Beekeeping involves managing honeybee colonies housed in modular, stacked structures. These modern hives separate the bees’ living space from the honey a beekeeper intends to harvest. A “super” is an upper box added above the brood boxes specifically for storing surplus honey. It is a necessary component for beekeepers focused on honey production.
The Role of the Super in the Hive Structure
A super functions as the colony’s honey pantry, situated above the main living area where the queen lays eggs. This lower area, known as the brood box, contains the nursery, pollen, and honey stores necessary for the colony’s year-round survival. The super is an additional box filled with frames that provide the bees with space to build honeycomb.
During a strong nectar flow, the colony produces surplus honey beyond its immediate needs. The super directs this excess storage into a controlled location for later harvest, without disturbing the essential food reserves below. This separation is often maintained by a queen excluder, a grate placed between the brood box and the super. The excluder permits worker bees to pass through but blocks the larger queen, ensuring the super’s frames are filled only with clean, harvestable honey, not developing brood.
Physical Variations of Honey Supers
Honey supers are available in three common depths, which influence the volume of honey they hold and the weight a beekeeper must lift. The deepest option is the deep super, approximately 9 5/8 inches tall, which provides the most storage capacity. However, a deep super filled with honey can weigh 80 to 90 pounds, making it difficult for many beekeepers to manage.
The medium super, measuring around 6 5/8 inches in height, is the most popular choice. This size offers a balance between capacity and ergonomics, typically weighing 55 to 60 pounds when full. The shallow super, the smallest standard size at roughly 5 3/4 inches tall, is the lightest option, weighing about 40 pounds when full. Beekeepers often select smaller sizes to reduce the physical strain of lifting during harvest.
Timing and Techniques for Super Management
Adding a super, known as “supering up,” requires precise timing to maximize honey production and prevent swarming. Beekeepers must wait until the colony is sufficiently strong, typically when seven or eight out of ten frames in the top brood box are covered with bees and comb. Supering too early creates a large, empty space the bees must patrol and heat, which slows the colony’s overall growth.
The most reliable sign that a super is needed is the onset of a strong nectar flow, indicated by foraging bees rapidly bringing in fresh nectar. When adding the first super, it is usually placed directly above the queen excluder, if used. For subsequent expansion, beekeepers use two primary stacking methods: top supering or bottom supering.
Top supering involves placing the new, empty super on the very top of the stack. Bottom supering, in contrast, places the new box directly above the brood nest and underneath any partially filled supers. While bottom supering encourages faster filling by making the space immediately accessible to bees leaving the brood area, it requires more effort to lift existing boxes. The super is ready for harvest only after the bees have reduced the honey’s moisture content to 17 to 18% and capped the majority of the comb with beeswax.