Booming hive in August - add another brood medium?

tjc1 · August 06, 2015, 11:24:49 AM

One of my hives is really booming - a new package this spring installed in a hive full of drawn comb. They have already produced almost two full supers of honey which I extracted. I now want them to keep the rest of the year's honey for the winter. They are in 3 mediums now, and are pretty full. At this point, being up here in MA, should I put on another medium so they can continue to build? I would think that I would eventually want to reduce them to two mediums for the winter, so is that a bad idea - or is it just a necessary at this point to avoid overcrowding? The hive currently weighs about 125 lbs.

mikecva · August 06, 2015, 12:21:09 PM

I would add the third super but not harvest the honey for myself. This extra honey can be saved and returned to the colony in late winter if needed.
I also run all mediums and my hives, thru winter, are 3 mediums high. Sometimes I need to add food (honey or sugar) in late winter for the girls to make it through. -Mike

cao · August 06, 2015, 06:36:44 PM

In my area, I like to overwinter with at least 3 mediums. Do you have any other hives? I would add another super and if they fill it and you could give it to another hive that needs it. If nothing else you might get some drawn comb out of the deal.

BeeMaster2 · August 07, 2015, 06:51:05 AM

Even down here in north FL I winter with at least 2 mediums. Quite often the second medium was from another hive. I do my last honey removal and leave enough so that I can balance out the hives winter supply.
In your area, I would want at least 3 mediums.
I would not try to store a super until your temperatures drop below zero. The cold will kill any moth or small hive beetles, their larvae and their eggs.
Jim

tjc1 · August 07, 2015, 10:15:16 PM

Hi Jim,

That's interesting - somehow I had figured that in a northern climate I would expect to overwinter with fewer hive bodies than someone down south, thinking that they would contract to a smaller cluster for the winter here.

Ted

BeeMaster2 · August 07, 2015, 10:53:36 PM

Our bees fly at least a couple of days every week but there is not a lot of food during October, November and early December. They use more food than bees not flying.
Northern bees often never leave the hive but use a lot of food for keeping the hive warm.
A lot of commercial bees down here only winter their bees in a single deep but they have to feed them.
Jim

tjc1 · August 09, 2015, 12:21:38 AM

Quote from: sawdstmakr on August 07, 2015, 06:51:05 AM
I would not try to store a super until your temperatures drop below zero. The cold will kill any moth or small hive beetles, their larvae and their eggs.
Jim

Hi Jim - do you mean below freezing, or below zero?

Eric Bosworth · August 09, 2015, 12:30:00 AM

Tjc1 our Canadian friends probably don't know the difference. But it does seem like a good question for somebody in Florida.

BeeMaster2 · August 09, 2015, 01:03:55 AM

Tjc,
I ment below freezing. The colder it is the faster it kills them completely. We put frames in the freezer for 24 hours to kill SHB and wax moth.
Jim

Modenacart · August 11, 2015, 11:18:08 PM

Quote from: sawdstmakr on August 07, 2015, 06:51:05 AM
Even down here in north FL I winter with at least 2 mediums. Quite often the second medium was from another hive. I do my last honey removal and leave enough so that I can balance out the hives winter supply.
In your area, I would want at least 3 mediums.
I would not try to store a super until your temperatures drop below zero. The cold will kill any moth or small hive beetles, their larvae and their eggs.
Jim

the cold is no substitute for pest management. I had a severe wax moth infestation and tried to frees the frames to kill them
But they just ball together and had no problem with it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

biggraham610 · August 12, 2015, 12:23:36 AM

[/quote]the cold is no substitute for pest management. I had a severe wax moth infestation and tried to frees the frames to kill them
But they just ball together and had no problem with it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
[/quote]

You are telling me that wax moth larvae lived in your freezer?

KeyLargoBees · August 12, 2015, 08:53:47 AM

they spun themselves little silk parkas I bet :-)

Colobee · August 12, 2015, 10:34:16 AM

To the OP - Give them supers for as long as they will fill them. 'Good advice on setting some aside ( or go ahead & extract if the hives are heavy enough). 125 lbs should get them through most winters, but every colony and every location is slightly different.

I've found 3 fairly full mediums works for overwintering my bees, here in Colorado.

Wax moths & grubs die in my freezer.

BeeMaster2 · August 12, 2015, 12:08:56 PM

modena,
How long did you freeze them. The colder the temperature, the faster they will die. That is why we leave them in for 24 hours or more.
Jim

tjc1 · August 12, 2015, 11:47:10 PM

Well, this hive added 25 lbs. since the original post (5 lbs per day)! They were bursting at the seams! We had a rainy day yesterday and they could barely contain themselves in the hive - some poor gals got pushed outside and nearly drowned. Also five days ago, they had built a tower of comb up from the center hole in the inner cover, towards three partially filled honey frames I was hoping that they would transfer down into the hive (I have an empty deep on top for ventilation). I scraped this out, and in the five days they had built a larger tower which they were filling with nectar and they filled the honey frames... So today I added another medium! I took the opportunity to checkerboard the brood area right below the new medium, moving some full frames of honey up. The girls came pouring into the new space as I was placing the frames. This is like a hive on steroids - amazing for a new package this spring. Clethera (pepper bush) is flowering, and it must be a good year for it - usually this is a dearth-y time of the season, but they are bringing in a lot of something!

BeeMaster2 · August 13, 2015, 12:00:42 AM

I like that comb. It would bee a good one to save.
Jim

biggraham610 · August 13, 2015, 12:42:47 AM

Wow, that's a shame to lose that wax. May I ask why you need an empty deep on top for ventilation? I have heard that several times this year and I don't get it. I just keep the cover propped up a little extra if I need. To me a medium with frames will offer the same ventilation, then if they are ahead of you they have somewhere to build. Maybe I'm missing something. That is a nice looking comb. would be nice for the coffee table were it porcelain or bronze. G

tjc1 · August 13, 2015, 10:52:47 PM

Yeah, I'm saving it to show to my students when we go back to school!

About the ventilation - I have usually put in inner cover on top covered with window screen, then the telesc. cover on top propped up with sticks on the corners. I was going to make some ventilating shims out of the remains of deeps I had cut down to mediums, but in the spring I had been using the deeps on top (with the front edge of the telesc top propped about 3/8 inch) so that I could feed back some honey comb from last year. It just dawned on me that this seemed to be working well to allow venting as well as some extra space for bees to move into as necessary, so I left them on.

biggraham610 · August 14, 2015, 01:27:19 AM

Ok, now it makes sense. Once you were finished feeding frames you just left the box. Well, we learn something new all the time. I do it like you with the sticks. Heres to Continued success. G