Super now or wait?

[The Bix]

I have three hives that have wintered well and they look like they could become monster hives.  They overwintered in two 10-frame deeps which are now about 75% full of bees.  They still have six or seven frames of honey left.  And I rotated the hive bodies so that the empty frames are now on top.  We are still about a month away from any serious nectar flow, but I am seeing a lot of pollen going into the hives.

Since I want to maximize the honey production (i.e. prevent swarms), should I give them more room now or should I wait a bit longer?  Oh, and I have plenty of supers with drawn comb too.

Thanks!

[KD4MOJ]

Howdy The Bis:

  I keep my supers on year round (I know most folks don't, but in my area I do). But... you'll read here that reverrsing deeps really don't help much... I went through that myself.  I found out in MY situation that it impedes the hive much.

What I do know from the south, don't wait for the flow, put the supers on in advance. Here in north Florida, beeks have them on before Feb1st.

Always remember this saying from the far east wisemen, "If you ask 10 bee keepers their opinion.. you will get 12 responses!"   :-D

...DOUG
KD4MOJ

[iddee]

And with kd being in SHB area, I think he will have a different response next year. If you don't have SHB in your area, you can get by with what he suggests.

[Brian D. Bray]

Howdy The Bis:

  I keep my supers on year round (I know most folks don't, but in my area I do). But... you'll read here that reverrsing deeps really don't help much... I went through that myself.  I found out in MY situation that it impedes the hive much.

What I do know from the south, don't wait for the flow, put the supers on in advance. Here in north Florida, beeks have them on before Feb1st.

Always remember this saying from the far east wisemen, "If you ask 10 bee keepers their opinion.. you will get 12 responses!"   :-D

...DOUG
KD4MOJ

Only 12 answers?  Ask those same 10 beekeepers the same question a 2nd time and see how many more answers you get!!

[Finski]

.
Wait that queens lay the upper box full of larvae.

[The Bix]

OK, why?

[beee farmer]

Personally I find when I super too early that the bees will sometimes never move back down into the bottom deep so I make sure they have moved back down befre supering.

[Finski]

.
If you give too much space, the heat of brood escape and bees mut destroy part of the brood.

why- I know how it happens. I have looked into brood space. Part of brood frames are very porous.

[The Bix]

Thanks Finski, not as cold here as where you are, but good point and I will wait a while longer.  By the way do you use entrance reducers?  If so, when do you change to the wider setting or pull them off completely?

[Finski]

Thanks Finski, not as cold here as where you are, but good point and I will wait a while longer.  By the way do you use entrance reducers?  If so, when do you change to the wider setting or pull them off completely?

Yes I do. The entrance is now about 1 cm x 10 cm. It is time of apple tree bloming when i start to look, do hives need more space or more space to fly in and oút.

[The Bix]

On a few of the hives, the entrance seems to be constantly clogged with foragers coming and going.  I've been using the smallest entrance, which is much smaller than the dimensions you described on yours.

[JD]

Read Bush Farms site on swarming. Plus you can recycle the old comb out at the same time.

[Finski]

On a few of the hives, the entrance seems to be constantly clogged with foragers coming and going.  I've been using the smallest entrance, which is much smaller than the dimensions you described on yours.

At the main yield the whole main entrance is open. Then I have 2-3 upper entrances.

[The Bix]

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At the main yield the whole main entrance is open. Then I have 2-3 upper entrances.
[/quote]

Of course. Just want to figure out the proper timing on widening out the entrance.