Next step? - advice needed

[Ben Framed]

The honey in there is not worth harvesting. It is sugar syrup not nectar.

[BeeMaster2]

If the first super is capped honey, the queen rarely till go above it and lay eggs.
I do not use queen excluders in the hive. We consider them honey excluders. They can also cause swarming. If the bees need to use a box for a super, I let them.
Jim Altmiller

[incognito]

The two deeps and the first medium super are a combination of honey and syrup. Based on the amount of syrup I supplied over the last week, I assume much of it just got moved down from the feeder into the comb. Nothing in the first medium super is capped. The outside frames in the first super are not even drawn - foundation only. The bees just started drawing it out last week, probably to move the syrup into. That is fine for me, that box is for them anyway.


The second medium super is foundation. So I'm hoping that they start building comb and store new nectar in it rather than moving syrup into it.

I am told we enter into a dearth in July in this area. There is a possibility that they may not even finish building out the comb in the first medium super but start consuming the stored syrup. With the activity in and out of the hive it is possible that they still have a nectar source.  With the second medium super hopefully they will not feel like they need to swarm if they do.

I got stung three times today when I removed the top feeder and once two days ago when I refilled it for the last time. The increased defensiveness may be a sign that the nectar flow has diminished.

[incognito]

The honey in there is not worth harvesting. It is sugar syrup not nectar.

I'm not looking to harvest the first super of syrup/honey. That is all for them.