Top Supering

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Top Supering

In top supering, the most common method of supering, a super is placed on top of the previous one.

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Top Supering (Runtime 2:01)

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How It Works

Through the winter, bees move to the top of the hive, leaving empty boxes below. In the spring, reverse the hive by placing the brood at the bottom of the stack, leaving the queen with abundant room in which to lay eggs.

A super or two (if the colony is strong) can now be added to the hive bodies making up the brood nest. Once each super is 1/2–2/3 full, add another super. In the new super above the ones that are at least partially filled with honey, place drawn combs with honey or frames of open nectar, especially if the super contains only foundation. This will attract bees to the top.

Continue adding supers as bees fill them up with nectar, until you can harvest honey.

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Advantage of Top Supering

  • It's easier!

Top supering requires less work, since placing or removing the topmost box is easy and it only requires you to look into the top of the hive to check if more supers are needed.

Disadvantages of Top Supering

  • Delays honey harvest - It takes bees a long time to move up, so honey harvesting may be delayed.
  • Darkens honey cells - Bees' movement up and down the supers tends to darken newly capped honey cells.
  • Can lead to crowding and possibly swarming - Methods of encouraging bees to move up may not work, crowding the brood nest below. This could cause the colony to swarm.

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Bee doctor

Bee doctor

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