supering

[randydrivesabus]

so how will i know if i should add a honey super? should i build or buy one just in case i need to? should i use a shallow or a medium or a deep?

this is my first year and i started with packages in april.

[Finsky]

Now let the first deep box become full of bees.
Get another deep and let bees make brood in both of them.

The third box is good to be medium where bees store honey and you may extract it.

Next year you need  2-3 deep and  4-5 medium  OR  5-6 langstroth boxes (deep).

It depens what kind of pastures you have and how fast you hives is filled with honey. A small hive is dangerous because it has brood and it is quite few space  for honey . Small hive swarms easily when it get it's hive full of honey.

New hive spend a lot honey to build it's combs.  To get 3 box ready is hard job. But if your summer continues, colony raises quickly after that.

[Michael Bush]

>so how will i know if i should add a honey super?

When the current hive is almost full (80% is a nice number).

> should i build or buy one just in case i need to?

You should ALWAYS have one empty super on hand for every hive, minium.

> should i use a shallow or a medium or a deep?

I use all mediums for brood and supers.  A deep full of honey will weigh 90 pounds.  A medium full of honey will weigh 60 pounds.  Mediums are a nice all around size.  Shallows will work fine, but if you ever get tired of not having interchanable boxes and of having to lift 90 pound boxes you may wish you'd bought mediums.

The advantage to using deeps is, if you have an extractor, you can get some drawn comb for starting packages.

[Brian D. Bray]

MB & I both use mediums throughout our operation and we both use 8 frame hives so our mediums supers full of honey are closer to 45 lbs of honey.  Lighter easier to use supers means you can handle more full supers without as much strain as you can deep supers.  Harvesting deeps can be a real back breaker if doing it all at once.

Note the Finsky said full of bees, bees are not honey.  The 80-90% full is a good gauge as MB pointed out.  80-90% in a 10 frame hive means having 8  or 9 full frames and 1 or 2 the bees are still working on.

[Finsky]

Full of bees means to me that bees are evenly scattered in the box when you open it. If there is "hole"  or few bees on 2 frames, it is not full. But those 2 frames may be full of honey or winter sugar.

If box is growdy, bees are more along  edges. The centre is too hot to them.

[rayb]

Michael said=

The advantage to using deeps is, if you have an extractor, you can get some drawn comb for starting packages.[/quote]

I'm not sure if I understand what this means.

?If I'm using mediums, and extract, don't I still get drawn comb for starting packages?

After hefting a full deep this year I plan on changing to mediums.

Thanks, Ray

[Finsky]

I suppose that that deep is heaviest size which is healty to man to lift (in old good times 100 lbs.)

In Russian and in that direction they use even bigger frames JUMBO-size.

Full medium honey boxes weight is about 60 lbs.

Bee manage in all of them.

Of course you can put package bees in medium combs.
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[Apis629]

Finsky,
     Did you say to add a super whenever the box is full of bees and not honey?  I've added a box usually only once the super below is 3/4 to completely full of honey.  I guess that by that standard, I should be adding more supers.  

P.S.  Wait a minute, I've made this objection before.  Ahwell, maybe I should start taking other's advice...

[Finsky]

Finsky,
     Did you say to add a super whenever the box is full of bees and not honey?  ...

No that way.

At the beginning of summer I add deeps and supers  inspite ot that is honey coming or not. Bees just need room that they do not think swarming.  I may have 5 box in hive and not honey at all.

When I have normal good hive, I put first 3  deeps for brood. Then it is about first week of June and we have honey frow from dandelins and fron gardens. It lasts 10 days.

When honeyflow starts, I put medium supers. First three and later fourth and fith.

If hive is one box, it is not able to gather honey. I give to it another deep.

If I got over 200 lbs from hive, I must extract honey from boxes twice during one month.  Here is normal situation when honey flow starts: http://bees.freesuperhost.com/yabbfiles/Attachments/valmis3.jpg

From these hives I get over 240 lbs from each during 3 weeks. Small hives are not able to collect honey. They just have not space.
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[Brian D. Bray]

When adding supers please note that it is just as easy to add 2or even 3 as 1.  If a super is already in place I move it up and place the new super(s) between it and the brood box.  The threory is that the more room they have the harder they will work to fill it up.  
If the comb is already drawn then at least double how many supers you're adding.
I believe from Finsky's posts that that is the way he operates.  Pile it on so you get the maximum reward out of every honey flow.