Subject: Too late for fresh supers?

From: [email-masked] (Jordan Schwartz)
Date: 26 Sep 1994 01:23:34 GMT

I just finished building a new garage in my backyard, so I was able to go 
pick up and bring home the two hives of bees that I had had to move 
during the construction.  Needless to say, our reunion after a month and 
a half apart was tearful and heartwarming (alright, bees don't have 
lachrymal glands, but you get the picture).  When I had moved them, they 
had barely started in on the the third super (including the brood 
chamber), and I wasn't expecting much out of them, this being their (and 
my) first year.  Lo and behold, when I went in today, I found that they 
had filled and capped every cell of every frame I had given them.  Of 
course, had I been able to check them more often, I would have given them 
more room earlier, but I couldn't, so I didn't.

My question is: it is now late September, and though it is still sunny 
and in the mid-80's here the Northwest (Seattle), I wonder if it would be 
useful at all to give them a new super with some fresh frames to work 
on?  Could it hurt?  I was planning on letting them winter with three 
supers (it being their first year, and me being the generous type), but 
maybe if they even fill out part of a fourth super, I could just leave 
them with that and harvest the third super...

Kibitzing would be appreciated...

Jordan

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From: James R. Griggs <[email-masked]>
Date: 28 Sep 1994 22:10:35 GMT

I haven't had my hands in the bee business in about 20 years 
(since I graduated from College), but my dad had about 1000-1200 
hives, and I got a lot of experience (and stings) during my 
youth.  

If you still have nectar bearing flowers in the area, it probably 
can't hurt to add another super, especially if theirs are all 
full.  Place the empty lower in the hive, just above the brood 
chamber.  Bees sometimes carry the new honey up through the 
colony and when they encounter the first sealed combs, they think 
the hive is full, and they balk at going further.  We always 
rotated the supers to keep the full ones on top.

You might consider using "shallow" supers, the 6 or 7 inch high 
ones instead of the "deep" supers of 10 inches.  That way, 
there's less space to have to gamble with.

Jim Griggs
Vienna, Austria

-- 
James R. Griggs
[email-masked]
Vienna, Austria