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Author Topic: When to super?  (Read 2780 times)

Offline RangerBrad

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When to super?
« on: March 03, 2011, 05:56:40 pm »
The first flowers of spring are blooming and even my peach tree is starting to bloom. Last year I supered on the 29th of march but on the 14th of april one of my two hives swarmed which left only one hive to supply all my honey. I did get 8 gal though. Is there a problem with supering early(now) to give more space and hopefully avoiding a swarm from my one remaining hive? The other died in the winter and new bees won't be here till end of may. Thank's, Brad
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Offline backyard warrior

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Re: When to super?
« Reply #1 on: March 03, 2011, 06:28:04 pm »
Hi Brad im no expert but this is what i would do. The only time you super with lots of supers is when you have drawn comb in your frames then you super with 3 or 4 boxes if you dont have drawn comb only install one super at a time.  There are two kinds of swarms a congestion swarm and a propagation swarm. The propagation swarm has nothing to do with honey supers, bees will swarm whether you have honey supers on or not. In the spring before the nectar flow when you start to see dandelions the bees want to throw a propagation swarm too many bees not enough laying space for the queen, to prevent this propagation swarm you must keep the brood nest open have a young queen no more than 2 yrs old with good phermone and You can either do a split or just cage the queen to relieve congestion or you can remove a few frames in the brood nest and put foundation in there to relieve congestion in the brood nest. Next a  congestion swarm occurs during the nectar flow which involves the bees not having enuff supers for the nectar flow and they backfill the brood nest with nectar causing a congestion swarm  due to no space to store nectar because of the crowding of bees and nectar. Hopefully this helps you out

Offline AllenF

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Re: When to super?
« Reply #2 on: March 03, 2011, 09:22:57 pm »
On Monday, I placed honey supers on about a third of the hives.   Just the ones that needed them.

Offline hankdog1

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Re: When to super?
« Reply #3 on: March 03, 2011, 09:54:45 pm »
Remember also when installing supers with just foundation in them that needs to be drawn out you must also place it right above the brood nest.  They will draw it out faster because the bees of the wax making age are in the brood chamber and aren't very likely to crawl through a bunch of supers to draw out foundation.
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Offline RangerBrad

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Re: When to super?
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2011, 11:35:44 am »
yes, the super frames are allready drawn out and the bees are robbing the dead out hive of it's honey also. Will reversing hive bodies really help swarm prevention? I'm wondering if supering to early may cause a hardship on the bees if we have a cold snap?
Thank's, Brad
« Last Edit: March 04, 2011, 01:27:03 pm by RangerBrad »
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Offline hankdog1

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Re: When to super?
« Reply #5 on: March 04, 2011, 02:42:05 pm »
well i would seal up the dead out and get them out of there since contaminated honey is the best way to spread dease with bees.  My thoughts are you'll probably want to super between the middle to the last of the month.  We normally do it around the last of the month here so your probably a bit more then 2 weeks ahead of us so you should be safe there.  Be nice if someone from your part of the state would chime in and give you a bit better information cause i'm only guessing by you being further south.
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Offline Kathyp

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Re: When to super?
« Reply #6 on: March 04, 2011, 03:09:40 pm »
Quote
Will reversing hive bodies really help swarm prevention

it will certainly slow down and confuse your bees.  i have no idea why anyone ever thought this was a good idea.

opening the brood nest, splitting the hive, etc. are ways to maybe prevent a swarm.  some hives will just do it no matter what.  search here for swarm prevention ideas and look at robo and Michael Bushs' sites.  they both have good stuff.

bees are driven to swarm in the spring because it's how they increase numbers in the great outdoors.  it doesn't usually have much to do with how much they are bringing in this early.  watch for swarm cells and consider making nucs, or splitting if you need to.

i have had to super early when i was going to be out of town.  as long as it's warm enough that they are active, giving them the room will not hurt them.  if i am home, i watch for them to store honey over the brood nest.  once they have started doing that, i super them.  
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Offline backyard warrior

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Re: When to super?
« Reply #7 on: March 04, 2011, 04:01:13 pm »
i agree with kathy the queen will go down eventually and lay eggs if you decided to reverse make sure that there isnt any brood in the bottom box and top box at the same time or you will split the brood and when you reverse you will chill the brood and they will die

Offline KD4MOJ

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Re: When to super?
« Reply #8 on: March 04, 2011, 04:08:25 pm »
I leave my supers on year round... but that's just me!  :-D

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Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: When to super?
« Reply #9 on: March 04, 2011, 06:48:35 pm »
Swapping brood boxes is a practice started in the 1800's not long after the Langstroth hive became popular.  It does the same thing now as it did then, confuses the bees and slowes down the hive development prior to a honey flow.  Bees are busy fixing things inside the hive and don't commit as much to preparing for harvest as all the work they had just done has been uprooted and needs to be redone.

It is a practice that has never, to my knowledge, demonstrated a practical application.  The enthusiasts of this practice swear that it prevents swarming but in reality all it does is delay at best. 
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Offline Countryboy

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Re: When to super?
« Reply #10 on: March 04, 2011, 11:55:58 pm »
There are successful beekeepers who swear that having empty drawn comb above the cluster deters swarming.  (and maybe it just gives the bees a place to store nectar and honey.)

I use dandelions as a guide to super, because dandelions are our first consistant nectar flow.  If you are worried that adding supers will give too much room for the bees and chill them, then before you super, lay a sheet of newspaper over the box, leaving a one or two inch gap at one end.  Then place your super on top of the paper.  When the bees need the space, they will chew up the paper.  If the bees don't need the space yet, the paper act like a ceiling and help hold the heat.