Two winters ago my honey bees died. Last year I did nothing to the hive at all, didn't even clean the inside. This spring my personal life has settled down again and I went to clean the hive and found that it is busy and vibrant - wild bees have moved in. (Well, I'm guessing they're wild.)
This morning I noticed that some had swarmed, so the hive must be doing well. My question is: is it worthwhile adding a super to gather honey? Is there some gotcha that I'm not aware of?
Thanks.
Given they swarmed, it's probably going to be another 48 days before new workers start emerging. The super could probably wait now.
Though the supering can wait a week or 2, the answer to your question is yes you can expect to harvest honey from this hive this year.
>My question is: is it worthwhile adding a super to gather honey?
Sure.
> Is there some gotcha that I'm not aware of?
No.
If there are a lot of bees and a flow, I'd put on a super or two or five.