Honey Super Jargon
by Ruhl Bee on 05/12/13
The hive boxes reserved for surplus honey have several names in North America. For beekeepers planning to extract honey with the help of a spinner, the most commonly used honey box (or honey super) is the Medium Super, also called the Western Super, and sometimes called an Illinois Super. This super is a box of 6 and 5/8" depth. Sometimes people call it a shallow super. While this sounds reasonable, it creates confusion because "Shallow Super" is the name given to the truly shallow box, the 5 and 3/4" super. This shallow box is typically used by beekeepers planning to harvest honey in 4" squares directly from the comb. These squares are often called "cut comb" honey. In other parts of the world different sizes are used. We know quite a few Ukrainian beekeepers who use the 9 and 5/8" deep hive box for honey. These are very heavy when full of honey, and we don't recommend it unless you are built like a Russian weight lifter. In North America, this size is typically reserved for the brood chamber.
