frames are spread out). Also somewhere to store spare boxes and some frames for the winter.

 

[BrianO]

Is it not an issue of empty nadired super comb getting defecated on, being excessively dirtied ( a question ? ) .

I should know as did this last winter but to be honest can not remember this being the case

 

[BeeJayBee]

Is it not an issue of empty nadired super comb getting defecated on, being excessively dirtied ( a question ? ) .

They aren't likely to do that unless they're sick, and then the whole inside of the hive would be a target. Check up on 'Cleansing flights'.

 

[BrianO]

Thanks Bee Jay

No, Know that, but super comb below thousands of bees confined , theres bound to be some who have not got their " Pull Ups " on tightly

 

[Torq]

Anyone putting an uncapped super under a brood box right now needs their head examined!!

That's like sending out an invitation to a honey banquet for the wasps. There is a serious wasp problem this year and I see the wasps going for the hives that contain honey, they are flying around the supers as they smell the honey. Put it at the bottom and you are attracting them to the entrance.

The relatively honey less nucs right beside the hives are being left alone.