When to take off your supers...

[JoshK]

I've looked and looked on the board for a topic like this, and haven't found one.  I fully expect somebody to come up with a link.  :D

Let's say you put your first super on in May (or whenever).  It starts filling up, so you add another.  Soon they are drawing out the second; eventually the first one is filled completely and they begin filling the second.  Let's say for the sake of argument that the first super is wall-to-wall, completely capped over.  Let's also assume your second deep is stocked generously.

Here's my question: what is wrong with taking that first, completely full super off right away?  I see people with four, five, six supers above their hive.  If they've got that many, some of those have got to be good and full - yet they leave them on.  What is the actual material advantage of doing this?  Is it really just a preferential thing - and if so, what's the basis for the preference?  Does leaving the honey on affect the bees' work or attitude (relatively speaking) somehow?

[Joseph Clemens]

Many beekeepers extract their honey. Some even rent or borrow the equipment to do this. Consider cleaning and setting up the equipment to extract, then cleaning it up afterwards. How you harvest can be influenced by how often you wish to perform the cleaning and setting up of the equipment. As well as storage of extracted or full supers, empties can be returned to the hives to be cleaned up and even to be refilled by the bees if the flow continues.

Once honey is capped it can be harvested. From my perspective, leaving them on is just a convenience if you plan to do all your extracting at once or break it up over the season.

[Finsky]

Here's my question: what is wrong with taking that first, completely full super off right away?  I see people with four, five, six supers above their hive.  If they've got that many, some of those have got to be good and full - yet they leave them on.  

If you look my hives here,  6-7 boxes tower, I have a goal get them high.

Big hive gathers better honey. When I take  my hives to rape field, a little hive will be full during one week and it swarms.

When I have 3 brood deeps and 3-4 supers, hive will consist even 200 lbs honey, normally 150 lbs.

System is:

1) The lowest for pollen and reservoir for nectar
2-3) for brood
4-5) for open nectar
6-8 ) for ripe capped honey.

If I have small hives 3-4 boxes, I put two hives together or I make 2 from 3 week.

There must be really good young queens if i want to get so big hives.

Here is a hive which actually was 2 hives  3 weeks earlier. I move it to fireweed pastures. And as you see, bees are hanging outside. It means that hive is full of honey (from canola).
http://bees.freesuperhost.com/yabbfiles/Attachments/Kuva_049.jpg

Here I have 3 hives ready to harvest fireweed.

One hive has 2 boxes more but I took 2 boxes away and gived to other hives to even the capasity of hives.
http://bees.freesuperhost.com/yabbfiles/Attachments/valmis3.jpg


At winter these will be in two boxes. Brood boxes are insulated styrofoam.

If I have too few room in the hive, hive will swar and I loose the yield

[Michael Bush]

You can pull them anytime the combs are capped.  I tend to not want to mess up the kitchen more than once and I don't have a good place to store them, so I leave them on the hives until I'm ready to extract.  The bees will protect them from ants and wax moths.  Once I pull them, it becomes my job.  :)