# How many supers do you keep on each colony?



## Adrian Quiney WI (Sep 14, 2007)

I understand that some commercial guys pull honey several times during the flow, and I was wondering how that worked? How many supers are kept on each colony, and are they taken away and returned or replaced with empties at the time of pulling? 
Any info would be interesting. Thanks. I am trying to work out how many medium or deep supers I should have in hand for each colony.


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## gregstahlman (Oct 7, 2009)

we have both mediums and deeps for honey supers. in mid june we quickly put on either 3 mediums or 2 deeps, just depends which area we are going to for the day. we run deeps for honey in one area and mediums in another to keep things simple. after we are done with the first round of supering we come back and super accordingly. we will add another 3-4 mediums or 2-3 more deeps, just depends how good the bloom looks and the condition of the hives. when we pull honey (if conditions are still favorable) we usually put 2 empty deeps until about late august and cross our fingers. lol had some hives this year that made close to 6 deeps above the double deep. i guess to answer your question, we try to have 6 mediums or 4-5 deeps above the double deep. looking to wrap up our last day of pulling honey tomorrow and then it's time to fire up the blowers and blow the hives down to a single. YAY i can't wait


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## Merlyn Votaw (Jun 23, 2008)

What is your major crop where you are.With that many supers what ever it is it must be good.


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

I do a double pull with a clean up pull just before shaking the bees. I run in singles so I place 2 super above excluder at time of package shaking. Because I run in singles my avg. super per hive is 5-6 mediums. For this year was not enough, and hard to keep up in great crop years (great problem). Just need to extract faster, and get the boxes back on.:thumbsup:


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

We figure 5 deeps per hive. One for the brood chamber, a max of 3 as supers, and one in the shop to be emptied and returned. Since the number in the shop is less than the number of hives, there are a few extra in case of surprises, damage, scheduling,or extractor malfunctions.

Roland


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