Wet supers returned to hive and then...?

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I haven't a single one. None at all: collect all the debris and check under microscope every fortnight ish. Am v surprised tbh.
Not having a single varroa that's a miracle!!!!
 
Thanks everyone for your comments and help (and patience!). Will do sugar roll tomorrow and let you know.
 
Hello
Why do you not try caging the queens and vaping 25 days later. Easy simple if you only have a few colonies its ok.
I have used amitraz once on a few colonies and only a few mites dropped. Never again. When i vaped loads dropped.
 
This is my second year of beekeeping (my dad was an avid beekeeper) and there is a question that I cannot find the answer to online. It is a multi-pronged question.

The BIG question: during the upcoming 6 weeks of varroa treatment: what I am supposed to do with all the supers? Do people just take them off and store them safe from predators? Surely, if you have tonnes of hives, that is impossible (thinking transport, removing all the bees within (that's a lot of rhombusses!), storage)? If you nadir supers, is that perceived safe for consumption for the following year? Surely not?

Thanks all!
Why is it impossible? I have enough "kit" for 50 hives at the last count, each with 3 supers, tbh its closer to 3.5. I rent a barn to store all my kit. Consumables eg jars, about 1400, hundreds of frames [hundreds of two types] more kit in the flat in the garage at home.

Take the supers off, treat and put back on or store "wet"
 
Why is it impossible? I have enough "kit" for 50 hives at the last count, each with 3 supers, tbh its closer to 3.5. I rent a barn to store all my kit. Consumables eg jars, about 1400, hundreds of frames [hundreds of two types] more kit in the flat in the garage at home.

Take the supers off, treat and put back on or store "wet"
 
I have 3 hives, live in a semi- detached bungalow with an average garden, flat roof and no garage.
Are you just showing off?
There's a French saying: The less one has (of class and humility) the more one spreads it out.
I know, why don't you video youself in your huge barn with all your equipment to show me how it is REALLY done? Thank you
 
To be honest, I think Hachi was only answering your question, not showing off. It depends what size your operation is but storage is the one thing that should be stressed in courses and such.
With your three hives that means finding somewhere to store your supers safely when not in use so that's a fair little stack of around a dozen. They may need more or they may not but when you need them is when you don't have them.
Same with things like extractors, big item stored for the majority of the year. Spare frames and foundation, boards, roofs, floors, nucs, the list goes on and on.
 
Posting here that you have 50 hives is hardly showing off, to be honest. That's a lot compared with most "hobby" beekeepers, but nowhere near the scale of some (including others who post or have in the past posted here).

The impression I have from someone I know who currently has 100+ hives is that you just have to be very organised, focus on the jobs that are absolutely necessary and do them as efficiently as possible, make sure you have the necessary gear to make it work and just crack on. He's fortunate enough that his dad has a barn where he can store kit, but otherwise he'd rent one from a local farmer I'm sure. Some sort of four wheel drive vehicle and a trailer are necessary for moving kit to/from/between sites, and he does pay a mate to help him with the grunt work when doing some of that (or possibly they just exchange a few days work with each other). He works hard, but he's trying to build the operation up to the point where he can (mostly) make a living from it so it's not currently his only job. I very much doubt he bothers with stuff like nadiring supers and suchlike. It's too much work. I'll try to remember to ask him what he does with unsealed super frames next time I see him. I'm not actually sure he bothers too much with the likes of hive stands either. And once the supers come off for the last harvest, that's it: they'll go in the barn after being extracted and sit there until the spring. If a colony is weak then it will be united with another or something similar. There'll be no attempt to save it. Far more economical to replace it with another raised from a more productive colony.

If you have limited space for kit you're not using perhaps one of those small "garden stores" would provide the storage you need. Or build one yourself if you have the skills. The need for storage space is pretty much unavoidable once you start keeping bees.

James
 
Btw: bully for you.
Posting here that you have 50 hives is hardly showing off, to be honest. That's a lot compared with most "hobby" beekeepers, but nowhere near the scale of some (including others who post or have in the past posted here).

The impression I have from someone I know who currently has 100+ hives is that you just have to be very organised, focus on the jobs that are absolutely necessary and do them as efficiently as possible, make sure you have the necessary gear to make it work and just crack on. He's fortunate enough that his dad has a barn where he can store kit, but otherwise he'd rent one from a local farmer I'm sure. Some sort of four wheel drive vehicle and a trailer are necessary for moving kit to/from/between sites, and he does pay a mate to help him with the grunt work when doing some of that (or possibly they just exchange a few days work with each other). He works hard, but he's trying to build the operation up to the point where he can (mostly) make a living from it so it's not currently his only job. I very much doubt he bothers with stuff like nadiring supers and suchlike. It's too much work. I'll try to remember to ask him what he does with unsealed super frames next time I see him. I'm not actually sure he bothers too much with the likes of hive stands either. And once the supers come off for the last harvest, that's it: they'll go in the barn after being extracted and sit there until the spring. If a colony is weak then it will be united with another or something similar. There'll be no attempt to save it. Far more economical to replace it with another raised from a more productive colony.

