This my first year with bees, installed nucs on 5/14, on medium 8 frame setup.
As of now the stronger of the 2 hives is 6 high with brood in the bottom 3,
last I checked little over a month ago,maybe 6 weeks.The weaker hive is 5 high, brood same as
the first, checked at the same time.Have extracted 1 medium all ready from the
strong hive,none from weak.They say I will need the hives to be 5 high to get
through the winter here.The strong one has the top 2 all most fully capped,should
I extract these 2 and then add the wets back on and would i be able to expect them
to get them drawn back out in time with the fall flow ? And should I check the brood boxes to see if there honey bound? and pull and extract a few frames to make room for winter bees ?
I have been trying to let the bees do there own thing,started out checking on them
once a week,then was told the would let me know if something was wrong just by
watching no need to touch all the time.Will be doing a mite check in the next week and treating
if necessary. Sorry for being long winded
BobMac,
I'm in Michigan here with ya. Too new to know how to answer those questions. A few folks at the local club have pulled honey frames already but most will do the major pulls next month. I'm monitoring my hives now trying to determine how much honey they need to survive before I pull any. Good luck with your question!
Art
Bobmac, I'd offer some help but my location and yours are totally different and I could only guess.
Bob,
I recommend that you find a local bee club and ask some of the more experienced bees. 5 boxes, even 8 frame mediums sounds excessive especially since I would expect you had a fall golden rod in your area.
Jim
My hives are all 8 frame mediums as well....so I would like to also no what the winter box count should be. My hives are plum full of honey and I have extracted 21 frames of honey so far. My 2 weak hives are 5 high and I have one 8 high and another 7 high. Some golden rod is blooming well now but I see other golden rod plants are a ways off. I am thinking the flow could go on for 2 or 3 more weeks......maybe longer. Knapweed is still blooming also. I haven't been into the brood boxes for a long time........ but I am still seeing some big orientation flights from my hives so I think the queen can/hope still have room to lay.
Any honey you want need to go ahead and pull. When goldenrod comes you won't like the smell and taste of the honey. Goldenrod needs to age over winter to calm it down. Goldenrod is a great honey but needs to age to get rid of the smell and harsh taste. Smell of dirty socks and taste sour when fresh. Aged has no smell and smooth taste.
John
8-frame mediums here in central New Hampshire. I find that four boxes are plenty to overwinter. Some of my hives overwinter in two boxes. I just treat them like nucs and make sure they're dry and sheltered from the wind, with a couple winter patties on top. On relatively warm days in the winter I check on them, and if the bees are on the winter patties, I give them more.
I overwinter 5-frame mediums as well. Three of those boxes are sufficient, and four are more than enough.