Removing Supers advice.

[OldFarm]

If nectar is coming in that’s what they do. When the flow has stopped put an empty super on top of your crownboard then the wet one.
Better still store your supers wet over winter

That you, the empty super worked like a charm.

 

[Mabee]

forget porter escapes, make your own rhombus escapes either fix the whole rhombus over a central hole or cut it in half and put the halves on the sides, you need an eke a couple of inches deep below the escape to give the bees room to move down:

View attachment 32743View attachment 32744

If you are going to clear the whole lot down you will definitely need more space for the cleared bees so you need to have an empty shallow (with frames) below the clearer board.

Quick question about this, I understand needing to add an empty super for space but when you say add frames, do you mean just frames or frames with foundation?

 

[SWHives]

I think I've been very lucky and must be surrounded by a variety of rich forage. I'm semi urban/rural. Bees started on OSR which I think gave them plenty of early resources to build comb and expand. Then lots of bramble and clover and all the other wonders that people have in their gardens.

I managed 67.6kg of honey in total. This was all from two nucs that arrived mid April. There was a few splits along the way too. I ended up with 3 hives and 2 nucs from these initial two. I didn't take any honey off the nucs. Each hive was left with plenty of stores for winter too.

First year has gone pretty well I guess.

Well done! I am in a very similar situation here, but started with two overwintered hives (last year's swarms) and no OSR nearby. Now have 3 hives created 3 nucs from the two hives during the year. One of the two hives also had a supercedure. Have over 70kg honey already, with one super still remaining to be spun out. Looks like this year was good for us new beeks, or at least we started the right time .

 

[jimmiestan]

I think I've been very lucky and must be surrounded by a variety of rich forage. I'm semi urban/rural. Bees started on OSR which I think gave them plenty of early resources to build comb and expand. Then lots of bramble and clover and all the other wonders that people have in their gardens.

I managed 67.6kg of honey in total. This was all from two nucs that arrived mid April. There was a few splits along the way too. I ended up with 3 hives and 2 nucs from these initial two. I didn't take any honey off the nucs. Each hive was left with plenty of stores for winter too.

First year has gone pretty well I guess.

Great start for you! No swarms, Bluebell?

 

[pargyle]

Great start for you! No swarms, Bluebell?

That was last year ... not seen since May this year so perhaps busy with swarms or drowning in Spring honey... the alternatives are not to be contemplated !

 

[Rory Fields]

My OSR apiary is a 32 mile round trip - and I'm still not that confident with rhombus boards (works perfectly at times, at others seems to clear only 2/3 of the bees into an empty super, nadired below.), particularly with the OSR crystallising horror tales you hear of. At what point does a petrol blower just make life a lot easier? I've got around 60-70 colonies atm, building back up to circa 100 from a bad-back induced scale down last year. Cheers, Ror

 

[Antipodes]

My OSR apiary is a 32 mile round trip - and I'm still not that confident with rhombus boards (works perfectly at times, at others seems to clear only 2/3 of the bees into an empty super, nadired below.), particularly with the OSR crystallising horror tales you hear of. At what point does a petrol blower just make life a lot easier? I've got around 60-70 colonies atm, building back up to circa 100 from a bad-back induced scale down last year. Cheers, Ror

Just take the frames out one at a time, giving each side a quick light brush, and pop them in another box. it doesn't take too long and you don't need to do your back in again if you just lift a box with four or five frames in it. Blowers are fine, but the bees really do grip on. I don't use clearer boards for a few reasons, but largely because of the travel issue to apiary sites. Here the bigger producers bang the boxes on a little metal framed table. Have a look at this video and see if that might be an option. It does involve lifting the entire heavy box though. Scroll through the video to the section between 2 mins and 2:30 to see how it is done. They soon go back in.....at 2:45 you'll see them at an entrance.

 

[Antipodes]

Actually Rory, when I look again at the video, a few frames look like they've been taken out when the box is banged. That makes sense as you'd need them to bounce around a bit.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Just take the frames out one at a time, giving each side a quick light brush, and pop them in another box. it doesn't take too long and you don't need to do your back in again if you just lift a box with four or five frames in it. Blowers are fine, but the bees really do grip on. I don't use clearer boards for a few reasons, but largely because of the travel issue to apiary sites. Here the bigger producers bang the boxes on a little metal framed table. Have a look at this video and see if that might be an option. It does involve lifting the entire heavy box though. Scroll through the video to the section between 2 mins and 2:30 to see how it is done. They soon go back in.....at 2:45 you'll see them at an entrance.

Banging boxes may be ok with short lugs but when I’ve tried it with nationals I’ve had the lugs break.

 

[Ely]

Just take the frames out one at a time, giving each side a quick light brush, and pop them in another box. it doesn't take too long and you don't need to do your back in again if you just lift a box with four or five frames in it. Blowers are fine, but the bees really do grip on. I don't use clearer boards for a few reasons, but largely because of the travel issue to apiary sites. Here the bigger producers bang the boxes on a little metal framed table. Have a look at this video and see if that might be an option. It does involve lifting the entire heavy box though. Scroll through the video to the section between 2 mins and 2:30 to see how it is done. They soon go back in.....at 2:45 you'll see them at an entrance.

I don't think banging poly boxes is such a good idea. The weight of the frames will make them more likely to split. Ok for wood though.

 

[Antipodes]

Banging boxes may be ok with short lugs but when I’ve tried it with nationals I’ve had the lugs break.

Yes, no doubt. Even with short lugs you've got to be careful with over doing it if the wires are running across the frames (as mine are), as the heavy comb can separate from the top bar.