If you have limited space for kit you're not using perhaps one of those small "garden stores" would provide the storage you need. Or build one yourself if you have the skills. The need for storage space is pretty much unavoidable once you start keeping bees.

James
Thank you for your common sense reply. All makes sense i am just wondering why he posted a reply at all seen as nothing helpful was mentioned and just rubbed my nose into what he has and i dont. There was no benefit nor constructive advice from that post, other than telling me that i am a non- entity with my 3 hives. I seem to be on the wrong forum. i think i Will stick to books and the odd youtube. My frail emotionsl constitution can do without this s***.
Weeping

Adieu
 
Posting here that you have 50 hives is hardly showing off, to be honest. That's a lot compared with most "hobby" beekeepers, but nowhere near the scale of some (including others who post or have in the past posted here).

The impression I have from someone I know who currently has 100+ hives is that you just have to be very organised, focus on the jobs that are absolutely necessary and do them as efficiently as possible, make sure you have the necessary gear to make it work and just crack on. He's fortunate enough that his dad has a barn where he can store kit, but otherwise he'd rent one from a local farmer I'm sure. Some sort of four wheel drive vehicle and a trailer are necessary for moving kit to/from/between sites, and he does pay a mate to help him with the grunt work when doing some of that (or possibly they just exchange a few days work with each other). He works hard, but he's trying to build the operation up to the point where he can (mostly) make a living from it so it's not currently his only job. I very much doubt he bothers with stuff like nadiring supers and suchlike. It's too much work. I'll try to remember to ask him what he does with unsealed super frames next time I see him. I'm not actually sure he bothers too much with the likes of hive stands either. And once the supers come off for the last harvest, that's it: they'll go in the barn after being extracted and sit there until the spring. If a colony is weak then it will be united with another or something similar. There'll be no attempt to save it. Far more economical to replace it with another raised from a more productive colony.

If you have limited space for kit you're not using perhaps one of those small "garden stores" would provide the storage you need. Or build one yourself if you have the skills. The need for storage space is pretty much unavoidable once you start keeping bees.

James
Thank you James, i appreciate your explanations, though not up to you to provide them. Kind soul.
I thought this was a forum for professionals, and amateurs alike.
My mental health is getting better but have cried more since being on here than in a while. I thought this forum would be kind, patient and helpful, just like bees in their hive. I was wrong, again.
 
I have 3 hives, live in a semi- detached bungalow with an average garden, flat roof and no garage.
Are you just showing off?
There's a French saying: The less one has (of class and humility) the more one spreads it out.
I know, why don't you video youself in your huge barn with all your equipment to show me how it is REALLY done? Thank you
As we're quoting; Churchill once said;

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.....

No not showing off, merely responding to your poorly worded comment about how beekeepers manage with large numbers of hives.

Others have read my post as it should have been read so perhaps you might wish to take sometime to reflect on your reply? To conclude, I hope you don't mind me saying but, perhaps you might think about a quick Google on anger management techniques as you appear to have something of a short fuse?

Had you got to the end of my post you would have read my advice but for the avoidance of doubt, here it is again:

Remove the supers, treat and put back on or, store wet. I didn't say extract because you were talking about nadir'ing
 
Last edited:
I thought this forum would be kind, patient and helpful, just like bees in their hive. I was wrong, again.
This forum is a reflection of the world in general...a microcosm. People here have been kinder to you than you have to them. Give it a chance.

Bees are not always kind to each other. They do the best for the organism and right now some colonies are throwing their drones out to die.
 
I thought this forum would be kind, patient and helpful, just like bees in their hive. I was wrong, again.
I'm constantly amazed, time and time again, by the the generosity of so many people here with their time, and willingness to help new beekeepers. 'kind, patient and helpful' is right, though after the battering I got yesterday when removing supers from one particular colony, it's not the way I think of my bees. I hope you have docile bees (as you seem to suggest), but it won't always be like that, and it's not necessarily a reason to give up beekeeping when it happens.
 
The impression I have from someone I know who currently has 100+ hives is that you just have to be very organised, focus on the jobs that are absolutely necessary and do them as efficiently as possible, make sure you have the necessary gear to make it work and just crack on.
Wise words, and very helpful for me, with more hives to look after than I ever planned on having. I find working with someone else helps keep focus. I get endlessly distracted from the main task when on my own.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top