I am going to order my honey supers today or tomorrow. What size should I get. I am 31 and I regularly lift 50- 100 pounds and carry it short distances for my work so I am not worried about the weight of a box but what is a reasonable size to start with?
You won't always be young and strong. I'm 44 with a shoulder injury and an expanding waist line LOL.
A 10 frame medium full of honey is all I care to handle and honestly wish I had gotten 8 frame equipment.
Average is overrated
I'm running all 10 frame mediums. If I was stating over I would run 8 frame mediums.
Jim
I am 72 and running 8 frame half depth
Mick
Are you running 10 frame or 8 frame equipment? I built 8 8 frame medium box hives this winter to try out this year. They haven't built up enough for honey yet but I do like the narrower boxes. Two frames may not seem like a lot of difference but when they are a foot away from your body it is noticeable. With my 10 frame equipment I have both medium and shallow boxes for honey supers. I may be in the minority but, I kinda like the shallows better than the mediums. To me they are easier to handle and I can put six shallow frames in my extractor compared to three mediums.
first are you running 8 or 10 frame equipment. If 10 you can run deep mediums or shallow honey supers. I use medium and shallow, I am nearly 65 and have some back problems. The older beek that I got my start from used all shallow honey supers and I did for a few years.
Good luck to you and your bees whatever you decide to use.
Joe D
Sorry for putting about the same thing coa, I like the shallows also, my extractor will do 6 shallow or 6 mediums.
I'm 69 and running 9 frames in a 10 frame full deep. Finishing off the portable crane to lift the boxes onto a cart to to take them to my flying fox to winch them 50 meters up to the house where it will terminate at the door to the extraction room. - work smarter not harder.
Quote from: bwallace23350 on May 28, 2016, 04:39:08 PM
I am 31 and I regularly lift 50- 100 pounds and carry it short distances for my work so I am not worried about the weight of a box
Should you be lucky enough to grow old you will have to adjust your plan. You can grow muscle at any age. What doesn't work so well as you get older is the replacement of the joint tissue.
I run all 8 frame mediums and when they are full of honey I think they are too heavy. Thank God I am only dealing with 6 or 8 heavy ones.
I am running 10 frame deeps and got 10 frame mediums for my honey supers. I am really hoping to get honey this year but if I do not there is always next year.
Would have been nice to stick with all mediums. Everything would fit. How many hives do you have?
Just two. They are my first two hives so I am just hoping this year not to kill them.
I switched to all mediums a few years ago and Ive never regretted it. Much easier to handle and the bees winter over in 3 just fine.
I really like the fact that I can pull a frame out of any box in any hive for use in another if needed. Brushy Mountain sells some nice medium Nucs that I'm using this year for splits so that's not a problem either.
All of my deep boxes are being converted into swarm traps or cut down to mediums.
Quote from: bwallace23350 on May 29, 2016, 09:14:32 AM
I am really hoping to get honey this year but if I do not there is always next year.
When you are just starting out you don't have any resources like drawn comb so the hives are slower to expand and they also consume honey to draw the comb. You could have a banner year where your bees store enough for you and them but that is a lot of hoping. It is better to leave them too much the first year then to take a shade more than they need otherwise you start all over again next year. Supers are usually not static. The bees store in them when there is plenty of nectar and consume it when there isn't. It is hard to predict that cycle in the first year.
Quote from: bwallace23350 on May 29, 2016, 01:08:38 PM
Just two. They are my first two hives so I am just hoping this year not to kill them.
The reason I asked how may is what was stated by others . Change over now or next year.... while you have just a few deeps. And I too was going to suggest turn the deeps into swarm traps. They are suppose to be the ideal capacity for traps. Just put medium frames in the traps. The bees will not care.
Draw back...still hard in some places to find medium nucs w bees if you want to buy any..
Quote from: Acebird on May 29, 2016, 01:44:36 PM
Quote from: bwallace23350 on May 29, 2016, 09:14:32 AM
I am really hoping to get honey this year but if I do not there is always next year.
When you are just starting out you don't have any resources like drawn comb so the hives are slower to expand and they also consume honey to draw the comb. You could have a banner year where your bees store enough for you and them but that is a lot of hoping. It is better to leave them too much the first year then to take a shade more than they need otherwise you start all over again next year. Supers are usually not static. The bees store in them when there is plenty of nectar and consume it when there isn't. It is hard to predict that cycle in the first year.
This is the part that isn't made clear to us new beeks when we're starting. Drawn comb is so important for honey harvest. And it takes so long for the girls to draw foundation. So unless you feed, feed, feed your little nuc and keep them working on comb for next year, next year's flow will be half over before they get a box drawn. *sigh*
To the OP, I'm 38 and wear a brown uniform during the day, so lifting and carrying is no prob. The issue with bee boxes is that you have to hold them out perpendicular to the ground and carefully put them down on a hive of bees. So if you can afford the extra gear for the same box volume, it's probably worth it to go smaller. I'm a second -year, and have allowed these guys to talk me into all mediums. A medium box full of honey held out perpendicular is heavy.
