Hi there all you beekeepers.

I have a new topic for you guys. This is something that i've been trying to
figure out since i became a beekeeper:

Let's say your hives have a brood chamber of two boxes. When the spring
nectar flow starts, you put on a super. When the bees have filled the first
super partially, it's time for the second super. Here comes my question: do
you put the second super on top of the first one or under it? I have asked
many experienced beekeepers about this. It seems that the more colonies you
have, the more likely you are to be in favor of putting the second super on
top. This makes sense if you think about lifting off a hundred half filled
supers to put a new one under it.

Most books, however, say always put the second super under the first,
because bees always store honey as far up in the hive as they can. The books
usually also say that if you do it the other way around, the bees will think
that they're congested and they will swarm because of this. A professional
beekeeper i talked to last summer said the bees are smart enough to figure
out that there's more room in the new box on top. I did some very
unscientific tests myself and really couldn't tell the difference.

So what do you guys say? Does it matter how you do it? Would the rule differ
if the supers don't have drawn comb?

/Mats Andersson, Stockholm Sweden