when to add new super?

[prana vallabha]

i have the first super on and i am wondering when i put the new super on . Correct me if i am wrong does it go under neath the 1st super ...

many thanks in advance

 

[VEG]

Is the super drawn out, full of nectar, half full, half drawn out?

 

[prana vallabha]

SORRY ...its full of nectar not capped yet hence the asking ....

 

[VEG]

Pop another on, where you put it is up to you but I usually leave the first one where it is the new one then goes on top of this each time, as i find they put a bit of pollen into the first super so I leave it near the brood.
You will get other opinions on where to put the supers so it is up to you really.

 

[oliver90owner]

its full of nectar

It should have been on already.

Either under or over the super already on.

 

[mbc]

i have the first super on and i am wondering when i put the new super on . Correct me if i am wrong does it go under neath the 1st super ...

many thanks in advance

Sooner rather than later, pile them on before the bees get cramped is my method at this time of year - assuming the bees are expanding fast and not struggling to fill the first few boxes.

 

[Finman]

.
First of all, add new boxes when the colony grows even if there is no honey.

Allways add a new box between brood and older supers

never try so that bees fill one and then you add new.

Half capped
nectar
nectar
added super
brood

.

 

[Finman]

Sooner rather than later, pile them on before the bees get cramped is my method at this time of year - assuming the bees are expanding fast and not struggling to fill the first few boxes.

that is normal process.

Expanding hive uses it food to brood and they are not able to make surpluss.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

its full of nectar

It should have been on already.

Either under or over the super already on.

doesn't really matter whether the new super goes under or over (I've tried both - depends wha side I got out of the bed that morning!!) The rule of thuimb is the new super should be put on when the current one is full of bees (i.e. each frame has bees all over it) rather than honey - it's important the next super is on before the last is filled

 

[prana vallabha]

thanks all ......

 

[Finman]

doesn't really matter whether the new super goes under or over (I've tried both - depends wha side I got out of the bed that morning!!) The rule of thuimb is the new super should be put on when the current one is full of bees (i.e. each frame has bees all over it) rather than honey - it's important the next super is on before the last is filled

you just give wrong advices. Why?

It really matters where you put a new super.

Rule of thump.....there is no such rule.

How do you put 5 super on the hive if you follow those rule of thumbs?


Such good rule is that one box capped honey needs 2 more boxes where nectar rippens.
To get one full super you need 3 super on the hive. If bees have not enough combs where to put fresh nectar, they start to hang outside walls.



.
.
.

 

[Finman]

.
Bees are easy to swarm if the hive is full. That is why you must give a feeling to bees that it is not full.

One instinct is in bees that bees lift the most rippen honey up and nectar is down.
So when you give new supers, put them allways over the brood, and extract from top.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Better forage in Lampeter than where I live six miles from you then
I have supered two hives...trying without an excluder this year...and the bees are filling them with brood.
Brood and a half! Never again!

 

[Finman]

.
I try to fill all boxes with brood. The more the better. They will turn foragers in main yield.
Supers, brood, what ever.. No matter.

It is bad thing if a colony starts to do swarming too early. It spoils the build up.

Hobbiests in UK are so earger to use their excluder that colony has no time to grow full grown.
That is why swarming is massive, too early and yield is poor.

The colony needs a proper size hive, and not a standard hive, which derives from 80 y ago.

Some hive needs 4 boxes and some 8.

.


.

 

[Roybaz]

Finman, are you saying you don't use a QE ever? Don't the bees fil all the comb with honey and brood?? Or do they naturally split it allowing for honey extraction ??

 

[oliver90owner]

are you saying you don't use a QE ever?

I'm like Finman in that respect. I use one when I need to confine the queen, otherwise... let her do her own thing. She will lay where it is most convenient and convivial for the brood, not where forced to; by the beek who does not know best for the colony, only for the crop.

There are those, of course, who are squeamish when it comes to extracting honey from brooded frames....

 

[theboynelson]

are you saying you don't use a QE ever?

I find that if you have a super full of capped honey above the brood box that is enough of a barrier, the Q won't cross it to lay in the supers above.
The QE isn't just a barrier for the queen, all the bees find it somewhat tricky to get through.

 

[MJBee]

Finman is so right about the space required to store nectar.

At last the weather over here has been good AND it coincided with the Acacia blossom. I was re-organising a colony yesterday as a Queen cell rearing colony and 3 supers and a good bit of the brood boxes were literally dripping with nectar. All the hives were "roaring" last night as the evaporators worked overtime to reduce the water content - Happy days (at last)

Moral:- Don't assume - check. 3 days of good weather + a good flow can stuff a hive VERY quickly.

 

[Erichalfbee]

are you saying you don't use a QE ever?

I'm like Finman in that respect. I use one when I need to confine the queen, otherwise... let her do her own thing. She will lay where it is most convenient and convivial for the brood, not where forced to; by the beek who does not know best for the colony, only for the crop.

That's what I wanted to do but I find looking through two or maybe three boxes a bit daunting. I always feel like a bit of an intruder when I do inspections. However yesterday was different;the fields are full of buttercups and various grasses swaying in the breeze. Hubby and I waded through them in the sunshine to the apiary,smoke drifting out of the smoker.
Looking through the hives was a joy;a slow gentle stroll through frames filling with brood and no queen cells;gentle bees;the promise of honey to come.
Maybe I'll stick with it.