Maximizing Honey Production: Adding Supers Ahead of Nectar Flow

Depending on your location, you may be one of the fortunate beekeepers adding honey supers by the end of this month. If your area isn't ready yet, don’t worry—your turn is coming! So keep reading… we have a LOT to cover!

Determining when to add honey supers can at times be colony specific. It’s not uncommon for some of your hives to be ready while others are not. Obviously, nature’s provisions are a good indicator and where you should start. Are you seeing the following signs? 

• Nectar-producing plants in bloom
• A healthy population of bees in both the top and bottom boxes
• Frames with 80% drawn comb (virtually no empty frames)
• Visible white wax being built
• Nectar coming in and being stored in your hive

It’s important to remember that bees will not put honey in supers if there are empty frames in their brood nest. Consider feeding up until you add supers to keep their honey stores full, which will inspire them to fill supers when the nectar flow begins.

Any one of the above could indicate it’s time to add honey supers. Another point to consider (as our title implies) is optimizing honey production. On that topic, and borrowing some very good information found in Morris Ostrofsky’s “Managing Honey Bee Population for Greater Honey Yield,” we learn (and have proven to be true) the following:

• Maintain healthy colonies year-round.
• Keep Varroa mites under control.
• Keep young queens (requeen yearly).
• Double deep hives can increase your honey yield when they are at maximum population (60K bees).
• Add supers early to provide space for honey storage and reduce swarming tendencies.
• To maximize your honey production, utilizing drawn-comb foundation in your honey supers can speed up the process exponentially if you have it.
• Remember that bees can collect up to 10 pounds of nectar per day, with each full frame of capped brood requiring three frames for emerging bees—showing the importance of maintaining the space requirements.

Quote: “Ideally re-queening with a mated queen should [be] done at the end of summer or in fall. Introducing a queen in the fall means you do not interrupt brood production in the spring. A less desirable alternative is to re-queen in spring. Spring re-queening has two disadvantages. The first is there is an interruption of brood production at the critical build up period. Secondly early spring queens are usually not as well mated as fall queens.”

Note: Not all beekeepers agree with this strategy. We’ve done both spring and fall requeening, and it is our opinion that fall requeening can increase honey yield. Having said this, good beekeepers using well-managed hives can requeen and split early and still have a decent honey crop.

Setting Expectations

• Each medium super holds 35–60 pounds of honey; a deep super holds 60–90 pounds.
• Honey production isn’t likely to occur in a new hive’s first year.
• Beekeeper experience and colony health significantly impact success. This is an understatement. The more experienced we became, the more honey our bees made because our bees are in much better shape than they were when we were novices.
• Avoid excessive supering, as too much space can slow colony development and increase pest risks. Maybe, just maybe, a young Blake Shook (below) was a bit too overzealous… or just kidding around—what do you think?

Methods of Supering

Bees in Langstroth hives have several options. Common methods of supering include:

• Top supering: This is the most common method. It is easier on the back as supers are added on top of the brood nest and, as they fill, the next empty is added on top of the last one added.
• Bottom supering (aka under supering): Supers are added on top of the brood nest except, as the first one fills, the next one gets added under the full super. This method produces pristine comb and is ideal for cut-comb honey because the bees don't have to travel through capped honey to reach the new super.

Note: Queen excluders are often used to prevent egg-laying in honey supers. Not all beekeepers use them because they can slow down the honey-storing process. To combat this, some beekeepers have opted to create a top entrance to enable the bees to bypass the queen excluder and fly directly into the honey super. Some studies show that this increases honey yield.

Frame Spacing and Alignment

• Start with 10 frames tightly packed and centered to encourage fast comb drawing.
• Once drawn, switch to nine frames and use frame spacers to evenly space for deeper comb and easier extraction.
• Mismatched frame numbers can lead to brace-comb formation. To explain, when you add a super or brood box, for that matter, if the frames in one box aren’t aligned with those in the next box, the bees will build cross comb or brace comb.

The Super Frame Shuffle

Bees tend to fill center frames first, leading to uneven comb. To encourage even filling, shuffle outer frames toward the center periodically.

Queen Excluders and Their Impact

Some studies regarding upper entrances in honey supers using a queen excluder have concluded that this method can encourage the bees to store 25% more honey. It’s also reported that this method prevents backfilling of the brood nest, thereby preventing swarming. The downside is that, if you’re not using a queen excluder, the queen may lay eggs in the honey super. With these purported benefits, it’s certainly worth exploring! Shameless product plug: Have you seen the Guardian Upper Entrance? This can help stop small hive beetles from entering those upper entrances if you choose to have them. 

Adding Supers with Undrawn Foundation 

Adding supers with new foundation frames can initially cause a lag in honey production. Here are some tips to overcome the setbacks:

• Hold off on adding a queen excluder initially.
• Feed bees until wax is drawn on three or four frames.
• Once drawn, add the queen excluder and stop feeding.

When to Add More Supers

It’s not unheard of to add two honey supers at once. The downside of this is that it adds a lot of empty space that the bees have to defend and work with. There’s logic in the method of adding only one at a time in that the bees are more likely to complete one super before you give them the next. Sticking with the 80%-full theory is generally the best approach.

Stop adding supers by mid-June in the southern states. Most all nectar flows are over by the third week of June; therefore, any additional boxes most likely won’t be filled. You want to use this time to encourage the bees to cap what they’ve already pulled in. For beekeepers who don’t experience a nectar flow until April or even May, react accordingly. Never add supers within a couple of weeks of the flow’s end.

Tip: When adding additional supers (whether top or bottom supering), consider checkerboarding. This method will encourage more fully drawn comb and capped honey in the long run. Note: We run 9 frame brood boxes so cross comb isn't an issue with running 9 frames in honey supers. 

Supering Is Not a Contest! 

Work within the natural rhythms of your bees. 

By following these principles, you can optimize honey production while maintaining healthy and thriving colonies in your beeyard.

One more thing! Are your previously stored frames stored with Para-Moth? If yes, it will be time to take them out of storage to air within the next week or two. For frames stored in a freezer, you need to take them out to thaw only a day before installation. 

Let's make some money!... ummm - HONEY!