another super question....

[captahab]

I have two hives that I started back in late May. The one is ready for a super and the other will be ready in another week or two judging by the present rate there building comb. My qusetion is, since I have no plans on taking any honey this year from either hive do I even put the supers on ? or should I put them on and leave them through the winter ?

[honeyman46408]

What you don`t want any honey:s

If your deeps are about full I would put the supers on because if you get a realy good fall flow and they don`t have room to store sometimes it will cause swarming

[Ravenseye]

Super them anyway. My first year gave me no honey but one box of comb from foundation. That comb was great in year two since they had space for the honey. Who knows, you might get lucky with honey this year!

[captahab]

The two primary reasons I wasnt taking any honey this year was, I wanted to make sure both hives had enough to winter and I was trying to wait to next year to buy a extractor.......

[mythomane]

If you get any of that sticky yellow stuff in the upper boxes, just clean it out and throw it down the drain. RE: Extractor...there a thing called crush and strain....or a local beekeeper will probably let you use theirs.

[franktrujillo]

so do you use 2 deeps to winter over? I'm going to use 2 deeps to winter over mine....yes, add more boxes.If you think flow is over they use the space as needed..they will also build new comb and get ready for fall nector flow.. only winter time you want to confine them in smaller space....check in your area as to wintering over food stores....you also can freeze frames of honey and pollen for them in case on your winter inspection they need stores....don't put frozen frames in hive warm to room temp....

[captahab]

My intention is to winter with the two deeps. Both hives have filled them up pretty well at this point. Ill be doing a inspection tomorrow and Im planning on seeing the one hive drawn out enough to put a super on. Since I didnt plan on taking any honey this year I was wondering if it made sense to put it on. I read on here that they form a tight cluster over the winter and I wasnt sure if all the extra honey stored above would make any difference. I wasnt thinking about the space and the swarming factor as mentioned in one of the replies above.