Time to harvest?

[Caribou]

Most people around here harvest between the first and tenth of August.  My plan was to harvest on the fifteenth to give the ladies a few extra days.  With that in mind I went out today to put a QE in one of my hives.  What I found was that the one I wanted to put the excluder in was still drawing comb and would need everything it could gather to get through the winter.  What I will get from that hive this year is the education and pleasure that they provided.  This is my first year so all my equipment is new.

Now to my question.  The other hive has a deep that is loaded with caped honey and a medium that is over 85% full of comb and between 60% and 70% caped honey.  I'm thinking about harvesting now.  This would allow me access to the club's equipment prior to the rush and it would allow the ladies three weeks extra time.  The only other option I see is to add another super.  Any input would be appreciated.

[Acebird]

What is under the deep and the super?  I am thinking you are not going to harvest anything unless you plan on pumping sugar to them.

[Caribou]

I have a deep and a medium of brood and a deep and medium of honey.  There is also honey in the brood box.

[Acebird]

If you have a fall flow in your area you might get away with harvesting the deep and putting the wet frames between the two brood boxes.  The hope is you can go through winter with two deeps and one medium configuration.  You will have to get local information on what to expect for a fall flow.  If you want to take less risk just put on another box and wait and see.

[Caribou]

Thanks Ace, we have a local beek meeting tomorrow night.  I'll decide then.

[Caribou]

Ace, that would actually give me two deeps and two mediums as my current plan is to leave the girls their brood boxes and a full medium of honey. 

It is raining today so I can't do much.  The girls are all home knitting and they don't like visitors.

[Acebird]

My suggestion was in the hope the hive would overwinter in two deeps, maybe one medium on top if brood was still in the top medium.  What should happen is the brood in the top medium would hatch out and they should fill it with honey.  They should consolidate the brood in the two deeps and then back fill the top one depending on if there is a fall flow or not.  That is going by what would happen here.  You have to confirm what will happen in your area from your local beeks.  Personally I don't like hives with different size boxes because you have to do more things right and you have to be more of a manipulator.

[Caribou]

The flow here will diminish here in the next two weeks, give or take.

This is my first year and as such I have made more than a few mistakes.  One of these is my choice of boxes.  From now on I will only buy mediums but I will not chuck the deeps I have already acquired.  Some of the boxes got put on because it was what I had.  As a new beek keeping multiple spares was a lesson that was learned through experience.

Good judgement comes from experience.  Experience comes from poor judgement.

Thank you so much for all your input. 

[Acebird]

I still have the two deeps I got from my beginner kit.  They are used for swarm traps or if the need arises nucs that I might buy that have deep frames.

[Caribou]

Sweet.  I was thinking about setting one of mine up as a swarm trap near my apiary to hopefully catch any of my swarms.  Another I hope to build a bee vacuum around.

[mtnb]

Caribou, I use a couple of deeps and I also bought a few extras. I kinda like the deeps on the bottom but I do also like to have everything exchangeable. I haven't exactly decided. lol I'm going to overwinter with a few deeps this year just to see what happens. I buy my equipment out of Western Bee supply and what I've learned is that a deep box is only about 50 cents more than the mediums. I've been buying the deeps, building them, and then have my husband cut them down into mediums which then gives me a medium box and an extra wedge which I can use as a feeder wedge or for my Mt. Camp, or excess insulation in the winter, etc.

[Acebird]

You can put two wedges together and get a free medium.

[chester5731]

You can put two wedges together and get a free medium.

so would that be called "giving the hive a wedgie"?

[mtnb]

LOL! funny chester!

[Psparr]

LOL! funny chester!

Aren't you supposed to be doing a cut out?

[Dallasbeek]

Yvonne is resting up after all the exertion of catching that swarm and getting her husband to build a bee vac

[Acebird]

You can put two wedges together and get a free medium.

so would that be called "giving the hive a wedgie"?

A double wedgie!  LOL