From Hive to Home: Making and Harvesting Honey - Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper - page 69

their larvae. Instead, you place a third box, called a shallow super , on top of the hive
body,forthebeestofillupwithexcesshoney.Youcanthenharvestthehoneyfromthis
extra space without disturbing the main hive body. This box is called shallow because
it is shallower in height than the hive body where the queen lays her eggs and brood is
raised,and super becauseitgoesontop,or superior, tothedeepboxes.Theseboxesare
also sometimes referred to as honey supers .
Inside a shallow super there are nine frames, instead of the typical ten found in the
deeps. Each frame is 5⅜ inches deep and holds a piece of beeswax foundation similar
to the frames inside the hive body. Having nine frames, rather than ten, gives the bees
more space in between the frames to build up the wax cells, allowing them to build the
cells to a maximum depth.
To prevent the queen from walking up to the honey shallow to lay her eggs, there
is a piece of equipment called a queen excluder . This flat wooden frame has a grid in
the center that acts like a fence; it has just enough space for the smaller worker bees to
pass through and carry their nectar for honey making. The chubbier drones will not fit
through the queen excluder, either. If you choose to use a queen excluder, place it on
top of the two brood chambers with the shallow super on top. You put your hive's inner
cover and outer cover over the shallow, just as you would normally put them over the
hive to close it. From the outside, your hive will look a bit taller with these accessories.
Placing these shallow supers on your hive at the appropriate time is familiarly called
supering . The best time to put a honey shallow on your hives is early spring, which
in my area, the Northeast, is considered May or June, when the first flowers are pop-
ping up and the nectar flow is in full swing. The earlier you place your shallows on
yourhives,thebetterchanceyouhaveofgettingthoseworkerstodrawoutthebeeswax
foundationandfillthecellswithhoney.Earlysuperinggivesyourcolonyplentyoftime
to complete all their honey-making duties in time for your honey harvest in the fall.
By September, if you had a good summer and the weather cooperated, the bees will
have filled all nine frames inside the shallow with honey. If the shallow becomes full
or looks crowded, and your bees are still bringing in nectar, it is time to add another
shallow on top of the stack. The ideal productive honey season is one where your hive
has a large, healthy population of foraging worker bees. This part depends upon your
queen and her ability to reproduce. The weather also plays a role in honey production.
Apleasantlywarmseasonwithoccasionalrainfallisamicabletopollenproduction.The
bees also need to have continuously blooming nectar-bearing flowers to forage on. A
summer that is too humid makes the flowers wilt and dry up the nectar, and one too
rainy will wash away the pollen.
Once the worker bees have completely filled each hexagonal cell with honey and
placedawaxcapoverit,youshouldremovethehoney-filledframesfromtheshallows.