Okay certainly not the expert, but I just got through watching this morning apparently a podcast from the “fat bee man” that was recorded on YouTube, where halfway through it he said something that reminded me of a conversation/Posting from yesterday about adding boxes
If you add boxes to soon especially Honey supper, the bees need to keep the brood warm. And they build towards the top where heat rises. If you put in a honey super and a queen excluder the heat will escape to the top potentially as he called it creating chilled brood i.e. killing the larvae
This will set back the hive dramatically, this all makes more sense now to me.
Posting this one to see others comment and also to educate/Help others if this is truly the case
Absolutely
The colony needs to be strong and able to handle the extra space. Think what happens in the wild. Bees are always at the top, with honey…not empty space… above them
Beginners are always in a hurry. I was a beginner once and I do understand but patience is what is required. Patience, an understanding of colony dynamics …and a second colony
New beek here. Just got my bees on the 7th of April. 8 frames. After a lot of reading and advice of my mentor I placed my brood box on top of my empty flow brood box. I’m in San Diego and we have had some rain this spring so foraging should be really good. We have been in a prolonged drought. We will see how it works out.
The idea is that bees like to build top down, since this is how they have had to do it for thousands of years in the wild. You move into a cavity and start at the top and build down. You don’t have the option to expand the cavity or start in the middle etc. So people feel it is a more natural way to deal with the bees. Heat also rises so the bees stay in the upper most portion of the box where the hot air remains
So you are saying a super doesn’t refer at all to its purpose as a honey store, it only speaks to its placement above an existing box? Crap… just when I thought I had some of the lingo down. You beekeepers are annoying and hard to keep up with (I’m glad to join the ranks ).
Just to clarify… When most beeks refer to a super… are they referring to a honey store, or simply any box above another box? And… if super doesn’t refer to a honey store, then, is there a term for that? The antonym to a “brood box”?
The term super almost exclusively refers to honey stores, because bees store honey over the brood nest. I don’t think I have ever heard anyone call a brood box a brood super.
I’m going to run two brood deeps. Most beeks do in these parts. I put the full brood box on top as I understand to keep the brood warm and to allow the bees to build down as they are ready. This is my first go of it. So we will learn together as I go along and post my progress. I love this site! So many ideas and such great feedback. What an exciting time. Can’t stop watching the bees. Taking all my patience not to peek inside and check their progress🤔
A prefix from Latin, with the basic meaning “above, beyond.” Words formed with super- have the following general senses: “to place or be placed above or over” (superimpose, supersede), “a thing placed over or added to another” (superscript; superstructure; supertax), “situated over” (superficial; superlunary) and, more figuratively, “an individual, thing, or property that exceeds customary norms or levels” (superalloy; superconductivity; superman; superstar).
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