I live in NW Ohio and currently have one full med super on each hive and after checking tonight I have the second about 3/4 drawn. They have the middle frames full and starting to cap and have drawn comb on all except the last frame on the outside on each side. What my goal is I would like to get the honey off soon enough so that they can put in there own stores, would really like to not have to feed sugar. Would like to be able to wait until the second super is capped, but dont want to wait to long and short the bees on what they need. Being new, the problem is I have no way to predict the fall flow. Feel totally in the dark on knowing what's in and what's out or done. Just curious as to what the norm is on when to pull for my area.
Hi!
If you want them to draw out those outer frames in the super, just move them into the center of that super. Honey frames in the supers don't need to be kept in the same order...not like the brood frames. (They might still not fill 'em, but they might.)
Depending on what kind of blooming you have left, in NW Ohio, you might only get that single capped super...not sure how much nectar flow you've got left, but this map might help. (or ask around for a local bee club for another 15 or 20 opinions ;)
nasa.gov has a good foraging map.
http://honeybeenet.gsfc.nasa.gov/Honeybees/Forage.htm (http://honeybeenet.gsfc.nasa.gov/Honeybees/Forage.htm)
I also understand that the bees will fill their needs in the brood frames before finishing up in the supers. But I'm not sure (4th year beek). Next inspection, heft those brood boxes and get a feel for how much they weigh...90-100 pounds of honey will get a good-sized colony through winter. We hope.
We're in East-Central Minnesota, just south of Minneapolis. Almost everything is done blooming, but we should have one last blast of goldenrod in the next month or so (atchoo!). Alfalfa is still blooming, but the farmers usually get that just before the bloom, to maximize protein in the green hay.
I understand the well meaning fanaticism about not feeding sugar and in some small way it may be beneficial to the bees. However, you speak of honey supers. If you have two deep brood chambers or three mediums, the bees almost certainly have their winter feed requirements already stored there. The supers are by definition surplus honey that can be extracted for your use. It IS NOT a crime or IMMORAL to harvest honey for your own purposes. Make sure the bees have room to store in those supers as long as the bees are not actively robbing. That can easily be determined by smearing some honey laden burr comb on anything in the bee yard. If the bees instantly pile on it, there is nothing better coming in at that time of the day. Take the supers off and weigh the brood boxes and see what you find. I want my double to weigh over 125 pounds. If it does they have adequate stores and I am instantly ready to supplement that if necessary thruout the winter.
Why not wait until fall when all of the honey is capped. If you wait until it is cold enough that the bees have moved down into the brood box, you can pull the supers and determine how much you want to leave for the bees without having to remove the bees from the supers. Down here in Florida it never gets that cold that we can use this trick but you can in Ohio.
Jim
had to go in today as they were getting honey bound. almost 5 gals
If you have two deep hive bodies, I would pull the full super and move capped frames in the 3/4 super to the outside and put the non-capped frames in the middle. That should leave more than enough for the winter and give them empty frames for the fall in the middle where they like to work.