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Honey super

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Beeswax being scraped off the honeycombs in the honey supers

Ahoney superis a part of acommercialor other managed (such as by a hobbyist)beehivethat is used to collecthoney.The most common variety is the "Illinois" or "medium" super with a depth of 658inches, in the length and width dimensions of aLangstroth hive.

A honey super consists of a box in which 8–10framesare hung.Western honeybeescollect nectar and store the processed nectar inhoneycomb,which they build on the frames. When the honeycomb is full, the bees will reduce the moisture content of the honey to 17-18% moisture content before capping the comb withbeeswax.

Beekeeperswill take the full honey supers and extract the honey. Periods when there is an abundantnectar sourceavailable and bees are quickly bringing back thenectar,are called ahoney flow.During a honey flow, beekeepers may put several honey supers onto a hive so the bees have enough storage space.

Honey supers are removed in the fall when the honey is extracted, and before the hive is winterized, but enough honey is left for the bees to consume during winter.

Langstroth hive dimensions[edit]

Using34inch wood the outside dimensions are 1978"× 1614"× height. In the metric system 25mm wood may be used which makes the outside dimensions 515mm × 425mm × height.[1]

Size or type Inside (1838"× 1458") and height in inches Metric 465 × 375 and height in millimeters Comment
10 frame Comb Honey Super 434 121 Ross Rounds need 412"Super
10 frame Shallow Super 534 146
10 frame Medium depth Illinois Super 658 168
10 frame Large depth Super 758 193
10 frame Deep 958 244

References[edit]

  1. ^"10-frame Langstroth Beehive"(PDF).Beesource.com. 1999. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2009-10-07.Retrieved2008-12-21.

External links[edit]