Outcomes
Learners will understand the concept of bottom supering in beekeeping, its benefits in hive management, and how it contributes to efficient honey storage and colony health.
Key Takeaways
Bottom supering involves placing a new honey super below the existing stack, close to the brood nest.
Bees fill the new super faster during nectar flow, reducing travel and conserving energy.
What is Bottom Supering?
Bottom supering, also known as under supering, involves adding a new honey super underneath the existing stack of boxes, typically above the brood box. This method allows bees to store honey in the newly added super while maintaining their existing honey resources in the upper supers. The concept behind bottom supering is to provide the bees with accessible storage space closer to the brood nest, promoting efficiency and reducing travel strain for the colony.
Benefits of Bottom Supering:
- Accelerated Utilization: When a new super is placed closer to the brood nest, bees tend to populate it with honey stores more quickly. This is particularly advantageous during periods of nectar flow when bees are actively foraging and storing honey.
- Reduced Travel Stain: By positioning the new super below the existing ones, bees don’t need to traverse capped honey to reach the storage area. This reduces the likelihood of staining the cappings on comb honey, which is crucial for comb honey producers.
- Energy Conservation: The proximity of the new super to the brood nest reduces the energy bees expend to travel between boxes, allowing them to allocate more energy to other essential tasks within the colony.
Conclusion:
Bottom supering is a valuable technique that enhances hive efficiency and supports the natural behaviors of honey bees. By providing accessible storage space closer to the brood nest, beekeepers can facilitate the bees’ honey storage process while minimizing unnecessary energy expenditure.