Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: beehappy1950 on July 30, 2017, 06:14:05 pm

Title: how many supers
Post by: beehappy1950 on July 30, 2017, 06:14:05 pm

I have 3 hives. 2 of them have 3 supers on. 1 has 5. These are 6 5/8 supers, 10 frame. Top boxes are filling up fast. And we have 2 more days of this heat coming. Anybody else have any hives really doing good. Just curious. We just are at the end of a tremendous basswood season. Have goldenrod and sweet clover to go now. Lets hear from you. Harold

Title: Re: how many supers
Post by: Acebird on July 30, 2017, 09:05:13 pm

In my area my hives consume a lot of honey in August and September building up for winter.  It is hard to tell what the net output will be at this time.

Title: Re: how many supers
Post by: tjc1 on July 30, 2017, 09:40:17 pm

As I noted in another recent thread, despite a great linden (basswood) and black locust season this year, my hives have been light all season - almost nothing in the one super that is on!

Title: Re: how many supers
Post by: Rurification on July 30, 2017, 10:40:56 pm

We had a great spring flow and things leveled out over the summer.  Going into a dearth in a week or so before the goldenrod.   Fall flow will depend on rain.   Fingers crossed.

Title: Re: how many supers
Post by: tycrnp on July 31, 2017, 12:49:44 am

I just removed the supers off 2 of my 4 hives, because the bees are slow to even fill the brood boxes and haven't really done anything in the supers.  In their defense, they were swarms caught in May.

Title: Re: how many supers
Post by: beehappy1950 on July 31, 2017, 11:25:55 pm

tycrnp Why dont your bees want to corporate? Must be something wrong. It surely is warm enough there isnt it? Curious.

Title: Re: how many supers
Post by: tycrnp on August 01, 2017, 02:07:30 am

It is PLENTY warm enough here....that's for certain!  3 of my 4 hives were swarms that we caught in May.  All 3 of the swarms had to be re-queened and we just did that in late May.

1 is doing great, 1 is doing fair, and the 3rd had laying workers - it is the weakest, but I think we are on track now.  All 3 of the swarm hives are building out comb and there is lots of BIAS.  I think we just got a late start.

Title: Re: how many supers
Post by: splitrock on August 01, 2017, 06:54:57 am

I have a 6th super on a couple, a few with five, and  lots of them with 2 or 3.

Clover is about done, so I will be pulling them pretty quick. I always take mine after the clover, before the goldenrod and wild sunflowers really come in, and I leave that stuff for the bees to winter with.

Title: Re: how many supers
Post by: beehappy1950 on August 01, 2017, 10:50:49 am

Looks like you are doing good there splitrock. Thats what we are going to do. Figure on pulling probably next week so they can get ready for a Minnesota winter. Do you winter there or in California?

Title: Re: how many supers
Post by: splitrock on August 01, 2017, 10:47:20 pm

I winter mine here, 80 hives aren't enough to take very far.

Title: Re: how many supers
Post by: beehappy1950 on August 01, 2017, 11:06:27 pm

You do anything special for them? Do you usually lose many?