A honey super is the specialized box placed on top of a beehive where honeybees deposit surplus honey for the beekeeper to harvest. This structure is separate from the lower boxes, which are reserved for the queen’s brood and the colony’s primary food stores. Knowing the weight of a full super is essential for planning harvests and managing hive health. The amount of honey contained within this box depends directly on the super’s size and the way the bees draw out the wax comb. This article provides a practical guide to calculating the expected honey yield from a medium super.
Understanding the Medium Super
The medium super, sometimes called the Illinois super, is the most common size used by hobbyist and sideline beekeepers for honey collection. Its defining feature is its depth, which is typically 6-5/8 inches, placing it between the taller deep boxes and the shorter shallow boxes. This compromise in size makes the box manageable to lift when full.
The standard Langstroth hive body is designed to hold 10 frames, which is the most common configuration for a medium super. An 8-frame version is also frequently used, particularly by those who prefer a lighter lift. Equipment from 8-frame and 10-frame systems are generally not interchangeable, even though they share the same box depth. This distinction is based on the interior width of the box, which maintains the correct “bee space” around the frames.
Calculating the Standard Honey Yield
The calculation for a medium super’s yield begins with the average weight of a single, fully drawn and capped frame of honey. A medium frame that is completely filled with cured honey typically holds between 4.5 and 5 pounds of net honey. This weight is based on the volume of the frame and the density of the finished product, which is roughly 12 pounds per gallon. Using this average, one can establish a reliable weight range for the entire super.
The standard 10-frame medium super contains ten frames, leading to an expected honey yield between 45 and 50 pounds. This overall weight includes the honey, the wax comb, and the wooden frame parts. The 8-frame medium super, which is narrower, yields a proportionally smaller amount of honey. An 8-frame super, using the same 4.5 to 5 pounds per frame estimate, will typically contain a net honey weight between 36 and 40 pounds.
To determine the net weight of the extracted honey, it is necessary to subtract the tare weight of the empty equipment. A medium super box and its empty frames, with drawn comb, generally weigh between 12 and 15 pounds. For a precise measurement, beekeepers weigh the full super before extraction and the empty super afterward; the difference represents the actual pounds of honey collected.
Variables That Affect Final Weight
The final weight of a super can fluctuate due to several factors related to bee behavior and beekeeping practice. The completeness of the wax capping is one variable, as bees cap honey only after they have reduced its moisture content to about 18 percent or less. Uncapped honey, which contains a higher percentage of water, is less dense and weighs less per volume compared to fully cured honey.
The way frames are spaced within the super also directly impacts the amount of honey stored. Beekeepers often use fewer frames in a box, such as nine frames in a 10-frame super, to encourage the bees to draw out thicker comb. This wider spacing causes the bees to build the comb out past the edge of the wooden frame, allowing them to pack more honey into a smaller number of cells. This practice can increase the total weight of the super, sometimes resulting in a yield that is slightly higher than the maximum calculated using standard spacing.
The density of the honey itself is another factor, as honey from different floral sources can vary in composition and moisture level. Denser honey will weigh more pound-for-pound than less dense honey, even if the total volume is the same. Furthermore, the thickness of the wax foundation and how deeply the bees draw the comb beyond the frame boundary can add minor variations to the total weight of the completed super.