Quote from: sc-bee on May 29, 2016, 02:35:38 PM
Draw back...still hard in some places to find medium nucs w bees if you want to buy any..
Put the 5 deep frames in two medium boxes and the bees still won't care.
I just may switch to all mediums next year. Catching swarms sounds fun and a good way to grow my hives.
Quote from: yes2matt on May 29, 2016, 02:52:41 PM
A medium box full of honey held out perpendicular is heavy.
That is why you go 8 frame but the cost is more for beespace. I run deeps and shallows. Always just one deep and shallows until this year. Ended up with a 10 frame deep of honey I latched onto a few days ago. I am still paying the price today :cry:
When should I harvest the honey this year if I even have anything year?
We run 10 frame deeps for brood and supers - easy to switch frames over between hives and supers etc, and less material needed for supers and frames (will have less boxes on a hive as they are larger).
They can get very heavy but I am normally beekeeping with a mate so it isn't a big deal
remember also that in the honey supers you don't need to put all the frames in if you don't want to. The space there will not be the problem it is in the brood box once they are started straight. Fatter honey combs are nice for extraction.
If I were starting over I would have gone with mediums all the way through. I am happy to have shallows for honey though. Those suckers are heavy and there is a difference between carrying 50 pounds of feed and wrangling 50 pound honey supers and contending with bees, etc.
Quote from: Acebird on May 29, 2016, 03:00:33 PM
Quote from: sc-bee on May 29, 2016, 02:35:38 PM
Draw back...still hard in some places to find medium nucs w bees if you want to buy any..
Put the 5 deep frames in two medium boxes and the bees still won't care.
Talking about future bees.....yes it can be done but most want the frames that fit the equipment they have...put bees in a 5gal pail...they care not, but not an easy clean up :wink:
Quote from: bwallace23350 on May 29, 2016, 05:19:37 PM
When should I harvest the honey this year if I even have anything year?
There is no set date. After they have filled the boxes that they are going to overwinter in(2 deeps?), you can pull any in the super once they cap it. I usually harvest once in the middle of July and then again in August. In August is when I make sure to leave them enough for winter. Your time may be different due to your location.
Quote from: bwallace23350 on May 29, 2016, 05:19:37 PM
When should I harvest the honey this year if I even have anything year?
You should speak with a few people in your area so you know what to do after you harvest or know what to expect. I pull boxes off in the fall and leave what I think is enough to get to spring. I don't extract all the frames so I have them and the wet supers to build up in the spring. Some people will pull all the supers and then cram the hive full of syrup to overwinter on. What you do will dictate what you have to do afterwards.
I'm the next county above bwallace. I'm in the process of making my second pull of the year. Just remember, here in a couple of weeks they'll be little out there for them so don't create a starve out. I rob and feed later just for the warm and fuzzy.
I just checked my bees. On the top deep 10 frame I had 6 frames drawn out but only the middle 3 looked of brood or honey. The other was pretty much just drawn comb. On the other one it was about 3 frames drawn out with one full. So it might be a while before I put any supers on but I am getting ready.
Listen to what GSF just posted. If you are just a couple of weeks from when your nectar source dries up you would be foolish to take any. You may be buying sugar.
I will. I am hoping my acre and half garden might help out on the drought though. About half of it is wildflowers
Quote from: bwallace23350 on May 31, 2016, 07:41:01 PM
I will. I am hoping my acre and half garden might help out on the drought though. About half of it is wildflowers
A honey bee makes 1/12 a teaspoon of honey in her entire life. Imagine how many flowers she visited for that 1/12 teaspoon. So 1/2 acres of wildflowers ain't a drop in a bucket in the scheme of things. It just makes the keeper feel good :wink: Don't count on the flower garden helping much.
Thanks
I pull honey off all year round but always leave them with 9 full frames or equivalent this time of year (our winter) - that should last them 12 months if need be but certainly 2-3 months through the quietest time of year. Our nights are down to 13-14*C at the moment days are 24-6*C but periodic rain. even so they are still pulling honey as you can smell it on the air. Will need to take a look when the weather is fine but predictions are rain for the next 7-10days
Sc-bee you have just challenged me to make a huge summer wildflower garden for my bees so they will not starve next year.
Investigate before you plant. Some of the best sources are kind of ugly for a flower garden, but buckwheat and sunflowers are usually good late plants. find stuff that bees use, because they don't use every kind of flower and try to time bloom for dry spell. Every little bit helps.
I am going to expand the wild flower garden and I will inter space with perennial flowering perennials. I am also pumped to discover that the tallow tree is a big honey flow tree. I have some around my place and until now hated them. But if they can give me a good flow and space it out over 2 months I will be ok with them.