Winter over/under - supering

[busybee53]

What is best over or under for winter?

Under is good because it keeps the broodbox up out of the cold and drafts. Over is good too because bees will go upwards and can't become separated from their stores and starve.

One thing I am wondering. How do you treat with oxalic if the stores are in a super above the bees? What if you lift the super off and the cluster is halfway between the boxes?

 

[enrico]

Under. Come spring remove the clean super and hey presto back to a brood box.

 

[Cazza]

Enrico is, as usual giving the best advice. Separation from stores should not be an issue as long as you have remembered to remove any QE.

No real advantages to over. Personally, I shall be doing neither.

Cazza

 

[Finman]

.
Basic rule is that before winter feeding, brood frames are down.
i wonder what super makes up or down if it has now brood.

In the case that you want to feed the hive in time: you put super on. Bees fill the super and cap it.
Later when half of brood has emerged, you start to feed brood box.
Then capped food are up and emerging last brood down. Bees fill the rest of combs and they it consume it first.

If you have 7-8 frames brood in September, the hive does not need super for winter.

Actually your winter is so mild that a gap between boxes is not a promlem to big cluster.

.

 

[Finman]

Under. Come spring remove the clean super and hey presto back to a brood box.

in wintering arrangement that comment has no value. Renewing combs is not a main point in wintering, if point at all.

 

[enrico]

Enrico is, as usual giving the best advice. Separation from stores should not be an issue as long as you have remembered to remove any QE.

No real advantages to over. Personally, I shall be doing neither.

Cazza

 

[Polyanwood]

I think no super is best. Why give them space they don't need? Why contaminate your supers with thymol and oxalic acid?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

One thing I am wondering. How do you treat with oxalic if the stores are in a super above the bees? What if you lift the super off and the cluster is halfway between the boxes?

by the time you come to oxalic the bees should be starting up in the super - just OA through the super (use a torck to find the cluster if they are deep

 

[user 6228]

insulated floor beats both

 

[Finman]

What is best over or under for winter?

you have one hive and not much knowledge about beekeeping.

If you think consider 2 box wintering, you should have just now 6 boxes in the hive.

Half on hives winter in one box even if they have 5 boxes in late summer.

How many boxes you have now and how many brood frames?

 

[oliver90owner]

Half on hives winter in one box even if they have 5 boxes in late summer.

Finman is right. More than half, if on a larger format.

You never experience absolutely huge winter clusters - just strong ones and lesser so. The optimum size depends on the strain of bee, anything less is down to the beekeeper. I was caught out in my second year; never again.

The aim is to get as many bees through to the spring as possible. To that end, just think: Where do the bees place their stores? And why is that?

Nadiring is simply for the convenience of the beek, not for the benefit of the bees. If they had time they would move it ... guess where to.

 

[jackbee]

Half on hives winter in one box even if they have 5 boxes in late summer.

Finman is right. More than half, if on a larger format.

The aim is to get as many bees through to the spring as possible. To that end, just think: Where do the bees place their stores? And why is that?

I think it might be a combination of new beek and finmans's poetic eloquence but I just don't understand that first sentence (bolded above).

Should it read half of hives ?? Would make sense to me then but well I do only have 2 hives

Could someone enlighten me, cheers

 

[enrico]

I didn't understand him at all!!?

 

[oliver90owner]

Dimness is not one of my attributes. I understand that Finman can, and does, make typos and translational slips and can often make the appropriate allowances.

To try to enlighten you or for those that do not savvy, the sentence needs reading in context with the rest of the post from which it came (not in isolation). Simple for most, I would have thought.

 

[Phayze]

I think what finman is saying is that no matter how many frames/boxes of brood you have on a single hive in summer they will reduce their numbers significantly to a small enough cluster to serve their purposes keeping themselves the queen and the small amount of brood warm through winter.

 

[Black Comb]

This subject comes up every year.
Some swear over, some under.
Doesn't seem to matter
For nats. I go under as in spring the queen will lay in the top box (initially) so no brood in the supers.
For LS jumbo, no need for super

 

[jackbee]

I notice my post got removed, but not the post I replied to, usual pattern!

Would have been courteous to have been given an explanation by mods/admin?

I'll temper my previous response

Dimness is not one of my attributes. I understand that Finman can, and does, make typos and translational slips and can often make the appropriate allowances.

To try to enlighten you or for those that do not savvy, the sentence needs reading in context with the rest of the post from which it came (not in isolation). Simple for most, I would have thought.

Sigh!!

 

[Finman]

I think it might be a combination of new beek and finmans's poetic eloquence but I just don't understand that first sentence (bolded above).

Should it read half of hives ?? Would make sense to me then but well I do only have 2 hives

Could someone enlighten me, cheers

you must read HALF OF HIVES.

I toggle with phone and it quite painfull catch mistakes

okaay! You are now enlightened like Buddha.


When you have 2 hives. Split them and you have 4 halfes. So half of hives can be wintered in two boxes. So simple you wise guy.


.

 

[jackbee]

you must read HALF OF HIVES.

I toggle with phone and it quite painfull catch mistakes

okaay! You are now enlightened like Buddha.

When you have 2 hives. Split them and you have 4 halfes. So half of hives can be wintered in two boxes. So simple you wise guy.
.

it is simple when explained, thank you finman. I'm no wise guy, just wanted to make sure I understood

Still a long way to got towards enlightment though, the path has many obstacles

 

[Finman]

.
Last autumn my friend had red clover field near the bee yard.
When it was time to feed bees for winter, hives each had one box full of brood .
So I said that put a emptybox on the brood and feed to there. So she did but she continued too long feeding. In May she had half of winter food uneaten in hives. Food stucked brooding space.

So we unloaded all capped winter food and stored them into store house.

But it happened so that every hive tried to swarm. We made false swarms and she captured swarms. During summer she succeeded to give extra winterfood to swarms and bees draw foundations with the help of sugar. The amount of sugar was enormous in May.

That was a result when one box colony has two boxes over winter. They cannot eate all sugar.