When to take supers off

[Simon Mills]

Last month only one of my four hives had a super on with enough honey to extract, I had put a second super on it but that had minimal honey. I cleared the full super and extracted the honey leaving the second super on. All my hives have BB and a super on at the moment.
My question is should I take the supers off now to leave each hive with just the BB for winter? I inspected 10 days ago and found very little brood or stores, although all hives but one had plenty of bees. There is minimal honey in the supers still. Hopefully the recent improvement in the weather is allowing the bees out to find more forage.
Advice gratefully received as always.

 

[drex]

I would let the bees have the honey in the super, either by putting it, temporarily under the BB, or over a part open crown board. Low on stores, then I would feed. Have you done varroa treatment yet? Priority now is to produce healthy strong colonies, with enough stores for winter

 

[Swarm]

Last month only one of my four hives had a super on with enough honey to extract, I had put a second super on it but that had minimal honey. I cleared the full super and extracted the honey leaving the second super on. All my hives have BB and a super on at the moment.
My question is should I take the supers off now to leave each hive with just the BB for winter? I inspected 10 days ago and found very little brood or stores, although all hives but one had plenty of bees. There is minimal honey in the supers still. Hopefully the recent improvement in the weather is allowing the bees out to find more forage.
Advice gratefully received as always.

Remove the supers and give them a light feed.

 

[fian]

Simon answers these questions and you will get a guide to proceed.
1- Is a flow of honey or pollen expected in the next two weeks?
2- If there are few young, do you think it would be a good time for a treatment against varroa?
3-How many squares do bees currently occupy?
4-Is there activity in the super?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

nadir the supers and feed - although many colonies have a brood break at this time of year, the lack of stores would also stop them brooding

 

[BernardBlack]

nadir the supers and feed - although many colonies have a brood break at this time of year, the lack of stores would also stop them brooding

Yes I was thinking that myself.

A new queen of mine hasn’t started laying yet and I’m thinking it’s because there is little stores in the Brood box (although there is some above in the super)

Could she start laying in the Super instead of the Brood box?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Yes I was thinking that myself.

A new queen of mine hasn’t started laying yet and I’m thinking it’s because there is little stores in the Brood box (although there is some above in the super)

Could she start laying in the Super instead of the Brood box?

if it's left on top - probably

 

[Simon Mills]

nadir the supers and feed - although many colonies have a brood break at this time of year, the lack of stores would also stop them brooding

Thank you, I will follow your advice.