A honey super is a part of a commercial

Commercial agriculture

Commercial Agriculture refers to a process of large-scale production of crops for sale, intended for widespread distribution to wholesalers or retail outlets. In commercial farming crops such as wheat, maize, tea, coffee, sugarcane, cashew, rubber, banana, cotton are harvested and sold into world...

 beehive

Beehive (beekeeping)

A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus Apis live and raise their young. Natural beehives are naturally occurring structures occupied by honeybee colonies, while domesticated honeybees live in man-made beehives, often in an apiary. These man-made...

 that is used to collect honey

Honey

Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...

. The most common variety is the super with a depth of 6⅝ inches in the length and width dimensions of a Langstroth hive

Langstroth hive

The Langstroth bee hive, patented in October 1852, is the standard beehive used in many parts of the world for beekeeping. The advantage of this hive is that the bees build honeycomb into frames, which can be moved with ease. The frames are designed to prevent bees from attaching honeycombs where...

.

Honey supers may contain 8-10 frames

Frame (beehive)

A frame in a beehive is the structural element that holds the honeycomb or brood comb within the hive body . The frame is a key part of the modern "movable" hive since it can be removed in order to inspect the bees for disease or to extract the excess honey.-History:One of first beehive frames was...

. Western honeybees collect nectar and store the processed nectar in the honeycomb

Honeycomb

A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal waxcells built by honey bees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen.Beekeepers may remove the entire honeycomb to harvest honey...

 of the frames. When the honeycomb is full, the bees will cap the comb with beeswax

Beeswax

Beeswax is a natural wax produced in the bee hive of honey bees of the genus Apis. It is mainly esters of fatty acids and various long chain alcohols...

.

Beekeepers

Beekeeping

Beekeeping is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, by humans. A beekeeper keeps bees in order to collect honey and other products of the hive , to pollinate crops, or to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers...

 will take the full honey supers and extract the honey. Periods when there is an abundant nectar source

Nectar source

A nectar source is a flowering plant that produces nectar as part of its reproductive strategy. These plants create nectar, which attract pollinating insects and sometimes other animals such as birds....

 available and bees are quickly bringing back the nectar, are called a honey flow

Honey flow

Honey flow is a term used by beekeepers indicating that one or more major nectar sources are in bloom and the weather is favorable for bees to fly and collect the nectar in abundance....

. During a honey flow, beekeepers may put several honey supers onto a hive so the bees have enough storage space.

Honey supers are removed in the fall when the honey is extracted and before the hive is winterized.

Langstroth hive dimensions

Using ¾ inch wood the outside dimensions are 19⅞" × 16¼" × height. In the metric system 25mm wood may be used which makes the outside dimensions 515mm × 425mm × height.

Size or type	Inside (18⅜" × 14⅝") and height in inches	Metric 465 × 375 and height in millimeter	Comment
10 frame Comb Honey Super	4¾	121	Ross Rounds need 4½" Super
10 frame Shallow Super	5¾	146
10 frame Medium depth Illinois Super	6⅝	168
10 frame Deep	9⅝	244