Hi again,
It is coming close to the end of my first season and am wondering what order to do things in.
Our nights are now cooler, dropping to 16C/60F and this means we probably have 3 weeks until a cool snap and probably 4 or 5 weeks until our first frost. We still have quite a few wildflowers blooming. The loosestrife we had one month ago is now dead but new patches are now starting up along side the old ones as well as the swampy areas are still blooming. Goldenrod is out but I don't see bees on it.
Even though we still have blooms, I can see that the season is now slowing down.
The bees are still busy though.
I am aiming to leave the bees with a full super of honey above the broodbox for winter. I currently have 2 hives each with 3 full sized boxes. The bees are working on the 3rd level. I don't know if they will fill this level. We will see.
At some point in the next 2 weeks I'd like to extract some honey, but how do you know how much to take when you want to make sure they have enough for winter?
Or should I wait until until the very end of the season and then do everything at once and reduce the hives to 2 boxes for winter and take the excess.
Or do I extract what I deem reasonable now and then wait and see how much more they make?
Also if goldenrod honey doesn't taste good I will want to leave that for them for their winter.
Down in VA (USA) I leave 60-70 lbs. of honey for the bees. If an early cold snap comes, I sometimes put sugar on newspaper in the weak haves (on bars 1-3 and 8-10) as close to the cluster as possible. I also put pink insulation on the outside of the boxes (entrance open) and I have a wind break of hay bails. In spring there is usually always honey in the outer frames and still some above the cluster. Bee loss is acceptable given the life span of the bees.
My suggestion is never leave a half box of honey in the hive above the cluster, it is only more room the bees will have to heat or lose. Take the honey out for yourself or since you only have weeks left, put the box about 100 feet from your hive (off the ground) and let the bees recover it.
As for aged honey, they have found eatable honey in tombs over 2000 years old. Since you are in a moist area, I suggest freezing the frames (to kill anything in the wax) before you store them. -Mike
I do not know in your area but in Eastern MA, i try to leave 50-80 lbs (i am on the upper side of local recommandation w/ 50 lbs). Ask local beekeepers what is standard practice. Remove extra, expecially the frames that are not full and leave full frames for them as you appraoch the end of season. You can shuffle these from super to hive bodies if needed to make a solid food store. Extract now.
Another practice in olden times was to extract in mid-spring what was left at end of winter (leaving for spring expansion) and leaving them go with full season to do their business in all security) It makes sense, robbing before reserve come on strong rather than before the long dearth times...