Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: jdesq on June 06, 2007, 10:40:56 AM

Title: Is my hive to big?
Post by: jdesq on June 06, 2007, 10:40:56 AM
I have one hive that has more bees than I have ever seen before. So far i have 3 large supers and 4 medium supers on it. Should I keep adding or should I split this hive up?
Title: Re: Is my hive to big?
Post by: kgbenson on June 06, 2007, 10:47:54 AM
Keep adding, or harvest and return the wets to be re-filled.  If you split the colony woul will reduce overall honey production.
Title: Re: Is my hive to big?
Post by: Brian D. Bray on June 06, 2007, 07:19:38 PM
You've got a greater honey producer why split it now?  I would harvest some of the honey and put the wet supers back on the hive for the bees to clean up.  You could still several more supers of honey out of them.  Then if you want to split do it after a mid-August harvest and put the wet supers back on the split to feed it up for winter stores.  From mid-August to mid-October you still have time to build up each split with suficient stores to winter over.
Title: Re: Is my hive to big?
Post by: doak on June 06, 2007, 07:26:43 PM
As long as they are storing honey, add-on. If it is getting too high, harvest a couple. My Easter swarm went to 7 high before I took any off. It's back up to 6.
My late March swarm was 3 deep to start, took on 3 more and two of those got harvested and 2 more added.
Those two made more honey, each, than any, each, of my overwintered colonies,
What-ever.
doak