Can I use honey supers as brood boxes?

Brood Box – is only used for the queen to lay eggs and to store food for the raising of new bees. For strong bee colonies multiple brood boxes are often used to prevent swarming. Honey Super or Honey Box – are only used for honey storage.

Can I use two supers as a brood box?

You can start with a single box with just a couple of supers on top and see what happens. When the bees begin running out of space, add one or two more supers. If you get upwards of five or six supers and the colony continues to grow, then you can add another brood box on top and more supers on top of that.

Should I add a brood box or honey super?

Generally, a honey super is added when the brood box has approximately six out of the eight frames with bees and brood, as well as stored nectar. If you have a ten-frame hive, then approximately eight out of the ten frames should have bees and brood on them. As a rule of thumb, 80% of the brood box should be full.

Do bees make honey in the brood box?

The brood chamber (usually in the bottom boxes of the hive) houses worker-made cells where the eggs, larvae and pupae develop. Some of the cells in this part of the hive also hold pollen, nectar or honey that's used to feed the developing larvae.

What can you do with empty honey supers?

The bees will come up through the hole in the inner cover, clean up the honey residue on the combs and patrol the space keeping out pests like moths and beetles. Once the cold weather sets in, the supers of empty frames can be stored in an unheated out building for winter.

Beekeeping for Beginners- Adding Honey Supers - Update 6/12/2016

Can you leave honey super on over winter?

Yes, you can leave a honey super or several on the hive over Winter. In fact, most beekeepers do have a super or two designated for use by the bees. The size of the box designated as the “food super” for the bees varies from one beekeeper to another and from one region to another.

What can I do with half filled honey supers?

You can put all the partially capped frames in a super above an inner cover. As long as the days remain warm enough for the bees to move around, they will move the honey from the super down close to the brood nest. If you want them to remove all of it, scratch open the capped cells.

When should I add a super to my brood box?

The ideal time to add a super is during periods of natural population growth (typically, the spring), before or during a honey flow (spring or summer), or during periods of swarming (again, typically the spring). Before adding a super, beekeepers often use a standard rule of thumb, which is known as the 7/10 rule.

How many honey supers do I need per hive?

One Flow Super per hive is the simple answer, as you can keep harvesting the honey whenever it is ready, giving the bees room to keep working and making more honey.

How long does it take bees to fill a brood box?

A package of bees will likely take up to 2 months to fill a brood box. This is a realistic expectation and your bees may fill it faster or take longer depending on your local conditions. Also, the population of a package of bees will slowly shrink for around 3 weeks until the first round of new brood emerges.

Can you put a honey super on too early?

Try not to add supers too early or too late, but if you are uncertain, then do it sooner. Also, remember to only harvest surplus honey and leave enough for your bees to make it through the year.

How fast can bees fill a honey super?

A strong colony during a strong honey flow can draw new foundation and fill a honey super in 1 week, and sometimes in 3 to 4 days. An average bee colony will take between 2 to 4 weeks, while a weaker colony will take 1 to 2 months.

Can you feed bees with supers on?

Avoid, brown sugar, beat sugar, powder sugar, or honey. Remember the bee keeper code; never feed the bees while honey supers are in place. spring to stimulate the queen to lay eggs and helps the bees draw more comb.

How many frames of brood should a hive have?

Most beekeepers seem to prefer using ten frames in the brood boxes—and for good reasons. There is really no benefit to having extra wide spaces for raising brood, and ten frames provide more area for the brood nest, so this makes sense.

Can there be too many bees in a hive?

As long as they're not building swarm cells, there's no such thing as too many bees.

When should I add a 2nd deep brood box?

But the big question is how long should you wait until you add the second box. This applies whether you are using deep hive bodies for the brood area or medium sized boxes. Add your next box once the bees have drawn out 5-7 combs in their first box.

When should you remove honey supers?

Supers that aren't required by your bees should be removed when temperatures cool in mid to late fall. Supers should be removed because in winter bees have formed a cluster, grouping together to conserve heat. Honeybees have a high level of temperature tolerance, but it is put to the test in winter.

How many honey supers is too many?

I usually don't put more than four medium supers on. If my hives need additional supers I remove the full supers first. Sometimes there will be a couple of hives in each bee yard that out perform all the other hives that I will put five or six on, but that is the exception.

How many times do you harvest honey in a year?

In a healthy, productive hive, it is normal to be able to harvest honey two to three times each season. Most beekeepers will harvest honey between June and September, but how often you harvest and how much honey you get will depend on a number of factors.

How do you remove a honey super from a hive?

To blow bees out of honey supers, simply remove the honey super filled with bees from the hive and place it up on its end on a bench, table, or back of a truck. By directing air from the blower between the frames, the bees are blown out of the super.

How high should a beehive be off the ground?

How high should my hive stand be? A. While this is heavily dependant on your stature, an ideal height for a hive stand is approximately 18in off of the ground. Unless you are 6'5", this height will be ideal for working your hives without destroying your back.

Does uncapped honey ferment?

If you extract the honey from a partially uncapped frame, remember that too many uncapped cells may make the moisture content of the honey excessively high. If you store the frame, the uncapped cells may ferment.

Is uncapped honey edible?

You can also eat uncapped honey if it is fresh. If you shake the comb and no nectar drops drip out, it is dry enough to extract. (or eat) Or, if 2/3 of the comb is capped, you can extract (or eat) that honey and it will be within moisture limits.

How long does it take for bees to clean a super?

If you don't want to make multiple trips, I would say 1 super can be cleaned by 1 strong hive in 2-3 hours - more or less. I just put my frames in front of my hives 3-4 hours before dark. After an hour or so of darkness, I put them in a chest freezer for 24-48 hours. Done.