Full supers

[Silvbee]

Hi all,
I was wondering what people do regarding full supers over the brood box. Leave them or rearrange so that empty but drawn frames are over the box.

[Neils]

At this point I'm starting to think about when to take supers off, but generally I move drawn super frames that have stores upwards.

I start with a box of comb or foundation on narrow spacing (11 frames), once that comb or foundation is drawn out and has stores coming in I add another super and begin to move the drawn frames upwards and onto wide spacers.

I don't use foundation in the supers these days so I then start to shuffle frames around to place empty frames in between drawn or partially drawn frames. Once a frame is drawn and is maybe half full I then move it up into a second super. At the point the bees stop drawing wax I then go into maximising what I have by removing any undrawn/empty frames and getting everything onto wide spacing.

[gavin]

If there is a strong flow I'd often put the second super underneath the first. Especially if it is a slow-setting type on thin unwired foundation for cut comb. That might encourage them to draw it and fill it faster, and does keep the cappings cleaner. If it was late in the OSR season I'd put a second on top in the hope that the first doesn't get chilled, but don't know if it really matters. Like Neil, shuffle frames if the flow is still on, not if you are not sure that a flow is continuing (last night in the hills with FD I wasn't sure which state applied).

Good question though, I'm sure there are lots of opinions.

[Silvbee]

Thanks for the replies. Generally I do the same, moving frames onto double spacing when I can but I generally keep the supers in the same order throughout the season. This year I feel that full or nearly full supers above the brood have held the bees back from bringing in more stores (judging by the amount of bees and the good weather we've had). I was wondering if the bees react to full stores above the brood and think that the main winter store is secure.

[fatshark]

With most of my colonies this year I've added empties on the top of the pile and this hasn't been a problem when the flow has been good and they're drawing comb well. I do this because of the arc of pollen they pile above the brood nest. Despite trying to select bees that need a single box most hives have been like this. I add the supers on top to avoid getting pollen in too much honey when extracting.

The flow has been so good this year (they're now going gung-ho for the HB) that most frames have been well filled and I've not rearranged any of them. However, rather than disturbing the supers too much, I've removed many of them already. I'm going to go through them tomorrow (they're stacked on my honey warming cabinet to keep warm for extracting) and return any half empty or uncapped ones - either for filling up, or for colonies that will overwinter on brood and a half.