GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUxviii 



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At Borodino, New York. 



WHAT ARE SUPERS AND UPPER STORIES? 



"What is meant by supers'?" 



"In the Standard Dictionary I find that 

 a super is, 1, Above in position; 2, Above 

 in degree or amount." 



"Then when the term as applied to bees 

 it would mean the putting of an extra hive 

 of combs above the hive the bees were al- 

 ready at work in, would it not?" 



"Yes, if no specifications were made. 

 But that would generally be called 'putting 

 on an extra story;' or making a single hive 

 into a two-story one. If another hive were 

 put on, it would be called a three-story 

 hive. 



"Some beekeepers call what you term a 

 two-story hive a liive with a super on; oth- 

 ers talk about supers for extracted honey, 

 and still others about supers of sections, 

 either empty or with baits. Will you please 

 explain this matter so we beginners can un- 

 derstand what you veterans are talking 

 about?" 



"A two-story hive could very properly be 

 called a hive having a super on it for ex- 

 tracted honey. But a super for extracted 

 honey is not always the same depth as the 

 hive proper, for very many of our best 

 apiarists use a much shallower box, although 

 of the same dimensions otherwise, than the 

 hive below. Hence the term 'extracting 

 super' generally means any recej^tacle hold- 

 ing combs, and it may be from one-half to 

 two-thirds of the depth of the hive below. 

 If tliis super is not filled with combs al- 

 ready draAvn out it would probably be call- 

 ed an empty sujier, from which the veter- 

 ans would expect that the frames used in it 

 would either have starters in them or else 

 be filled with comb foundation. However, 

 in this case it would be better to say that 

 a super with frames having starters in 

 them, or a super with frames of founda- 

 tion, was put on top of the brood-chamber. 



"A super of sections is a box, generally 

 of the same dimensions as the hive, except 

 as to depth, filled with sections to hold the 

 comb honey. This super is made a beeivay 

 deej^er than the sections are tall, and in 

 this way one, two, thi-ee, or more supers of 

 sections can be piled ujd above the hive or 

 brood-chamber. A super of empty sections 

 would be understood to mean that the sec- 

 tions had only starters in them. The veter- 

 an might also understand that each section 

 was filled with very thin comb foundation ; 

 but where this is the case, the expression 

 'filled with foundation' is generally used. 

 'Bait sections' are sections in which the bees 



have worked the season previous, drawing 

 out the foundation or building comb there- 

 in, yet not finishing their work to an extent 

 sufficient to make the honey in the section 

 marketable. The honey is removed from 

 these unfinished sections generally, by hav- 

 ing them cleaned out by the bees in the fall. 

 Then one section, filled with this now empty 

 comb, is put in the center of each section 

 super put on at the beginning of the sea- 

 son. This empty comb has a drawing tend- 

 ency, and the bees begin work in the sec- 

 tions much sooner than if only starters or 

 full sheets of foundation were used. 



"When I began keeping bees, forty-three 

 years ago, comb foundation was unknown. 

 Then comb of the worker size of cells was 

 cut into strips about one inch thick, and by 

 means of melted wax was attached to the 

 under side of the top-bars of the frames. 

 These were frames having starters in. For 

 starters for comb honey, only white comb 

 was used, no matter as to the size of the 

 cells; and this was, with melted wax, at- 

 tached to the under side of the tops of the 

 sections. These Avliite combs were cut into 

 triang-ular pieces, the size of each being in 

 proportion to the amount of white comb on 

 hand. With the advent of comb foundation 

 this was used instead of these starters, a 

 strijD of about an inch in width being con- 

 sidered the best for frames, and a trian- 

 gle of about li/'2 inches on each side as be- 

 ing right for the sections. However, of late 

 j'ears there are few beekeepers Avho do not 

 fill the sections nearly full of foundation." 



"You said one section should be used as a 

 bait. What about the exiDression 'supers 

 with baits,' as it is often used ?" 



"It may mean forty supers of sections, 

 each super having one section of drawn 

 comb in it. But it would be more apt to 

 mean that each sujDer had more than one 

 bait section in it. If one bait section has a 

 drawing tendency for the bees, more of 

 them will draw hardei*. The tendency is to 

 draw the bees from the brood-chamber at 

 the beginning of the honey-flow, so that 

 work will not only be begun in the sections 

 sooner, but that the swarming fever need 

 not be contracted, as it almost always is by 

 the massing of the bees in the brood-cham- 

 ber at this time in the season. For this 

 pm-pose four baits are much better than 

 one, and four times four very much better 

 yet. If the entire super can have all the 

 sections full of clean, nicely built combs 

 from the year before, the swarming tend- 

 ency would be verj' largely overcome." ' 



