Ask a Master Beekeeper Header - June 2020

Many readers wanted to know how to get bees to draw out supers as fast as possible.

When it’s time to add a new box, the logical place for it is on top of the one below. This is true when your hive is getting established and building out its critical brood nest area. When the bees have substantially drawn out 80% of a box, it’s time to add another one to keep the process moving forward.

Once the brood nest area is fully drawn, then you can consider stopping your feeding and adding a honey super to see if the bees will make a little honey you can harvest.

Super-up in your second year

At the start of your second season, when the dandelions bloom, it’s time to put your super back on the hive, whether it is drawn out, or not. This year, without the need to devote a lot of nectar and honey resources to making the brood combs, you can expect to harvest some honey. Of course, if the honey super wasn’t fully drawn the previous year, some energy (i.e. nectar resources) will need to be “spent” getting that comb drawn, but compared to establishing a brood nest, this will be a modest loss.

On a strong hive, in most good years, the early summer flow will quickly fill the first super, so another will be needed soon after. If you have enough boxes of drawn comb, it’s fine to just add two or three boxes at once. With boxes of undrawn comb, however, it’s best to add them on an as-needed basis. So put the first one on, and once it’s 80% being worked on, add another, and so on.

Where to place the additional supers when the first one is nearly filled

The question of where to place the second box is an important one. You could just set it on top, but you will jumpstart the comb-drawing in the new box if you put it below the previous top box. This is called undersupering, and it seems to galvanize the bees into action to get those frames drawn and filled very quickly. It’s almost as if the sudden appearance of undrawn frames within the hive offends the bees’ sense of a proper hive arrangement and they set about to fix it immediately. But a box set on top of an existing super may languish out of their attention for a while. Of course, putting a box-sized hole in the middle of the hive should only be done when the air temperatures are warm and settled, but that’s exactly when the need for it arises.

The only downside is that you have to lift off the filled upper box(es), to put another one below it. If you have plenty of already-drawn comb, it may not be worth the trouble. But if you, like many beekeepers, are perennially in need of new comb, then undersupering is the way to get it made. Once a super is nearly filled, keep adding another one underneath it until your main flow slacks off.

A hive after undersupering

Managing supers over the summer

Once the pace of drawing and filling supers slows, you know the peak of the early flow has passed. You can go back in and re-assess whether you have enough honey for an early harvest, and then, if needed, reduce the number of supers on the hive to match the expected flow from mid-summer onward. In areas where a surplus fall flow is expected, you may need to add additional supers for that. But early-summer honey is especially prized for its delicate taste and light color. You may be able to get two “varieties” of honey from your hives in the same location. Early harvest may also allow you to maintain fewer supers, and protect the crop from robbing or small hive beetles over the summer.

Either way, undersupering gives you a way to get more drawn comb made at a time when the bees are extra-eager to draw and fill it for you. If you’ve always just plunked an undrawn box down on top, try undersupering this year. You may be very pleased with the results.