Too many bees to pull super?

[Hormel]

Summer has ended here in Seattle and with the rain season starting I went to pull the last super off each of our two hives (both new packages this spring). The first one went fine and I shook or brushed the bees off the frames back into the top deep. Problem came when I went to check the second hive, the super was packed full of bees and both brood boxes were jammed with bees. It took so much effort just to get the brood boxes back together with so many bees after inspecting that I could not fathom where all the bees would fit if I took the super off.

Since they appeared to be still bringing in some nectar and pollen I just replaced the frames with some empty and partially drawn ones from the other hive and closed it up. This hive has always been strong and I have felt like I have spent the summer trying to give it enough room not to swarm. I did find 9 queen cups (?) along the bottom of one frame last week, but could not tell if they were older or not. I would have split it but that was too much for my first year and I planned to limit it to two hives here at our house (which in reading this forum seems difficult : ).

I plan on checking again in a week before I extract. If they have not brought in any more stores then should I try again or wait a month? Or was I just to timid about it?

Thanks
John

[Pete0]

I'm located in Southeastern VA and keep my colonies in mediums. As I read it you have your colonies in two deeps and are removing all the surplus above. If you have additional supers you might just add an empty super to each with foundation or comb and see if they bring any more in. I usually don't combine inspections with honey removal. Gets too many bees in the air and can cause a robbing situation. Often I'll remove the super I plan to rob and replace the inner cover on the colony. Then remove the frames and just brush the bees off into the air as I walk to a super some distance away to store the ones I'm going to take away. The bees will find their way back and it keeps additional bees from coming out of the top of the colony. Any partials I put back and replace the frames I'm taking with foundation or drawn comb. There are other methods that you might find better suited to your situation. Bee escapes, Bee-Go, Bee-Quick, etc.

Good luck,

Pete0
Bena, VA