3rd deep or super?

[Coon]

I live in southern indiana. I believe i will be ready to put on a super this weekend.. unless i should winter with 3 deeps..
I am not sure what is the norm around here.

They are russian bees if that matters at all.

Also yesterday the front of my hive was covered in bees.. which is normal but this time they were not fanning.. Do i need to prop up the inner cover to allow ventilation to come through the top of the hive?
if so how much do i prop it open.

[JOHNYOGA2]

You should be fine with two deeps. I've never run them, but my understanding is that Russians are better at saving winter stores then Italians. I use use two deeps for the Italians. Put on a Honey Super and see what happens!
As for ventilation, are you using a screened bottom board?

[Coon]

no its a solid BB.

[JOHNYOGA2]

Venting is probably a good idea then.
If i'm NOT feeding, I put a screen (window screen) over the hole of the inner cover, then I prop up the Telescoping cover with a stick or something that will allow air flow (I actually use an 8" piece of 1X1). I put on the window screen to prevent robbing since that's a pretty big hole. But the screen can be easily removed if you use a boardman feeder.
If I AM feeding, I screen the top of my top feeder, again with window screen, and again use a stick to prop up the telescoping cover.
In winter, I still use the screened inner cover but I put a shallow above it with four 1" drilled holes, also screened, and I loosely put dry leaves in the shallow. Dampness is a bigger problem then cold.

[dug_6238]

My Russians use a lot less stores (than italians), but I still use 2 deeps. One advantage to using a 3rd deep but using it as a super would be that you could extract it, then in the spring if they have too much left in the way of stores and are still slightly honey-bound, you could use those extracted frames to checkerboard them, giving them adequate room for buildup at the right time to prevent swarminess, which Russians are sometimes prone to...

I say this only because I've had to go in sometimes to my Russians and replace some capped frames with empty ones in the early spring. Wish my Italians were that way.

my $0.02, as others here have said "YMMV"

[Eaglerock]

Dug, I use one hive body and one or two supers, depending on size in the fall.


:ot: It's a beautiful day in PA :)

[paulnewbee1]

I would agree with dug 2 deeps will be fine Dugs Idea is a good one use a deep for a super then it you want and have any left over you could feed it back in the winter. I save one frame of honey out of each hive which I only had 4 then in spring I feed it back the girls like it better then sugar. I live where it get real cold same as you
I had some live one died last year a laying worker and three made it this year I feed back 6 frames in the spring used less sugar on the 6 new ones this year they are doing fine. we have a bad spring very cold for the girls. low honey production. today its 90 and tomorrow 95 high humidity.

So much for the rambling on

Paul

[spunky]

Also yesterday the front of my hive was covered in bees.. which is normal but this time they were not fanning.. Do i need to prop up the inner cover to allow ventilation to come through the top of the hive?
if so how much do i prop it open.

Ventilation is very important: Bees are bees, I wouldnt get to hung up on it; I have had Russian die here, while the Italians breezed thru winter

Mine will usually have 2 deeps and a medium, or 4 mediums.