Is there such a thing as too much honey in a hive?

[DIXIEROADIE]

Stupid question every frame from top to bottom is either full of capped honey or has brood in them Should I remove some of the frames and add new or just stack another super with frames?I just moved this hive and harvested about 30 pounds of honey I do not know if it is too late in the year in kansas,we still have flowers and lots of gardens still going,when do you leave all the honey this month or october?

[Ardilla]

Yes there is such thing as too much honey in a hive. This time of year it isn't a big problem though.

I would swap a frame of honey for an empty, drawn frame adjacent to the brood nest and see what happens. If they quickly fill it with nectar, you may need to swap a few more or add a super. If the queen fills it with brood, you may want to swap another frame. If they don't do much (a little brood or a little honey), leave them alone.

Someone with more local knowledge may have a better idea.

[StevenG]

When I lived in Kansas and ran 18 hives (Stafford, KS) I used two deep boxes for the brood nest, anything above that was "rent." I still do that here in southern Missouri. If you don't have two deep boxes for the brood nest, I'd recommend putting a second one on, helping them get foundation drawn out, and feed feed feed so they'll fill that top story for winter. The cluster will be in the bottom box, and they'll eat their way up during the winter. Then you'll have a nice, strong, healthy colony next spring! At the bare minimum, I'd have one deep an d one medium full of bees and honey going into the winter. It wouldn't bother me at all if the second story is full of honey. In fact, that would be best.

Good luck, and have fun!
Steven

[DIXIEROADIE]

I f you have brood in the top boxes should they be moved to the bottom deep super ?I noticed quite a alot of brood in the first and second top boxes ,I left the bottom alone and did not pull any frames,but man my top boxes are packed wall to wall and I do not want to short them,I assume that close to the end of September we will start getting colder nights,but with the weather lately it has been rain in the morning and hot in the afternoon or just down right gloomy all day this has been a very wet summer in Kansas and I have the feeling this is going to be a rough winter.

[sqkcrk]

No, there is no such thing as too much honey in a hive. Not at this time of year. But there is such a thing as not enough room. Meaning, if you had added more room, supers, at the right time you may have made more honey for extracting.

There is such a thing as honeybound. But I don't really understand it.

[DIXIEROADIE]

I opened the hive this evening and the top box has the first two frames of capped honey and then six some 3/4 full of brood but it was tan color,then the last two were uncapped honey about 1/2 full.The next one down was hard to remove the frames but it was about the same as the first. the next one was the main deep super and it had comb all over and a couple of nickel size holes in the corner of a couple of the frames.It seems like most of the brood was along the bottom of the frame no set type of pattern. I think I spotted the queen hanging at the bottom of a six or seven inch free comb.About 1/2 of the frames had a little brood and about 1/2 uncapped honey.I added some frames but was unsure if I was too add some brood,so I added one full frame of brood and one 1/2 full next to it and the others were empty,and reset them on the bottom board and had also added some cinder blocks to get it up off the ground.I was doing great they were very calm until I sat the deep super with all the bees in it.I imagine the ones I smashed setting it set off the alarm.I slowly got it all together and about an hour later it seems they have calmed down,now I will keep an eye on them and hope for the best,I was shocked at how the one deep that was the main felt very light,the rest upstairs are very heavy and I kept one frame of the capped honey.