View Full Version : teach me step by step?????????
idrisbee
10-31-2005, 03:13 AM
Please i need to know step by step on putting on the first super.
Am i to take some combs from the brood box ,am i just to place the super with the frames on any side.
i have foundation on my frames.
I tried by just putting on the super with two frames .my african bees absconded.in another hive i found queen cells present.
What should i do ???????????????
tecumseh
10-31-2005, 04:43 AM
I take it you are utilizing a pretty much pure african strain? with pure european lines you would just plop on the super and be done (if you were doing this early in the season you might continue to feed the colony to get them to draw out the foundation). Anyway, I suspect you might need to locate someone who is doing small cell honeybees.
MichaelW
10-31-2005, 06:45 AM
usually all frames are included in a super when supering, I think you said you just had 2 frames in it. It is usually placed on top. Sometimes people will put one on the bottom.
Often moving a couple of frames from the brood box to the super and replacing the brood box frames encourages them to use the super.
I do not think the bees absconding had anything to do with the super. I have no experience with africanized bees, maybe someone with experience can make suggestions.
Michael Bush
10-31-2005, 07:47 AM
>Am i to take some combs from the brood box ,am i just to place the super with the frames on any side.
As everyone mentioned, our experience is with European bees. IF you have all the same size frames, then that's what I would do. Move two or three up to the supers and put some empty frames in to open up the brood nest (to prevent swarming) and lure them up to work the super.
>I tried by just putting on the super with two frames .my african bees absconded.
I don't know much about African bees. I know they are more prone to absconding and swarming but I don't know what kinds of beekeeper manipulations set it off.
>in another hive i found queen cells present.
Swarming? On the bottom of the frames?
>What should i do ???????????????
On EHB I'd open up the brood nest and maybe even do a split. I don't know what works best on yours.
Robert Hawkins
10-31-2005, 08:03 PM
Idrisbee, is this on Langs or tbhs? As you may have seen by now if you do everything MB says you're guaranteed to come out ahead. Where on the frame were you Qcells found bottom or middle?
Hawk
Brent Bean
11-02-2005, 01:24 PM
A good book I would recommend is “ The Art & Adventure of BEEKEEPING” by Ormond & Harry Aebi. They are in Guinness world book of records, for the most honey form a single hive. Well at least they did when the book was published in 1975. They devote chapter ten to adding supers for maximum honey production. I got a copy form www.Amazon.com. (http://www.Amazon.com.)