Too Ambitious?

[Pond Creek Farm]

I checked my strongest hive today (which isn't terribly strong).  This hive has two deeps with HOney super cell on the bottom and pf-100 on top.  The top has seven frames of honey and brood.  The bottom has only two frames of brood, and five more with honey across the top in a crescent shape.  I saw capped and uncapped brood so I have a high confidence that I have a queen.  I went ahead and put a medium super ( Starter strips of wax) on since I had it with me, and because I really want to have at least a couple of frames from the yard this year.  Am I too ambitious in my hopes?  More importantly, is my ambition promoting the bees to fill my super at the expense of their winter stores?

[Brian D. Bray]

I checked my strongest hive today (which isn't terribly strong).  This hive has two deeps with HOney super cell on the bottom and pf-100 on top.  The top has seven frames of honey and brood.  The bottom has only two frames of brood, and five more with honey across the top in a crescent shape.  I saw capped and uncapped brood so I have a high confidence that I have a queen.  I went ahead and put a medium super ( Starter strips of wax) on since I had it with me, and because I really want to have at least a couple of frames from the yard this year.  Am I too ambitious in my hopes?  More importantly, is my ambition promoting the bees to fill my super at the expense of their winter stores?

A general rule of thumb in beekeeping is that the 1st year is for the bees, they usually build up enough to fill 2 deeps and fill it with winter stores.  Anything beyond that is pure serendipity and yours for the taking.  But please put you sweat tooth on hold until the bees have sufficient for their needs.  Buying bees every year can get expensive and overwintered bees will give you a honey crop the next year as they already have sufficient made that will meet their needs when filled with honey. 

[Pond Creek Farm]

Thanks for the advice.  I'll leave it all for them.