>At 12:02 PM 5/17/96 CDT, Ray Nabors wrote:
>>     The most productive method of supering is to place the second super on
>>     top of the brood chamber when the first super is half full or half
>>     drawn out. The first super should be full and ready to come off when
>>     the third super is placed over the brood nest. The second super should
>>     be half full by that time. This keeps only two supers on the bees at
>>     all times and encourages them to work. If you have 100 out yards with
>>     25 colonies in each this method would be rediculous so you put on all
>>     three at once. If you are a one apiary beekeeper, this is more often
>>     than not the most productive method.
>>
>The next question is what do you do with the full super you take off?  Most
>hobby beekeepers like myself do not have a permanent extraction area set up.
>If I took off each super as it was filled, even with my 10-15 hives, I would
>have to setup and cleanup at least 3-5 times each summer.  This would make
>for a very mad wife as I extract in my kitchen.  As soon as I finish my
>honey house, this method sounds like it would be worth trying.
>
>Another possible consideration here in La is that the mass of filled supers
>acts as a heat sink to stabilize the hive temp. variations with the
>extremely strong sun and insulate the brood nest.  This way the bees don't
>spend so much time cooling the hive and can perform other tasks.  Is this
valid?
>
Hi Doug,
 
        This heat protection you talk about, can also cause hive collapse.
 
        A sudden increase of any heat, places the bees in stress, also
created excessie use of fresh water, reducing your honey collection and
working ability of your bees, if you do not remove your full supers of
capped honey, your bees become lasy, aggressive and if not remove at least
once a  year will died out or leave your hive, giving a good feed to mice,
cockroachs,etc.
 
        Also if there is a sudden cold change, the insulation becomes a
space to warm up.
Thanks from :
                        [log in to unmask]
                 http://www.eastend.com.au/~goble
            [log in to unmask] ( David Goble )
           American Beach Kangaroo Island South Australia