I wasn't facing this last year, so I just had this occur to me.
assuming things go beautifully and the bees just go to town making honey; also assuming they exceed my ability to supply supers (2 hives 4, maybe 5 6-3/8" 10 framers):
(counting the hive produced from splitting make that number a hard 4 supers - for their personal winter supply)
I want to know if it is possible to remove a single full honey super and replace it with an empty one - to harvest the honey and have the formerly full super(s) standing by to reinstall if needed. the biggest part of the question is - is it ok to swap a full super for an empty super, or will that mess up their stride (they would have to make the wax on starter strips either way).
I would harvest a super and put it back on the same day. That way you don't pass any possible disease on to another hive if you forget which one came from where.
illness hadn't occurred to me, thanks for the warning.
I harvest 3 times a year. I take the full supers off and leave the noncapped ones on. I it does not seem to affect their stride at all especially if there's a flow going on. I get the emptied supers back on the hives the same day. I don't really worry about what hive the super came from. Unless I suspect a disease I assume they are all healthy. I remember what hives had how many and replace the appropriate numbers though.
Ok so I have a question on suppering too. Last year I only put one super on my new swarm hive,(only hive). It did fill it and capped about 8 frames. Now this year the hive is really packed with bees and seems to be doing well. When should I add super and how many? Is there a reason to put more than one at a time on if I can extract the first one and reinstall it? I have enough supers right now to put two on each hive. I am putting two new hives up this year from packages and am trying to catch swarms.
If you have a good nectar flow just getting started It doesn't hurt to put 2 on, if you cannot get back to it within 8 or 10 days go ahead and put 3 on. "if" your colony Is strong.
I have had a colony fill a medium super in 5 days, all capped.
They may rob a little wax but other wise no hurt. If they happen to fill that third one then you have the honey. If it wasn't on, well-----. Giving plenty room when needed is also part of swarm prevention/control:)doak