When is it too late to remove the SUPERS???

[TapStoneBees]

Here we are officially in the middle of September and the weather is WARM.

87 today, and I was wondering after this mornings debacle, I wonder is it too late to remove the supers.

I am astounded by the amount of bees and activity present at the hive.  I did just go and look and there is a flurry of bees bringing in such huge volumes of ORANGE and YELLOW Pollen, it is amazing.  I still have 3 supers above the brood chambers with no Queen Excluder and wonder, what do you all think.

I know it is supposed to start cooling down this weekend back to the low 70's or upper 6o's, what do you all think.  And as far as wintering.... I am not too sure that I understand the process of combining with newspaper, and what is supposed to be achieved by doing this.  Seems like if there are queens in both boxes, someone will have to die, once the items are  combined.  Please and explanation of the reason one does this would be appreciated.  Sometimes simple logic is confusing.

As always thank you for the time and attention.


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[Scadsobees]

You can take off as much as you want whenever you want, as long as you leave at least 80 - 120 lbs  (depending on your winters, might want to lean toward the higher).  A warm day helps with extraction.

Or you can take it all off if you are willing to feed them that much 2:1 syrup.

[Brian D. Bray]

The warmer the temperature to faster the honey flow.  The ability to dedicate a room to extracting where the mean temperature can be maintained in the mid 80's is advisable if possible.  

I've always opperated on the philosophy that leaving honey stores on the hive is more advantageous than feeding the bees.  I was taught that feeding bees going into the winter was due to either greed (excess harvest) on the part of the beekeeper or poor hive management.

I still see it that way.  I realize that for a sideliner or a commercial beekeeper that is debateable but for the hobbist every effort should be made to avoid the necessity of feeding the bees.