Date: Wed 8 may 96 0746 edt
From: John Iannuzzi <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Bcc: John Iannuzzi <[log in to unmask]>
 
Subject: Supering  <supering.a>
 
To be read only by abecedarians (S Pennsylvania; Maryland,
District of Columbia and N Virginia).
 
1. Now is the time to place the empty supers on with extract-
ed comb or, if not available, then with plain wiredfoundation
because the honeyflow is imminent--only if the goal is  e x t
r a c t e d  honey.
 
2. This condition occurs only once yearly in these parts when
the black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) and tulip poplar
(Liriodendron tulipifera) are in bloom, normally between 1
may and 1 june (not started yet here!).
 
3. I normally use only nine-frame shallow supers (with
Stoller spacers), three per hive, but for my strongest colony
that has two Ross-Round supers on for circular comb-honey
production.  Note that I do no "bottom supering" (placing
only one super per hive and when it is partly filled, lifting
it and putting an MT super beneath it and so on ad
infinitum--both unnecessary and too labor-intensive, in my
experience).
 
4. Now if I want some cut-comb honey, I use a ten-frame super
with drawn comb but for frame #5 which carries a sheet of
unwired foundation.
 
5. I check my supers every Monday morn (have done this once
so far) for degree of filling and switch supers untouched to
hives that are filling them. (That's why it is important to
have all supers on all hives--ease of manipulation.)
 
6. BTW, the t/p tree is the main source of honey in central
Maryland. B/L, altho it blooms every and furnishes the
superior honey (light and deelishous), is mercurial. A
surplus is harvested only about once every five years. (For
my view on this phenomenon see J Iannuzzi, "Black Locust as a
Honey Plant: An apiculturist for the past 30 consecutive
years discusses the temperamental black locust trees girding
his four-acre spread 15 miles west of Baltimore and 25 miles
north of the White House," (American Bee Journal, May 1990
(1990), 315-317.
 
Jack the Bman
Elllicott City Maryland usa