How to empty out a super....?

[LaRae]

If I decide to go to all mediums would this be a possible way to empty out a deep super I'm currently using....

Right now my set up is med super on bottom, deep super on top. Med super is fully drawn, deep super is not. If I were to place a new med super in between the existing bottom med super and the existing deep super with a queen excluder in between the new empty med and old deep super...would the bees empty out that deep super so I can get rid of it?


LaRae

[Jim Williamson]

If I were to place a new med super in between the existing bottom med super and the existing deep super with a queen excluder in between the new empty med and old deep super...would the bees empty out that deep super so I can get rid of it? LaRae, I had a smiliar situation earlier this Spring. I had placed a medium on top of two deeps. The queen promptly moved up and started laying in the medium. The hive was packed with bees, so it was a good time to split anyway. I removed the medium with the queen, placed in a new deep with foundation, placed a queen excluder on top and then put the medium with the brood and honey on top of that. I requeened to original two-deep hive. Now, you can't tell the difference in the two -- both are roaring strong.

Different reasons for doing so, but your plan will work. BTW, if you leave that deep on, they'll pack it full of honey. You might want to keep a close check on it and remove it once all brood has emerged.

[LaRae]

This hive has actually not even finished drawing out the deep super from last year...they went up and drew out the med super and only part of the deep super (which was on the bottom).

This spring I reversed and put the deep on top hoping to encourage the bees to finish drawing it out but they haven't....so I thought I'd take the opportunity to just get rid of the deep if the bees will cooperate.

The hives aren't packed with bees yet.

One thing I did see when I put the medium on bottom was that the bees were moving things around...previously the med (on top) was full of honey/stores....when I flipped them the bees started moving stores up and brood down.


LaRae

[Michael Bush]

If you have any brood in the medium, just put the queen in the medium seperated from the deep by an excluder. After the brood has emerged harvest the deep.

If you DON'T have any brood in the medium cut at least two frames of brood out of the deeps and tie it into the mediums and put the queen with those in the medium with the excluder on and wait for the brood to emerge from the deeps, or cut ALL of the brood out of the deeps and tie it into mediums.

[wayacoyote]

When culling out frames, I simply can't find a window when the frame is perfectly empty. so I do like Michael mentioned and "harvest it". I use a queen excluder to keep the queen out and let them fill and cap the frame. Alternatively, I might offer a light frame to them in a feeder-setup inside the hive above the inner cover when there isn't a flow on. When I do this, my goal is to get them to relocate the nectar. I do this when I don't have enough frames to fill a super, when the frames are closer to empty than closer to full, and when there isn't a flow on.

Waya